2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder problems
NHTSA has received 97 complaints about the 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder, and 38% of them involve wheels. Next are body & structure (9%) and air bags (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 97 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Wheels 38% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 6 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 5 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 43,000 miles 55 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 10 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 15 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 10 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 4 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 6 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 3 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Of the 55 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 43,000 miles. For wheels specifically, the median reported mileage is about 29,000 miles (20 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 6 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 5 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2001 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 4 model years of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder with enough data (62 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 8 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
My daughter had an accident on a rainy day, tire got caught in water, lost control, hit a guard and hit a traffic light poll and a utility poll. The front airbag didn't get deploy.
Hit head on by another vehicle going 35 MPH. I was going 20 MPH. Front airbags did not go off in my 2001 mitsubishi eclipse spyder. *nlm
I was leaving my driveway and something popped and hit me in the right eye. After stopping car on the side of the street,I heard more popping sounds and a piece of the dash hit the windshield. After looking at the dash I found 4 cracks in the dash material, 2 of the vent grates had popped off. This could have caused me to have an accident if I was in a more congested area at the time. I have had to put tape onto the dash to keep from more pieces from hitting me or my occupants.
Damaged alloy wheels on mitsubishi eclipse spyder (17 inch, 6 spoke). I read the postings from last year tonight on your site after I had my second experience with this problem. Last winter I hit a pothole and it completely split my rim. The vehicle maintained stability and I was able to limp back home (about a half mile) but the rim was cracked all the way to the spokes from the lip. Tonight (snowstorm in va/dc area) my wife dropped me off at the office and went shopping.
Two front rims have bent and split and have caused the tire to loose seal and tire to wear unnaturally. I had to replace the two rims and two tires.