2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder problems
NHTSA has received 32 complaints about the 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder, and 22% of them involve body & structure. Next are air bags (12%) and tires (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 32 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Body & structure 22% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 10 and 5
- Injuries and deaths
- 8 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 106,000 miles 25 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 | 2 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 1 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 1 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 2 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 4 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 3 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 10 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 2 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 25 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 106,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 10 complaints mention a crash; 5 complaints mention a fire; 8 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 99% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2003 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 4 model years of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder with enough data (15 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mitsubishi eclipse spyder. While driving approximately 15 MPH, the passenger side air bag deployed without warning or impact. When the air bag deployed, the visor on the vehicle detached. The vehicle's top was down at the time and caused the passenger side air bag to blow in the wind, which hindered the contact's view of the road.
Takata airbag: my incident has already been reported. I am adding the police report. I am still requiring surgery and unable to use my left arm 10 months later.
Dash is cracking into multible pieces due to poor manufacturing material/standards. Pieces could become dangerious projectiles in a collision.
I bought an used 2003 eclipse and at the time I didn't realize how badly cracked the dashboard was. To my surprise, I have not been able to find an used dashboard in good condition...every single 2003 eclipse I've found and seen has the same issue and after doing some research, there has not been a recall for this obvious manufacturing defect. The only solution mitsubishi offers is to replace it with a brand new (yet same poor quality) part.