1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse problems
Owners have filed 185 complaints with NHTSA about the 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse. Engine is the most reported problem area, at 22% of complaints. After that come suspension (10%) and air bags (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 185 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 22% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 30 and 7
- Injuries and deaths
- 21 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 103,000 miles 44 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 | 2 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 1 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 7 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 8 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 6 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 12 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 2 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 44 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 103,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 30 complaints mention a crash; 7 complaints mention a fire; 21 injuries reported; 1 death reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 87% 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 1997 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 18 model years of the Mitsubishi Eclipse with enough data (107 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.
Son driving a eclipse ran off the road and hit a tree going 55 MPH and the air bags never came out resulting in the death of only child.
While driving at approxmatly 50-60 MPH hit guardrail, dual airbags did not deploy,causing injuries even with seatbelts on.
I was going on us-101 north and got side-swiped by an SUV which was trying to get into my lane (car pool lane). I was at a speed of 60-65 MPH. I lost control of the car and rear-ended another SUV. You can find photos of my crashed car ( now parked at the auto body shop) at : [link removed] under the folder named "crash". You can see that the air bags failed to deploy at that speed.
Tl*the contact owns a 1997 mitsubishi eclipse. While driving 35 MPH, the vehicle spun out of control and crashed into the curb. The road conditions were foggy and damp. The mechanic was unable to diagnose the cause of failure. Approximately three years later, the vehicle jerked to the right and the left. The mechanic stated that the lower control arm and rod ends needed to be replaced. There is a recall for the lower ball joint (recall # 00v421001). The powertrain was unknown.
Tl*the contact owns a 1997 mitsubishi eclipse gsx. The contact stated that the ball joints were detaching from the vehicle. This vehicle was included in recall # 00v421001 for suspension: lower ball joints. The vehicle contained the same ball joints from the last recall. The contact stated that the vehicle was operable, but at a high risk, and felt another recall was needed. The failure mileage was 115000.