2008 Mitsubishi Lancer problems
NHTSA has received 126 complaints about the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer, and 18% of them involve suspension. After that come engine (13%) and steering (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 126 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Suspension 18% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 12 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 9 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 33,000 miles 87 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 | 35 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 11 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 0 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 2 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 6 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 5 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 14 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 7 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 5 |
What the data shows
Among the 87 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 33,000 miles. For suspension specifically, the median reported mileage is about 116,000 miles (20 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 12 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 9 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2008 ranks 4th most-complained-about out of 12 model years of the Mitsubishi Lancer with enough data (56 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 5 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.
Involved in a car accident in which I was traveling approximately 25 MPH and hit someone broad side with the left side front of my vehicle. None of my airbags deployed on a 2008 mitsubishi lancer.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 mitsubishi lancer. While driving approximately 60 MPH, the contact crashed into a drainage ditch. The vehicle was severely damaged and none of the air bags deployed. One of the occupants was moderately injured. There were no warning indicators illuminated on the instrument panel. The dealer could not determine the cause of the failure. Based on the location of the air bag sensors, the contact would have to drive 70 MPH in order for the air bags to deploy.
My car, mitsubishi lancer gts model 2008 is pulling to the side. I got this car new, it was pulling to the left from the beginning. After they did an alignment, the car is pulling to the right. The amount of pulling is very big, for example if, at 60-65MPH I release the steering wheel it rotates right instantly with a half a inch, and the car changes the lane to the right in 3-4 seconds. I don't know if the car or the tires are wrong, but this is very serioos safety concern for me.
During my last two visit with technician (last one with mitsubishi dealer, and one before with other service place), the vehicle technician notice excessively rusted cross-member. The technician at mitsubishi dealer also put the note in "computerized vehicle report". When I asked the technician about how bad is this and how to fix this, he mentioned that other mitsubishi lancer vehicles are affecting with the same problem and mitsubishi is recalling vehicles year by year, so hope they will recall this model too.