2004 MITSUBISHI LANCER — Complaint #1025114
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:WINDSHIELD:ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT filed December 4, 2013
NHTSA complaint #1025114 (ODI reference 10554734) concerns a 2004 MITSUBISHI LANCER and was filed on December 4, 2013. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 28, 2013. The report was geocoded to Tennessee based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:windshield:electrical heating element, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. No VIN was supplied by the filer, so this complaint contributes to model-year trend data but cannot be tied to a specific vehicle.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same MITSUBISHI LANCER cohort independently describe similar visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:windshield:electrical heating element failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2004 MITSUBISHI LANCER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
THE A/C KNOB IN THE CAR BROKE OFF TOWARD THE END OF THE SUMMER 2013. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN DIFFICULT TO SWITCH FROM AIR CONDITIONER TO HEAT. FOR A WHILE PLIERS DID THE TRICK. WHEN I GOT A QUOTE FROM THE DEALERSHIP TO CHANGE THE KNOB I WAS QUOTED $1800. NOW IT IS WINTER. IT IS FREEZING. I HAVE NO HEAT. I WAS PULLED OVER BY POLICE BECAUSE OF FOGGY WINDOWS. I HAD NO DEFROSTER BECAUSE I CAN'T TURN ON THE HEAT. *TR
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1025114 |
| ODI Number | 10554734 |
| Date Filed | December 4, 2013 |
| Failure Date | November 28, 2013 |
Similar VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:WINDSHIELD:ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT Complaints for 2004 MITSUBISHI LANCER
THE AIR AND HEAT FLOW KNOB BROKE OFF AS I TURNED IT FROM COLD TO HEAT THIS MORNING. NOW I CANT HEAT UP THE CAR IT IS STUCK ON COLD. DUE TO THIS THE DEFROST WILL NOT WORK EITHER. I HAVE NO HEAT IN MY
A/C, DEFROST CONTROL HAS BEEN HARD TO CHANGE SINCE PURCHASE OF VEHICLE. PLASTIC CONTROL FOR CONNECTION OF KNOB BROKE. CALLED CLOSEST DEALER (OVER 60 MILES AWAY) AND THEY ARE AWARE OF PROBLEM BUT WILL
HEATER KNOB STICKS, PREVENTING AC ADJUSTMENT TO HEAT FROM COOL. THIS PREVENTS DEFOGGER SYSTEM FROM EFFECTIVELY WORKING HAMPERING VISIBILITY, WHEN IT OCCURS WHILE DRIVING. *JB
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.