Total Complaints
5 filings
MITSUBISHI MITSUBISHI · model year
5 NHTSA complaints. A VIN lookup is required to determine whether a specific vehicle has an unrepaired recall.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 1997MITSUBISHIMITSUBISHI carries 5 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
The most frequently selected component label in reports for the 1997 MITSUBISHI is engine and engine cooling:engine:gasoline with 1 filings, followed by engine and engine cooling:engine (1) and structure (1). Complaint categories reflect owner reports and intake categorization; they do not establish a defect pattern or cause.
NHTSA currently has 13 investigation files overlapping the 1997 MITSUBISHI. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should read the complaint-by-year trend as report volume, not a causal diagnosis. Use the related-complaint feed and the official recall lookup when researching a specific vehicle.
Total Complaints
5 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:GASOLINE | 1 |
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE | 1 |
| STRUCTURE | 1 |
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING:TURN SIGNAL | 1 |
| SUSPENSION:FRONT:CONTROL ARM:LOWER BALL JOINT | 1 |
MY 1997 MITSUBISHI HAS AN OPEN RECALL TO REMEDY SUSPENSION FRONT:CONTROL ARM: LOWER BALL JOINT DEFECT. I PURCHASED THE CAR USED IN 2006. ON 5/21/07, I WAS TOLD BY SEARS AUTO, A PROBLEM EXISTED WITH THE SUSPENSION:LOWER BALLJOINT. I FOUND OUT THERE WAS A RECALL, FOR THE EXACT PROBLEM THIS CAR HAS. I CONTACTED MITSUBISHI CUSTOER SERVICE ON 5/22/07. THEY WILL NOT TELL ME IF THE DEFECT WAS CORRECTED, THEY WILL ONLY SAY THE CAR WAS SERVICED, WHICH COULD MEAN ANYTHING. THEY WILL NOT OFFER ME ANY REMEDY. I WANT THE DEFECT CORRECT BY MITSUBISHI. *AK
MY COLUMN SWITCH NO LONGER WORKS RESULTING IN TURN SIGNALS NOT FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. WEN INVESTIGATING THE REPLACEMENT PART FOR THIS ITEM, I DISCOVERED THAT IT IS THE SAME THAT WHICH MITSUBISHI INSTALLED ON ITS 1999 GALANT. THERE HAS BEEN A NHTSA RECALL FOR THIS UNIT. THUS, I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT THERE SHOULD ALSO BE A RECALL OF THIS UNIT FOR 1997 YEAR MODELS OF THE MITSUBISHI GALANT AS WELL.
Mileage: 118,500
TIMING BELT BROKE WHICH CAUSED INTERFERENCE WITH MOTOR, RESULTING IN THE WHOLE TOP HALF OF THE ENGINE BEING REPLACED. *JB
CONVERTIBLE TOP LEAKS, HINGES HAVE ALREADY BEEN REPLACED AND BENT ONCE AGAIN AFTER THE TOP WAS PUT DOWN ONCE. THE WATER POOLS UP TOP AND THEN POURS ALL OVER THE DRIVER. CAUSED EXTENSIVE WATER DAMAGE, CAR IS HORRIBLE. *JB
MULTIPLE OIL LEAKS /I CHECK THREE DIFFERENT VEHICLES NAD THEY WERE ALL LEAKING OIL AT THE SAME PLACES/BETWEEN TRANSMISSION/AND THE MOTOR. *AK
Data vintage: August 2026. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Every figure on PlainCars is rendered directly from NHTSA complaint and safety data, no number is typed in by an editor. This year-specific record is rendered from NHTSA ODI, recall, and NCAP rows for the 1997 MITSUBISHI MITSUBISHI; no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.