The Mitsubishi Outlander and the smaller Mitsubishi Outlander Sport have the same two bad years, and they are bad in the same place. The 2015 Outlander has 234 complaints and a score of 38, the 2016 has 169 and scores 34; the 2015 and 2016 Outlander Sport have 232 and 163 and score 34 and 36. In all four the Power Train category leads by a wide margin. The Outlander adds a third year to avoid, the redesigned 2022 car at 212 complaints and a score of 34. The years to buy are 2011 to 2014 and 2017 to 2020 on the Outlander, and 2017 onward on the Outlander Sport, where the 2021 to 2025 cars have between 1 and 17 complaints each.
2015 and 2016: the Power Train years
The 2015 Outlander's complaint list is 142 Power Train, 47 Engine, 31 Vehicle Speed Control, 26 Unknown Or Other and 25 Electrical System. The 2015 Outlander Sport's list is the same to within one complaint, 142, 46, 31, 26 and 25, which tells you the two records are moving together. In 2016 the Outlander has 70 Power Train complaints and the Sport 65, with Engine at 28 and 27 and Service Brakes at 20 on both.
The recall campaigns say what the Power Train complaints are about. Campaign 16V563000 (28/07/2016) covers 2015 and 2016 Outlander Sport and 2016 Outlander vehicles fitted with the continuously variable transmission, for a control module fault in certain driving conditions, and campaign 16V548000 (22/07/2016) covers the 2015 Outlander Sport with the 2.0-litre engine and CVT for the transmission cooling unit and lines. Campaign 17V609000 (29/09/2017) covers 2015 to 2017 Outlanders and 2015 to 2016 Outlander Sports for defective starter relays that can cause an engine stall or reduced power, and that is the Vehicle Speed Control and Electrical System component of the same two years. On the 2016 cars, 17V233000 (06/04/2017) is for inside door latches that may not hold in high temperatures, and 20V741000 (30/11/2020) is for rear brake shafts that lost their rust coating during assembly and can bind, the second parking brake campaign after 18V070000 (26/01/2018), which covers 2014 to 2016 Outlanders and 2013 to 2016 Outlander Sports for the same corrosion. Service Brakes at 20 complaints on both 2016 cars fits.
The two years differ only in degree: 21.3 and 21.1 complaints per year on the road in 2015, 16.9 and 16.3 in 2016. All four are AVOID on high evidence.
Mitsubishi Outlander: the record, year by year
| Year | Score | Verdict | NHTSA complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 76 | BUY | 14 | 1 |
| 2024 | 74 | BUY | 26 | 1 |
| 2023 | 62 | CAUTION | 47 | 2 |
| 2022 | 34 | AVOID | 212 | 7 |
| 2020 | 85 | BUY | 31 | 3 |
| 2019 | 83 | BUY | 29 | 5 |
| 2018 | 76 | BUY | 55 | 6 |
| 2017 | 77 | BUY | 51 | 6 |
| 2016 | 34 | AVOID | 169 | 8 |
| 2015 | 38 | AVOID | 234 | 5 |
| 2014 | 87 | BUY | 45 | 4 |
| 2013 | 84 | BUY | 68 | 5 |
| 2012 | 88 | BUY | 36 | 6 |
| 2011 | 79 | BUY | 88 | 8 |
Live from the federal record as of 2026-10-04; linked years have their own page. Full table and repair costs on the Mitsubishi Outlander model page.
The 2022 Outlander
The Outlander has no 2021 model year on this record and returned for 2022 as a new car. That car has 212 complaints, 53.0 per year on the road, two and a half times the 2015 car's rate, and a score of 34 that ties the 2016 car as the worst on the nameplate. The complaint pattern is different: Structure leads at 75, then Unknown Or Other 36, Forward Collision Avoidance 26, Electrical System 25 and Fuel/Propulsion System 18. Power Train is not in the top five.
The recall list for the 2022 car has seven campaigns. Two are seat belt automatic locking retractors that may deactivate early and fail to secure a child seat, 21V596000 (02/08/2021) and 22V335000 (13/05/2022); one is a fuel pump whose internal wiring may be fused incorrectly, 22V027000 (24/01/2022), which matches the Fuel/Propulsion System complaints; three are rearview camera software, 22V470000 (08/07/2022), 23V345000 (06/06/2023) and 25V369000 (02/06/2025), the last covering 2022 to 2024 cars; and the seventh, 21V821000 (18/10/2021), covers a single vehicle with a mis-welded centre pillar. There is no campaign that accounts for 75 Structure complaints, so that is a pattern without a documented cause. The 2023 car has 47 complaints and a CAUTION at 62; the 2024 and 2025 cars have 26 and 14. All three are on low evidence and the camera campaign runs through 2024.
The Outlander Sport, year by year
The Outlander Sport's record has more recalls in its early years than its complaint counts would suggest. The 2011 car has 85 complaints and ten campaigns; the 2013 car has 67 complaints and ten campaigns, four of them safety-critical. The 2013 list includes 14V031000 (04/02/2014) for the driver's seat-mounted air bag on cars with leather seats, 14V744000 (21/11/2014) for a front passenger seat belt fastener on 2013 to 2015 cars, 13V112000 (29/03/2013) for a missing fuel sending unit harness on all-wheel-drive cars, and 13V300000 (08/07/2013) for a stabiliser link bracket weld. Air Bags and Electrical System lead the 2013 complaints at 14 each. The 2014 car is a CAUTION at 65 with Power Train already climbing to 21, the first sign of what 2015 would bring.
After 2016 the Sport becomes one of the quietest records on the site. The 2017 car has 73 complaints and no recalls at all; the 2018 car has 21; the 2019 to 2022 cars have 47, 26, 17 and 11, with one campaign across all four, 22V563000 (02/08/2022), a transmission control software error on CVT cars with mechanical key ignitions. The 2023, 2024 and 2025 cars have 7, 1 and 1 complaints and no recalls. Every year from 2018 on is low evidence, so the scores of 78 to 93 are provisional, but eight years without a component pattern is the point.
Mitsubishi Outlander Sport: the record, year by year
| Year | Score | Verdict | NHTSA complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 92 | BUY | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | 93 | BUY | 1 | 0 |
| 2023 | 92 | BUY | 7 | 0 |
| 2022 | 90 | BUY | 11 | 1 |
| 2021 | 90 | BUY | 17 | 1 |
| 2020 | 87 | BUY | 26 | 1 |
| 2019 | 78 | BUY | 47 | 1 |
| 2018 | 89 | BUY | 21 | 2 |
| 2017 | 72 | BUY | 73 | 0 |
| 2016 | 36 | AVOID | 163 | 8 |
| 2015 | 34 | AVOID | 232 | 9 |
| 2014 | 65 | CAUTION | 86 | 6 |
| 2013 | 67 | CAUTION | 67 | 10 |
| 2012 | 89 | BUY | 35 | 6 |
| 2011 | 71 | BUY | 85 | 10 |
Live from the federal record as of 2026-10-04; linked years have their own page. Full table and repair costs on the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport model page.
The good Outlanders
The 2011 to 2014 Outlanders score 79, 88, 84 and 87 on 88, 36, 68 and 45 complaints. The recall lists are long, eight campaigns on the 2011 car, but the safety-critical count is one or two per year, and most of the campaigns are corrosion recalls limited to the salt-belt states: 20V279000 (18/05/2020) for frame members on 2011 to 2013 cars, 16V458000 (23/06/2016) for the front lower control arm on V6 cars, and 25V507000 (07/08/2025) with its follow-up 26V252000 (20/04/2026) for liftgate gas springs that corrode and can rupture on 2014 to 2020 cars. Two wiper campaigns, 17V461000 (20/07/2017) and 16V791000 (31/10/2016), cover water getting into the wiper motor and linkage on 2011 to 2013 cars, and 14V366000 (25/06/2014) is a safety-critical power steering hose campaign on cars with the six-speed automatic.
The 2017 to 2020 cars score 77, 76, 83 and 85 on 51, 55, 29 and 31 complaints. Service Brakes leads 2017 and 2019 at 12 and 9, Engine leads 2018 at 11 and Electrical System 2020 at 11; nothing reaches a pattern. The 2017 and 2018 cars carry two forward collision mitigation campaigns, 18V620000 and 18V621000 (both 14/09/2018), one of them safety-critical, and 20V403000 (13/07/2020) covers 2014 to 2019 cars for a second-row seat belt buckle that can interfere with its neighbour when the seats are folded.
What to check before you buy
- On any 2015 or 2016 Outlander or Outlander Sport, confirm 16V563000 and, on a 2015 Sport, 16V548000; then drive the car in traffic and on a long uphill and pay attention to whether the CVT holds a steady ratio and whether the engine surges. If the transmission has been replaced, ask for the invoice.
- Confirm 17V609000 on any 2015 to 2017 Outlander or 2015 to 2016 Sport; a stall recall is not one to leave open.
- On a 2014 to 2016 Outlander or 2013 to 2016 Sport, confirm the parking brake campaign 18V070000 and, on a 2016, 20V741000 as well.
- On any car registered in a salt-belt state, check whether the frame, control arm and liftgate spring campaigns apply by VIN, and look at the rear subframe and liftgate struts yourself.
- On a 2022 Outlander, check all three camera campaigns, both seat belt campaigns and the fuel pump campaign 22V027000, and look hard at the body, doors, liftgate and trim, because Structure is the category that leads the record and no campaign explains it.
Summary
Avoid the 2015 and 2016 Outlander and Outlander Sport, and the 2022 Outlander. The 2014 Outlander Sport is a CAUTION. Buy a 2011 to 2014 or 2017 to 2020 Outlander, or a 2017 or later Outlander Sport, with the CVT, starter relay and parking brake campaigns confirmed on the years they cover.