Mitsubishi Galant Reliability by Year
Based on 2M+ real complaints filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
2,429 NHTSA complaints (1986–2012).Complaint rate: 4456.9 per 1,000 vehicles.
Should I buy a Mitsubishi Galant?
Quick answer from 2,429 NHTSA complaints · 1986–2012
Mitsubishi Galant shows elevated crash or fire rates — buy with caution. 13.8% of reported complaints involved a crash — above the ~4% mainstream average. Most complaints relate to air bags:frontal. Inspect carefully or consider a different model in the same class.
- 2011 Mitsubishi Galant· 7 complaints
- 2012 Mitsubishi Galant· 11 complaints
- 2010 Mitsubishi Galant· 12 complaints
Keep scrolling for year-by-year complaint trends, recall campaigns, and component breakdowns — or click any year above for a full report.
What Happened to 545 Mitsubishi Galants On the Road
Complaints record what owners reported. These are the outcomes actually recorded against 545 Mitsubishi Galant VINs built 1995–2012 — accidents, title brands and odometer flags from our vehicle-history database, not from the NHTSA complaint file.
Typical Mitsubishi Galant on record: 3.0 owners on average, 133,523 average miles.
Which Years to Buy & Avoid
Years auto-clustered by complaint volume relative to this model's median.
Rankings based on raw NHTSA complaint counts. Sales volume data not yet available for this model.
Bottom line: Avoid the 1994–2004 Mitsubishi Galant (304 crash-related complaints). The 2010–2012 models had significantly fewer reported issues. Most common issue across all years: Air Bags:frontal.
Avoid These Years
Average
Better Years
A model's reputation is just the start.
Even within the “good” years, individual cars can have hidden accidents, title issues, or odometer rollbacks. Check the actual VIN before you buy — full history report for $8.99 (vs. Carfax $44.99).
Complaints by Model Year
NHTSA complaint count per model year
Common Mitsubishi Galant Problems
Most reported component complaints to NHTSA. Bar length = volume; color = crash-involvement rate.
Show full table
| Component | Complaints | Crash % |
|---|---|---|
| Air Bags:Frontal | 141 | 92.9% |
| Automatic Transmission | 122 | 4.1% |
| Suspension:Front:Control Arm:Lower Ball Joint | 99 | 1.0% |
| Service Brakes, Hydraulic:Foundation Components:Disc:Rotor | 95 | 10.5% |
| Airbags | 85 | 58.8% |
| Service Brakes, Hydraulic:Antilock/Traction Control/Electronic Limited Slip | 85 | 14.1% |
| Electrical Faults | 74 | 1.4% |
| Body Structure | 72 | 5.6% |
| Engine And Engine Cooling:Engine:Gasoline | 65 | 0.0% |
| Service Brakes, Hydraulic:Foundation Components:Disc | 55 | 3.6% |
When Each Problem Spiked
Year × component heatmap. Darker cells = more complaints that year. Reveals which model years a specific defect concentrated in — useful for spotting redesign-cycle quality dips.
Year-by-Year Breakdown
NHTSA complaint count per model year — click any year for full problems & recalls breakdown.
| Year | Generation | Complaints | Crashes | Fires | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986NO DATA | — | 6 | 1 | — | View → |
| 1987NO DATA | — | 9 | 0 | — | View → |
| 1988NO DATA | — | 7 | 0 | — | View → |
| 1989NO DATA | — | 20 | 3 | 1 | View → |
| 1990NO DATA | — | 32 | 0 | 6 | View → |
| 1991NO DATA | — | 78 | 1 | 1 | View → |
| 1992NO DATA | — | 43 | 1 | 2 | View → |
| 1993NO DATA | — | 11 | 1 | — | View → |
| 1994NO DATA | — | 284 | 46 | 6 | View → |
| 1995AVOID | — | 296 | 48 | 6 | View → |
| 1996AVOID | — | 200 | 37 | 5 | View → |
| 1997AVOID | — | 110 | 12 | 1 | View → |
| 1998 | — | 69 | 3 | — | View → |
| 1999AVOID | — | 296 | 39 | 20 | View → |
| 2000AVOID | — | 183 | 17 | 30 | View → |
| 2001AVOID | — | 211 | 49 | 19 | View → |
| 2002AVOID | — | 175 | 25 | 11 | View → |
| 2003AVOID | — | 167 | 23 | 4 | View → |
| 2004 | — | 68 | 5 | — | View → |
| 2005GOOD | — | 34 | 1 | 1 | View → |
| 2006GOOD | — | 37 | 5 | 2 | View → |
| 2007GOOD | — | 31 | 6 | — | View → |
| 2008NO DATA | — | 9 | 0 | — | View → |
| 2009GOOD | — | 23 | 3 | — | View → |
| 2010GOOD | — | 12 | 3 | — | View → |
| 2011NO DATA | — | 7 | 4 | — | View → |
| 2012GOOD | — | 11 | 1 | — | View → |
Year-by-Year Breakdown
Tap any year for full problems & recalls breakdown.
Data Sources & Methodology
Complaints: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation consumer complaint database (2,429 records for this model). Public domain data, updated monthly.
Sales data: Not yet available for this model. Complaint counts are shown as raw numbers.
On-road outcomes: Accident, title-brand, theft and odometer records for 545 Mitsubishi Galant VINs in our vehicle-history database. Independent of the NHTSA complaint file — a complaint is what an owner reported, these are what was recorded against the vehicle. Year-level figures are shown only for model years with at least 200 VINs on record.
Rate calculation: Complaints per 10,000 vehicles sold = (complaint count / US annual sales) x 10,000. This normalizes for sales volume so high-volume models like Civic or Camry aren't unfairly penalized.
Year classifications: AVOID = 1.5x+ the model's median complaint count. GOOD = 0.6x or below. Years less than 3 years old are marked TOO NEW (insufficient data).
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