Other body or interior problem on the 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse
When other body or interior problem gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse report other body or interior problem at a median of 45,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 65,000 miles, from 14 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 1,600 miles at the tenth percentile to 85,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 82,095 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
36% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,605 miles | 21,000 miles | 46,750 miles | 65,250 miles | 83,700 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $200–$2,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2004, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 2007 at 80,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 43; the 2003 has 26. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
When the consumer drove the vehicle, it was hard to see out of the rear window. The vehicle was designed with the back setting to high up. The manufacturer and the dealer were aware of the problem. *jb *mr
When the driver's side window is in the full upward position, the door is hard to open/close; the glass gets stuck in the window molding. Took to dealer, who replaced window molding, but really didn't work. Will take back to dealer. Seems to be a design problem. *ak
There was no incident, crash or injury. I purchased a black 2003 mitsubishi eclipse, in 2005, which had 40000 mi on nit. The paint was ok at time of purchase. Unknown to me, mitsubishi vehicles from 1999-2004 have defective primer which causes the paint to flake off in large quantities. I had the vehicle less than a year when the paint starting coming off. The manufacturers aware of the problem, but only fixes some of the vehicles. My claim was denied. I believe these vehicles should be recalled due to defective paint.*ak
Also reported on the 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse
Other powertrain problem
Sunroof failure or glass breakage
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Paint peeling or clear coat failure
Other visibility problem
Fuel pump failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 26 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other body or interior problem happen on the 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse?
Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 65,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other body or interior problem on the 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse?
26 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed