Mitsubishi's Rare Recall Hits 108,000 Outlanders

Mitsubishi does not usually make much noise on the recall front. In a U.S. market where safety campaigns can feel almost routine, especially for some larger manufacturers, the Japanese brand tends to stay in the background. That is what makes this latest Mitsubishi Outlander recall stand out.

The company has expanded a safety campaign covering 108,046 vehicles in the United States, and the issue is not buried deep in the powertrain or hidden inside a software module. It is right at the back of the vehicle: the liftgate gas struts.

According to the recall details, the gas strut cylinder used to support the tailgate can corrode if exposed to salt water. Once corrosion takes hold, the strut may rupture. That is more than an inconvenience. A liftgate that no longer stays up properly can create a real safety risk, particularly when someone is loading cargo, buckling in a child, or simply reaching into the boot on a cold morning.

A small part, a very salty problem

The recall covers 2018-2022 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV models built from November 13, 2017, to March 11, 2022. It also includes 2014-2020 Mitsubishi Outlander models produced between April 12, 2013, and December 18, 2020.

This is not an entirely new problem for Mitsubishi. The automaker issued a related U.S. recall in August last year, but that earlier campaign was narrower. It focused on vehicles in states where road salt is heavily used during winter, the region often referred to as the Salt Belt.

Those states and districts include Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The change this time is important. Mitsubishi is no longer limiting the campaign only to vehicles currently registered in those areas. The expanded recall now includes affected Outlander and Outlander PHEV vehicles that are currently or were formerly registered in those high-salt regions. In plain English, if an Outlander spent part of its life battling salted winter roads before moving somewhere warmer, it may still be included.

That matters because used cars travel. A plug-in hybrid SUV bought in Michigan can easily end up in Arizona, Florida, or Texas a few years later. Corrosion history does not disappear just because the registration address changes.

Owners of affected Mitsubishi Outlander models will be able to have the liftgate struts replaced at dealerships free of charge. The fix is straightforward, but the consequence of ignoring it is less so. A failed tailgate strut can turn a routine cargo stop into a painful surprise.

For Mitsubishi, the recall is unusual mostly because recalls from the brand have been relatively rare this year. For Outlander owners, though, the advice is simple: check whether your vehicle is included, especially if it has ever lived in a state where winter roads are treated with salt.

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