Fault File
All models / All cars / Small SUVs / Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross

Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross

All generations and engines together · 12,061 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 55k

First-time failure at age 7
15.2%
Across 2,423 tests. The average across all tracked models is 19.5%.
Rank at age 7
61 of 239
1 = lowest failure rate among the models tracked.
Typical mileage at age 7
55k miles
Check the mileage view below; low-mileage models can look better by age than they are.

How this model wears

Mitsubishi Eclipse CrossClass average, all tracked models

Known issues

Measured

Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.

What testers flag

Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.

Faults with the car itself

The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 7,551 tests in this band.

Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded
Advisory
6.6%class 1.9%
A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn
Advisory
5.1%class 6.8%
A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened
Advisory
3.5%class 1.3%
A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn
Fail
2.0%class 0.4%
Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded
Fail
1.1%class 0.2%
A suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated
Minor
1.0%class 0.6%
A shock absorber damaged to the extent that it does not function or showing signs of severe leakage
Advisory
0.7%class 2.3%
A headlamp or light source missing, inoperative or more than ½ not functioning in the case of LED
Fail
0.5%class 0.8%

Wear, upkeep and luck

Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.

Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements
Advisory
23.6%class 22.9%
A tyre seriously damaged
Advisory
21.7%class 12.7%
A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm
Advisory
20.4%class 8.7%
Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured
Advisory
10.7%class 10.1%
A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm
Fail
4.2%class 1.6%
Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt
Advisory
4.1%class 2.2%
Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen
Fail
2.8%class 1.7%
Nail in tyre
Advisory
2.7%class 1.6%

Unconfirmed issues

Reported

Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.

Hydraulic ECU recall affecting ABS, ESC and auto-braking

Partly in the MOT data

Early cars built between late October 2017 and April 2018 had a software fault in the hydraulic control unit that could stop ABS, electronic stability control, brake auto-hold and automatic emergency braking from working correctly when needed. Mitsubishi issued a free dealer recall to reflash the ECU, and a related recall covered the collision-avoidance system applying the brakes for longer than it should. This lines up with the brakes signature the MOT data flags for this model, though the recall is long closed out on any car that has had it done, so it is the pre-recall cars and any that slipped through that are worth checking.

Cars built Oct 2017-Apr 2018 · fix is free if outstanding · sources: DVSA recall notices, Consumer Reports, car-recalls.co.uk

CVT judder, whine and hesitant kickdown

Emerging

The CVT automatic on the 1.5 turbo petrol has a persistent reputation for a noisy, rubber-band whine under acceleration, plus reports of jerky or delayed shifts and hesitation pulling away, sometimes mistaken for a turbo fault. Owners on the model forums describe symptoms starting anywhere from 30,000 miles and getting worse by 60,000-100,000 miles, with a full CVT replacement running well into four figures if it comes to that. Mitsubishi has not acknowledged a specific fault, and Honest John's own review flags the CVT's unpleasant whine as a known weak point of the car.

Reported 30k-100k miles · CVT only · sources: Honest John, Eclipse Cross Forum, Autodoc

Rear suspension noise and poor body control

Disputed

Owners and reviewers regularly criticise the rear end for creaks, clunks and knocks, and for getting unsettled over potholes, cambers and speed bumps, most often traced to sway bar mounts or bushes wearing or deforming. Honest John's review calls out the poor rear suspension directly and notes body lean in corners. It is debated how much of this is a genuine wear fault versus the car's soft, budget-tuned rear axle simply feeling that way from new, so buyers disagree on whether it counts as a fault at all.

Reported from new, worsens with age · sources: Honest John, Eclipse Cross Forum

Infotainment glitches and reboots

Emerging

The touchscreen and touchpad-controlled infotainment system is widely criticised as fiddly and outdated, and a number of owners report it freezing or rebooting itself while driving, along with sound system faults on early cars. Nothing about this puts the car at risk, but it is a common enough gripe that a dead or slow-to-respond screen at a test drive is not a one-off. Consumer Reports groups this with heater performance and other software gremlins on the earliest 2018-2019 cars specifically.

Mostly 2018-2019 cars · sources: Consumer Reports, CoPilot

Throttle response and low-speed pedal modulation

Disputed

Some owners report the accelerator pedal is difficult to modulate smoothly in slow traffic, giving a jerky, on-off feel at low speed rather than a fault that worsens with age. Honest John's owner-review coverage flags this as a recurring complaint, but it reads more like a characteristic of the drive-by-wire mapping than a wearing part, and not everyone experiences it the same way. Worth judging for yourself on a test drive in stop-start traffic rather than assuming it needs fixing.

Reported from new, no fix or recall · sources: Honest John

Timing chain and idle irregularities on the 1.5 turbo

Emerging

The 1.5 T-MIVEC turbo petrol has scattered reports of uneven or hunting idle speed and, in a smaller number of cases, a stretched timing chain giving a rattle on start-up, generally showing up well past 80,000-100,000 miles on cars that have missed oil changes. It is not a widely documented mass-failure pattern, but combined with the turbo's integrated exhaust manifold making any repair expensive, a healthy idle and a full service history are worth checking closely on this engine.

Reported 80k+ miles, service-history dependent · sources: cararac.com, Go-Parts technical guide

Viewing one? Ask this

Built from the two sections above.

Ask to see proof the hydraulic ECU recall has been carried out on cars built October 2017 to April 2018. If it hasn't, ABS, stability control and auto-braking may not intervene properly when needed.
Drive the CVT car through a full range of speeds, including a hard kickdown. A pronounced whine, flare or hesitation before it picks up drive points to the known CVT weakness.
Listen for creaks and knocks from the rear over a speed bump or rough patch. Persistent clunking suggests worn or deformed rear sway bar mounts or bushes.
Leave the infotainment screen on for several minutes and cycle through menus. Freezing, lag or an unprompted reboot is a known complaint, especially on 2018-2019 cars.
Crawl it in slow stop-start traffic rather than just accelerating hard. Jerky, hard-to-modulate throttle at low speed is a recurring but unresolved owner complaint.
Listen for a rattle on a cold start-up on the 1.5 turbo. Combined with high mileage and a patchy service history, this can point to timing chain wear.
Check the MOT history for repeated brake-related advisories. Given the model's measured brake fault signature, recurring brake advisories are worth querying with the seller directly.

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