AutoUtility currently tracks 168 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander. Powertrain & Transmission issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 69 complaints (41.1% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 9 filings cite a crash, 1 cites a fire, 6 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • • Total NHTSA Complaints: 168 reports
  • • #1 Reported Problem Area: Powertrain & Transmission (69 reports • 41.1% of submitted complaints)
  • • Secondary Problem Areas: Engine & Cooling (27), Brakes & Traction Control (27)
  • • Crash-Citing Complaints: 9 filings
  • • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 6 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
168
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
9
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
6
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 41.1% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

69 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 1 crash report
#2 Problem Area 16.1% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

27 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 2 crash reports 🔥 1 fire report 🩹 1 injury report entry
#3 Problem Area 16.1% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

27 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 3 crash reports 🩹 2 injury report entries
#4 Problem Area 13.1% of complaints

Body & Structure

22 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 3 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 1 crash report 🩹 1 injury report entry
#5 Problem Area 10.1% of complaints

Electrical System

17 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 2 crash reports 🔥 1 fire report 🩹 2 injury report entries
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11752307
Filed: 07/23/2026

"The car itself should not be sold considering the number of complaints about the transmission issues. I’ve only had the car a month and Its started to stall and jerks when in acceleration. The gears started to not shift properly and the car would not go over 20 miles without jerking. I took the car..."

Incident Date: 07/05/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11718389
Filed: 02/17/2026

"transmission went out"

Incident Date: 01/29/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Brakes & Traction Control NHTSA ODI ID: #11700107
Filed: 11/18/2025

"The contact owns a 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander. The contact stated that upon manually activating the parking brake, the vehicle failed to respond as intended. The vehicle was taken to Jack's Independent Service Inc, where it was diagnosed and determined that the parking brake operating shafts were..."

Incident Date: 10/07/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: PARKING BRAKE
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11693850
Filed: 10/16/2025

"The contact owns a 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that the failure occurred repeatedly after..."

Incident Date: 10/16/2023 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11689068
Filed: 09/23/2025

"On the freeway TRANSMISSION FAILURE SERVICE light came on and the cars acceleration geared, had to immediately pull over on the side of the freeway, restarted the car with emergency lights to get out of the freeway. Vehicle would not accelerate much and the rpm was switching fast up and down. Check..."

Incident Date: 09/09/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Mitsubishi Outlander

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Mitsubishi Outlander 234 7 5 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Mitsubishi Outlander Current Page 168 9 8 Current
2017 Mitsubishi Outlander 51 7 6 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Mitsubishi Outlander 70 8 6 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Mitsubishi Outlander 30 5 5 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Mitsubishi Outlander 31 5 3 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Mitsubishi Outlander 0 0 2 View 2021 Problems →
2022 Mitsubishi Outlander 212 14 9 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Mitsubishi Outlander 46 2 2 View 2023 Problems →
2024 Mitsubishi Outlander 26 3 1 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Mitsubishi Outlander 16 4 1 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Mitsubishi Outlander 0 0 0 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 61 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 46 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 12 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 9 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 9 0 0 0 0
Doors, Latches & Locks NHTSA category: LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 7 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 7 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 4 3 0 3 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 4 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 3 0 0 0 0
PARKING BRAKE 3 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 3 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 3 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 3 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 2 0 1 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 2 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 2 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 1 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS 1 1 0 1 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
Engine & Cooling NHTSA category: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE,STRUCTURE,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
PARKING BRAKE,SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 0 0
PARKING BRAKE,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
Seats & Restraints NHTSA category: SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 1 0 1 0
STEERING,AIR BAGS 1 1 0 1 0
STEERING,POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 1 0 0 0
STEERING,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,STRUCTURE,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
STRUCTURE,SERVICE BRAKES,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 1 0 1 0
STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,PARKING BRAKE,STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY 1 0 0 0 0
Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (168). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.

Related Official Reports for 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander

Cross-reference safety recalls, crash test safety ratings, and EPA fuel economy for this model year

Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.