2014 Mitsubishi i-MiEV: Complaints, Recalls & Known Issues

NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 KG or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after March 1, 2021.On January 27, 2023, NHTSA opened Defect Petition (DP) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matter described in the petition. On June 24, 2023 and as supplemented on June 25, 2023, the petitioner notified NHTSA he was withdrawing his petition. The petitioner indicated that, based on his review of data, there is no justification for asserting potential benefits that could be derived from actions sought by my petition. Based on the petitioner's withdrawal, DP22-005 is closed. Closure of this DP does not represent a determination by NHTSA regarding the subject matter of the petition.

On May 10, 2019, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Recall Query RQ19-002 to investigate three complaints alleging brake vacuum pump failures after the remedies for Recalls 13V-031 and 14V-522 had been completed in model year (MY) 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV vehicles. The investigation was opened on model year (MY) 2010 through 2017 Mitsubishi i-MiEV vehicles to cover all products sold in the United States with the same vacuum pump (Recall 14V-522 included MY 2010 through 2014 i-MiEV vehicles). Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) provided information about nine (9) additional reports of brake vacuum pump failure in its response to ODI's information request letter for RQ-002 (MY 2012 - 8, MY 2014 - 1). In addition, MMNA's response indicated that there are no MY 2010 through 2011 i-MiEV vehicles currently in the United States (a small number of MY 2010 through 2011 pre-production i-MiEV demo vehicles were listed as scrapped or exported - four of these were included in the scope of 14V-522).On November 8, 2019, MMNA submitted a Defect Information Report (DIR) to NHTSA describing a defect in the brake vacuum pump in approximately 2,108 MY 2012 through 2017 Mitsubishi i-MiEV vehicles manufactured from October 28, 2011 through June 10, 2016 (NHTSA Recall 19V-804, Mitsubishi Recall SR-19-002). Mitsubishi's DIR identified a defect in the brake vacuum pump design that may allow water to penetrate the pump and cause internal corrosion, which may result in brake vacuum pump failure and increased risk of a vehicle crash. Recalled vehicles will have the vacuum pump replaced with a redesigned pump that has improved sealing and anti-corrosion performance.Mitsubishi's DIR indicates that the recall covers all i-MiEV vehicles sold in the United States, as U.S. sales began with MY 2012 and concluded with MY 2017.This investigation is closed based on Recall 19V-804. The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under the following ID numbers:11078966, 11171175, 11187483.