2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse — 2.4L

The 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse marks the launch of a new generation, and the federal data shows a classic first-year spike: complaints jump from 138 in 1999 to 314, recalls remain elevated at 10, investigations return at 3 (after zero in 1999), and TSBs nearly triple from 51 to 140 — signaling manufacturers and regulators scrambling to address emerging issues. The top complaint area by a wide margin is Wheels (108 of 314 complaints), followed by Structure (35), Exterior Lighting (20), and Visibility (15), with 14 crash-related and 6 fire-related complaints recorded; the data does not specify root causes for any of these. This spike mirrors the previous generational reset in 1995, when complaints surged to 392 and recalls hit 13, then gradually declined over the subsequent four years — suggesting that first-year Eclipses consistently carry elevated risk that only subsides as the generation matures. The 2001 model year shows nearly identical complaint volume (316) and even higher TSBs (167), confirming that the 2000 launch problems persisted into at least a second year before complaints dropped sharply to 104 by 2002. Given that the 2000 sits at the peak of this generational learning curve with the highest TSB count in the entire dataset up to that point and a first-year complaint spike concentrated in Wheels, this is a model year to approach with caution — buyers should verify that all 10 recalls have been completed and scrutinize wheel and suspension components carefully, though a later year in the same generation (2002 or 2003) would be a meaningfully safer choice based on the data.