Class Action Request: Does the Mitsubishi Outlander Have a Disturbing Manufacturing Defect?

A recently filed class action filing alleges what appears to be a serial malfunction in the new Mitsubishi Outlander that causes the hood to vibrate excessively.

The importer invites the customers to check

Kenan Cohen

01/08/2022

Monday, August 01, 2022, 06:20 Updated: 06:28

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Mitsubishi Outlander, a bestseller with a solid reputation (Photo: Keinan Cohen)

It is one of the best sellers of the Israeli market in recent years, the king of the 7-seater Jeepney and a model that has earned itself a reputation as a durable, reliable and sought-after vehicle.

However, for customers who bought the current and fourth generation of the Mitsubishi Outlander, an unpleasant surprise awaited under the hood, or rather in the hood itself - according to evidence received by "Walla! Car" and as described in the request for a class action - a manufacturing defect in the hood and the design of the front of the vehicle Causes a particularly disturbing phenomenon of vibrations in the hood at intercity speed.

The source of those vibrations, it seems, is a combination of an elastic hood (an accepted practice to protect pedestrians) and a problem with the front design that results in air getting under the hood and shaking it.

This phenomenon of the hood looking like it's about to open while driving is described in the same way in Facebook groups of Outlander owners and WhatsApp groups of owners of the latest generation model.

The complaints about these characteristics are repeated again and again, as well as the statement that even after the repair carried out by the importer, the phenomenon does not disappear.

Some of the complaints about the hood of the Outlander (photo: screenshot, screenshot)

In the application for the class action filed by the lawyers Matan Garfinkel and Liad Wertzheiser, it is written that the phenomenon causes customers to fear that the hood is not properly closed and may rise or detach from the vehicle while driving.

According to the customers appearing in the request and other customers, in their opinion the importer who is aware of the problem does not take steps to solve the problem and that the solutions offered to them are "improvised" according to them.

In this they refer to Mitsubishi's instruction to the importer to install rubber bands in the area of ​​the hood, apparently with the aim of preventing the entry of air and the appearance of the vibrations in question.

According to them, in several cases, this solution was not there to prevent the appearance of vibrations at high speed.

According to the importer, at least in some cases, she was aware of the issue in advance and vehicles from the first shipment of 2021 received the supplement even before they were delivered to customers.

As far as we know, the customers were not informed upon delivery of the vehicle about the rubber inserts installed in the vehicle.

From Mitsubishi's service instructions that were not accepted in Israel to change to the reinforced hood (photo: screenshot, screenshot)

For one of the customers included in the lawsuit request, this was the story, when a few days after receiving the vehicle on August 17, 2021, the hood began to shake.

The first few times he would stop on the side of the road to make sure the hood was closed.

Repeating the same thing, he came in October to complain at the service center, but there he was told that "the vehicle is fine".

At the end of February 2022, when he came for periodic maintenance on the car, he was told by the service representative that the importer was aware of the problem and that rubber tires were installed on his car that were supposed to solve the problem.

Two months later, he returned to the service center with the same complaint, this time in a recorded conversation he was told, among other things, "There is a problem, there is nothing to be done. That's what it is, it's something in their production... a soft engine hood."

And once again the customer was left without a solution.

The customers complained about the engine hood shaking at high speed (Photo: Keinan Cohen)

In an official document from the manufacturer that came to us, following the phenomenon of the shaking hood, in other markets there is an instruction from the manufacturer to replace the entire hood with a reinforced version, one that should completely prevent the appearance of vibrations.

According to the importer, such an instruction did not reach them.

From messages on forums of Outlander owners in the United States it appears that replacing the hood does solve the problem definitively.

But the process of replacing the engine hood also has consequences.

In the opinion of the car appraiser Eli Amran, it is recorded that replacing the hood of the car will lead to a decrease in value of 4.1% of the price of the car due to the fact that replacing the hood will leave signs that can be diagnosed even by a non-professional eye and will leave signs such as differences in the color shade and the identification of the vehicle as one in which body parts have been replaced , which may deter a potential buyer.

On the other hand, even without replacing the hood, the car will be depreciated even higher at a rate of 5.6%, the reason: "This is a defect that will deter a potential buyer both because it is a significant disturbance in driving the car, and because a vibration in the hood will make a potential buyer think that this is a vehicle with poor assembly quality Which is not in line with what is expected from a car manufacturer like Mitsubishi."

Amran and Mosich explains, "in addition, it may cause a potential buyer to think that this is a vehicle that had an accident that was not properly repaired."

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To the full article

The amount of financial compensation requested by the defendants is described as "over 2.5 million shekels", but has not yet been finalized, it is expected to include the decrease in value of the vehicles in question, compensation for the working days the vehicle was in the garage, the loss of time and the anguish of the soul.

For her part, the importer stressed to us all along that any customer who encounters a problem is invited to go to the service centers where the vehicle will be checked and the issue will be addressed.

"These are Outlander vehicles that arrived in the first shipment in 2021. Upon becoming aware of the issue and in coordination with the manufacturer, we proposed and implemented an immediate solution, most of which was carried out even before the delivery of the vehicles. Of course, even today Kalmobil allows customers who purchased the vehicle to access to one of the company's service centers in order to check and handle the issue, as necessary. The treatment is of course free of charge."

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• Outlander

• Mitsubishi Outlander

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