Project Triton – Mitsubishi’s Limited Life Warranty

If you asked most Triton buyers why they chose the Triton over the other 4X4 utes available, I’d be comfortable to suggest that there would be two almost universal answers;

1/. It’s fantastic value for money compared to the competition
2/. It comes with a five year warranty

It’s hard to argue the first point, the Triton is extraordinary value for money. In fact, compared to the ML Triton GLX-R that I purchased new in 2007, the MY17 Exceed is massively better equipped, safer, quieter, drives substantially better and yet they both cost virtually the same money. That’s incredible even before you take into account the decade between each purchase.

Back in 2007 the Triton came with an industry leading 10 year warranty. From memory it was a five year full vehicle warranty with the drivetrain covered for an additional five years. That warranty was a big talking point among buyers and owners back in the day, and no-doubt played a large role in pumping Triton sales up at the time.

Fast forward ten years and Mitsubishi has dropped the additional five year drivetrain warranty, leaving new Triton buyers with a five-year vehicle warranty…or is it.

If you own an MQ Triton have a flick through your ‘Service and Warranty’ booklet and take a look at page 7. This page refers to a ‘Limited Life Warranty’ and lists a bunch of parts that Mitsubishi only warrants for 12 months or 20,000kms. Mitsubishi suggests that these components are “subject to normal wear and tear and that the use of your vehicle can influence the life of these components”. Fair call, but that summary could fairly be applied to every part that makes up a vehicle.

Now there are some items listed you can’t argue with, as wear and tear and potentially owner abuse can kill some consumables – brake pads, clutches and wiper rubbers come to mind for example – and no self respecting new vehicle owner would expect such items to be covered.

But see what you think about the following items being classified as having a ‘limited life’ and being dumped from the known five-year warranty and plonked into an unknown 12 month warranty, tucked away in the service book;

Glow plugs
Fuel injectors
Cooling and fuel lines or hoses
Rubber or plastic components

My main concerns are the glow plugs and fuel injectors. What owner wouldn’t reasonably expect to get five years or 100,000 kms from both of those items and accordingly have the vehicle’s full warranty cover them should they fail prematurely?

The same can be said of cooling and fuel line hoses. They can’t really be worn out prematurely by the owner, so why only a 12 month warranty?

The rubber and plastic components inclusion is amusing given the entire vehicle is made up of thousands of rubber and plastic parts, including many plastic items used in the engine and cooling system.

What happens if an injector fails outside of its Limited Life Warranty period and melts a piston? Is the engine still covered by the five year warranty?

It’s interesting to note that my MY15 Pajero service booklet has no mention of a Limited Life Warranty and Mitsubishi’s own website details their five year warranty but makes no mention of the Limited Life Warranty applying to any or all of their vehicles.

Is the entire Mitsubishi range now subject to this Limited Life Warranty or just the Triton and presumably the Pajero Sport?

I’m still completely confident that I purchased the right vehicle for our first build-up, but it’s worth noting that the five year warranty that comes with your new Triton is actually only a five year warranty on some components and a 12 month warranty on others.