After my purchase of a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse gts, at ira Nissan in tewksbury mass. I took the car to a mechanic. I was told that there were numerous problems with it including a transmission problem. I possessed the car for a day and a half and it has been in the shop now ever since. It has been about twelve days now. I have been going back and fourth between ira and a Mitsubishi dealer which they are affiliated with. They told me that the noise in the front of the car is where the transmission is. The noise which sounds like rocks flying around in the front. The dealer said this noise is normal. The ira general manager also told me that it is normal for my car to go up to the H on the hot and cold gauge. He said his does it all the time. Ira said that this issue was fixed. I have not seen nor driven the car yet since I brought it back so I do not know what is fixed and what is not fixed. I called the Mitsubishi motors headquarters in Texas, and gave then my VIN number and they said there are absolutely no recall on the transmission of this specific car, nor should this noise be occurring. I also went on safercar.gov and they too said the only recall on this car is about lights. I also called ira 3 days ago and they told me that they lost my title and I can't register my car either. Now I need some information on my options and where to go from here.

- Burlington, MA, USA

2003 Eclipse emits rattle from the clutch/transaxle since about 30000 miles.

- Oakwood, OH, USA

I have only had the car for a little over a year. I have absolutely loved the car besides having to take it in within like 3 months to replace a deffective transmission. I have am a person that have been in many close accident calls throughout my life so I am not a person who takes the car to the limit whatsoever. I have had defective cars all my life. My first car I was in a near death call in my first accident when a man in a rush decided to try to pass me while I was doing a U-turn. My second I bought for $4000 and put over 2K in it trying to get it fixed and running. My third car I bought was a Toyota Camry. It was a great car but also had to put $1,500 into a car I bought for only lik 5K, when the manufacturer told me that they couldnt fix the problem and I had wasted every dime I had on this car. My last and present car is my 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT. My mother didn't like all the problems I was having with all of my previous cars, so when I received an academic scholarship to any school in Florida she went out and bought me the Eclipse. To get back to the problem at hand, at 10,000 miles I started having problems with my clutch. The car will severely jerk when switching gears every time I start the car. I took the car into my local Mitsubishi dealer and they told me it was not under warranty which didn't make sense. The car was under 12K miles and I thought there was a warranty up till then. Anyways, I am not the person to argue so I said "ok" and went on my way. Well, it has gotten worse and I believe could have played a large part in my only other accident. But the bad thing is that now I am at 14, 438 miles, which either way is over the 12K mile warranty if there was one. I have all original receipts to prove that I started having clutch problems before I hit 12K miles and I am not sure if I can do anything. I got a quote of over $1,000 to buy the clutch and install it. What can I do?

- Ocala, FL, USA

Selecting the second gear of my car often causes undesirable "grinding" and under no circumstances can that gear by used. This is a safety issue because I do not have power on demand and could cause an accident if the gear does not go in properly.

- Mankato, MN, USA

My clutch had to be replaced at only 14,500 miles. Problems were evident at around 10,000 miles and became considerably worse in time. I have driven a manual transmission for 15 years and have never raced and did not ride the clutch. My last car's clutch lasted in excess of 100,000 miles without fault. The service manager at my dealership told me that it appears to be a factory defect. However, since the warranty on the clutch expires at 12,000 miles, I have to pay for the part. The problem became obvious when my transmission spun as I tried to go from a stop up a hill. My car basically became stuck in traffic on a dangerous section of roadway and it was luck that I was not involved in a side-impact collision. If this had happened on a railroad track or a drawbridge, I see this problem as potentially life-threatening. It is my understanding that many people have reported this problem to Mitsubishi motors and that they are working on a possible replacement clutch. Their efforts are too late for me. I urge the NHTSA to require that Mitsubishi motors replace defective clutches free of charge or reimburse those (such as myself) who had to pay out of pocket to repair what is obviously a factory defect.

- Kirkland, WA, USA

My 2003 Eclipse GT is hard to down shift into 2nd and 1st. The dealer says this is normal for these cars. My car also grinds going into 3rd gear sometimes.

- Marysville, WA, USA