Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,245,377 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA, including 140,173 crashes, 56,794 fires, and 8,580 deaths.
What is a NHTSA consumer complaint?
A consumer complaint is a free-form report filed by a vehicle owner directly to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) describing a safety concern about their vehicle. NHTSA collects these reports through its Vehicle Owner Defect Report (VOQ) system and publishes them publicly. Each complaint includes the affected component, the date and circumstances of the incident, whether the failure caused a crash or fire, and any reported injuries or deaths. The owner's full narrative description is included verbatim, NHTSA does not edit or moderate the descriptions.
The database below contains over 2,245,377 individual complaints. NHTSA's investigators monitor it for clusters of similar reports, when enough owners describe the same failure mode on the same vehicle, NHTSA may open a Preliminary Evaluation that can lead to a recall. Many of the largest recalls in U.S. history, including the Takata airbag recall and the Hyundai/Kia engine fire recalls, started as patterns visible in this complaint database years before they became formal recalls.
How to interpret what you read
A few principles for reading consumer complaints usefully:
- One complaint is anecdote; a hundred similar complaints is data. NHTSA does not investigate the truthfulness of any individual report, that's the job of the Office of Defects Investigation, which looks at the full pattern. When evaluating a vehicle, look for whether multiple owners describe the same chain of events.
- Crash, fire, injury, and death flags are owner-set. They are not verified by NHTSA. They are still useful as a filter, because owners who tick those boxes are typically reporting more serious incidents than those who don't.
- Component categories are NHTSA-assigned, not owner-assigned. NHTSA standardizes the component field so that complaints can be aggregated. The owner narrative often goes into more detail than the component category captures.
- Complaint volume scales with sales volume. A best-selling model will accumulate more raw complaints than a niche model even at the same defect rate. To compare across vehicles, look at complaints per 100,000 units sold, not raw counts.
If you've experienced a defect
File a complaint. NHTSA's investigators rely on this database to detect emerging defects, and useful complaints, specific, concrete, with dates and mileage and clear descriptions of what happened, feed directly into the agency's pattern detection. The form takes about 10 minutes and is at nhtsa.gov/recalls under "Report a Safety Problem." Your complaint becomes part of the same public record that this page is built from. Owners filing detailed VOQs are how recalls get triggered.
Read more from our blog
Showing 19,021 complaints for LINCOLN
Incident date: Nov 30, 2022
Prior issue 11497970 reported on 12/19/2022. Car stopped without warning in traffic on November 30 and would not start or switch gears to neutral. Towed to Hines Park Lincoln and spent 16 days in the repair shop. It was returned to me on December 15. On December 20, I started the car to drive it for a first test drive around the block. It traveled 2 houses and stopped. After several tries, I got... Read more
Incident date: Nov 30, 2022
Prior issue 11497970 reported on 12/19/2022. Car stopped without warning in traffic on November 30 and would not start or switch gears to neutral. Towed to Hines Park Lincoln and spent 16 days in the repair shop. It was returned to me on December 15. On December 20, I started the car to drive it for a first test drive around the block. It traveled 2 houses and stopped. After several tries, I got... Read more
Incident date: Nov 30, 2022
Prior issue 11497970 reported on 12/19/2022. Car stopped without warning in traffic on November 30 and would not start or switch gears to neutral. Towed to Hines Park Lincoln and spent 16 days in the repair shop. It was returned to me on December 15. On December 20, I started the car to drive it for a first test drive around the block. It traveled 2 houses and stopped. After several tries, I got... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2022
Brake Booster faulty almost caused me to not to be able to come to a complete stop in traffic. My thoughts were that I needed to have brakes replaced. I did have front and back replaced. But braking are still the same the same ..not coming to a complete stop, hissing sound.
Incident date: Jan 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2012 Lincoln MKT. The contact stated that the twin-turbo became inoperable. The contact stated that oil was entering the exhaust and the contact was unable to see other vehicles. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the turbo needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the fai... Read more
LINCOLN
MKT
(2012) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:OTHER FUEL TYPES:TURBO/SUPERCHARGER
Dec 20, 2022
Incident date: Jan 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2012 Lincoln MKT. The contact stated that the twin-turbo became inoperable. The contact stated that oil was entering the exhaust and the contact was unable to see other vehicles. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the turbo needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the fai... Read more
Incident date: Nov 30, 2022
The car unexpectantly stopped on Nov. 30 and would not start on a residential road close to a traffic light. It totally conked out and nothing worked except for the hazard lights. Cars had to be diverted around us in busy traffic, The tow truck driver could not get it in neutral and had to take something apart on the dashboard console. The dealership worked for days pulling the plugs, cleaning the... Read more
LINCOLN
CONTINENTAL
(2017) - BACK OVER PREVENTION
Dec 15, 2022
Incident date: Aug 13, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Lincoln Continental. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V644000 (Back Over Prevention) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that he had experienced a clouded rear view camera image. The contact stated that he contacted the dealer and was informed that parts were not yet available. The contact stated that th... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2022
Windshield wipers will stop working when driving in weather that requires the windshield wipers. They stop in place and will not move even when trying to move them manually. This is an intermittent problem. The windshield wipers will reset and start working after a period of 6+ hours of the car being turned off. This happened on 12/1/22 and 12/10/22 while driving the car. Car dealership wil... Read more
Incident date: Oct 20, 2022
TSB 19-2346 ... Engine gives no warning until to late ... Then multiple warnings and alarms happen all at once ... says the car is overheating but before you have time to react (Like pulling over) the alarms clear ... engine light is only warning on ... This could cause the motor to seize or stop running loosing power steering and control ... This has been known since 2019 when TSB-19-2346 was an... Read more
Incident date: Dec 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Lincoln MKC. The contact stated that while at the dealer for routine maintenance, the mechanic discovered multiple wheel lug nuts had swollen and the wheels could not be removed using the standard wrench supplied by the manufacturer. The contact indicated that the failure was present on each of the four wheels. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The contact wa... Read more
Incident date: Dec 8, 2022
The Brake Booster on my vehicle failed. I had it replaced and two years later it failed again. Many owners of the 2013 Lincoln MKX have this same issue. This is very dangerous and it putting my families and others lives in danger if my brakes were to completely fail while driving down the highway. There should be some kind of recall on this as I have seen thousands of complaints for the same thing... Read more
Incident date: Oct 9, 2022
I was travelling down an interstate highway in my vehicle when I noticed several momentary losses of engine power over the course of approximately five minutes. These moments became more frequent over the next two to three minutes, then the engine abruptly shut down with no power when pressing the accelerator and no warning lights. Only after I restarted my vehicle did I receive a powertrain fault... Read more
Incident date: Nov 23, 2022
The contact owns a 2021 Lincoln Navigator. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the power steering suddenly malfunctioned causing the steering wheel to become very difficult the turn in either direction. Additionally, the instrument panel display became distorted and unreadable, the brake light remained illuminated, and the vehicle would not properly accelerate. The vehicle was tak... Read more
Incident date: Nov 23, 2022
The contact owns a 2021 Lincoln Navigator. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the power steering suddenly malfunctioned causing the steering wheel to become very difficult the turn in either direction. Additionally, the instrument panel display became distorted and unreadable, the brake light remained illuminated, and the vehicle would not properly accelerate. The vehicle was tak... Read more
Incident date: Nov 10, 2022
The contact's grandmother owned a 2012 Lincoln MKT. The contact stated that when his grandmother was starting the vehicle, she experienced a loss of power steering assist. The power steering assist warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the steering column needed to be replaced. The contact was made aware of NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V340... Read more
Incident date: Oct 19, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Lincoln MKZ. The contact stated while stopped at a traffic signal with her foot on the brake pedal, the vehicle suddenly accelerated to approximately 10 MPH and crashed into the rear of the vehicle in front of her. The contact's vehicle crashed two times into the rear of the other vehicle. The contact said she was able to place the vehicle in park (P) and turned it off. The... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Nov 21, 2022
The contact owns a 2005 Lincoln Town Car. The contact stated that the windshield wipers became inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 92,000. The consumer stated wipers are only turned on when raining, back warning only works when backi... Read more
Incident date: Nov 21, 2022
The contact owns a 2013 Lincoln MKZ. The contact stated while driving 45 mph, he saw smoke entering through the vents. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact continued driving the vehicle to a near friend's residence. The contact stated when he open the hood he saw the fire was located on the engine. The contact was able to extinguish the fire with water nearby. The conta... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Nov 21, 2022
The contact owns a 2013 Lincoln MKZ. The contact stated while driving 45 mph, he saw smoke entering through the vents. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact continued driving the vehicle to a near friend's residence. The contact stated when he open the hood he saw the fire was located on the engine. The contact was able to extinguish the fire with water nearby. The conta... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Nov 12, 2022
The backup camera and 360 degree camera periodically malfunction and display a blue image. The backup camera does not work again until I restart the vehicle. This has happened both on a roadway while parallel parking and in a parking garage.
Incident date: Nov 12, 2022
The backup camera and 360 degree camera periodically malfunction and display a blue image. The backup camera does not work again until I restart the vehicle. This has happened both on a roadway while parallel parking and in a parking garage.
Incident date: Nov 23, 2022
Speedometer light randomly goes off every time I drive the car and it is difficult to see the speed I am driving
Incident date: Nov 23, 2022
Speedometer light randomly goes off every time I drive the car and it is difficult to see the speed I am driving
Incident date: Nov 23, 2022
First incident 10-15-2019 (purchased used vehicle 09-30-19) Exiting freeway at 55mph and suddenly brakes stopped working( was able to pull aside) then brakes worked normal again. Took vehicle to check breaks and nothing wrong was found. Second incident 02-17-2020 Driving son to school at 35mhp brakes stopped working while doing a right turn and ran over sidewalk to avoid hitting vehicle in front. ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Nov 23, 2022
First incident 10-15-2019 (purchased used vehicle 09-30-19) Exiting freeway at 55mph and suddenly brakes stopped working( was able to pull aside) then brakes worked normal again. Took vehicle to check breaks and nothing wrong was found. Second incident 02-17-2020 Driving son to school at 35mhp brakes stopped working while doing a right turn and ran over sidewalk to avoid hitting vehicle in front. ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Nov 23, 2022
First incident 10-15-2019 (purchased used vehicle 09-30-19) Exiting freeway at 55mph and suddenly brakes stopped working( was able to pull aside) then brakes worked normal again. Took vehicle to check breaks and nothing wrong was found. Second incident 02-17-2020 Driving son to school at 35mhp brakes stopped working while doing a right turn and ran over sidewalk to avoid hitting vehicle in front. ... Read more
Crash
LINCOLN
MKZ HYBRID
(2014) - FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE
Nov 22, 2022
Incident date: Nov 21, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid. The contact stated while driving approximately 5 MPH and accelerating from a stop at a traffic signal the vehicle stalled in the middle of traffic. The contact placed the vehicle in park(P) and attempted to restart the vehicle. The contact stated that several attempts were needed to restart the vehicle. The contact heard an abnormal sound coming from the... Read more
Incident date: Nov 9, 2022
There is a design flaw in the way coolant flows around the engine block which allows coolant to leak into cylinder 3 the result of which is the mix of coolant and motor oil damages the engine with no probability of repair. The only recourse is engine replacement. A Ford service bulletin as to this issue has been issued by Ford to its Service Departments. A design change in the motor block has s... Read more
Incident date: Nov 12, 2022
Front sub frame rusted out completely on drivers side, passenger side is fine. The frame could separate at any time which could cause you to loss control of car without warning. Took car to get lower control arm replaced and repair shop saw rust damage to sub frame and took pictures. Called Ford to tell them about issue, they are having a dealer inspect it on 11/25/2022.
Incident date: Nov 18, 2022
I remote started my SUV I got in after 7 minutes put it in reverse heard a loud noise and my panoramic sunroof shattered in on me. There was nothing on it, nothing hit it, it just shattered and rained glass down on me.
Incident date: Nov 18, 2022
The contact owns a 2003 Lincoln Aviator equipped with Cooper Tires, Tire Line: Hercules HTS-Terra-Trac, Tire Size 245/65/R17, DOT Number: (N/A). The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the driver's side front tire sidewall separated in the center. There were no warning lights illuminated. The local dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The contact stated that the failu... Read more
Incident date: Nov 18, 2022
The contact owns a 2003 Lincoln Aviator equipped with Cooper Tires, Tire Line: Hercules HTS-Terra-Trac, Tire Size 245/65/R17, DOT Number: (N/A). The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the driver's side front tire sidewall separated in the center. There were no warning lights illuminated. The local dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The contact stated that the failu... Read more
Incident date: Nov 13, 2022
The contact owned a 2008 Lincoln MKX. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V001000 (Air Bags) and later Campaign Number: 21V158000 (Air Bags) however, the parts to do the repairs were unavailable. The contact had made several attempts to set up recall appointments, however, the dealer kept advising her that the parts were not available. The contact stated that while drivin... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 6, 2020
The contact owns a 2012 Lincoln MKS. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH and attempting to honk the horn, there was no sound coming from the horn. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the mechanic stated that the steering column control module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired because the parts were discontinued. The manufacturer was contacted but offered no assistance bec... Read more
Incident date: Apr 6, 2020
The contact owns a 2012 Lincoln MKS. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH and attempting to honk the horn, there was no sound coming from the horn. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the mechanic stated that the steering column control module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired because the parts were discontinued. The manufacturer was contacted but offered no assistance bec... Read more
Incident date: Nov 3, 2022
After getting an oil change and battery software update, I headed home. Before arriving home the warning light to service Power steering and traction control came on. Returned to dealer, they said the power steering needed to be calibrated. Left and before making it home power steering stopped working and warning lights returned. Dealer has stated the power steering gear needs to be replaced but b... Read more
Incident date: Nov 14, 2022
2018 LINCOLN MKZ. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARD TO FAULTY FUEL PUMP. THE CONSUMER IS REQUESTING TO BE REIMBURSED FOR THE FAULTY FUEL PUMP.
Incident date: Nov 7, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Lincoln MKX. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds with her seat belt fastened, the front driver’s side seat belt loosened upon movement in the seat, without warning. The contact also stated that the seat belt failed to retract while attempting to unbuckle the seat belt. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was... Read more
Incident date: Nov 7, 2022
Vehicle would not start. Did not recognize key fob, phone app for engine start or the password.
Incident date: Nov 10, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Lincoln MKT. The contact stated while driving after the vehicle had been in idling for 4-5 minutes, there was an excessive amount of smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was making abnormal rattling sounds while driving at various speeds. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle occasionally... Read more
Incident date: Nov 4, 2022
The contact owns a 2008 Lincoln MKX. The contact stated that while his son was pulling up to a stop sign prior to pulling into oncoming traffic and noticed a dump truck speeding that lost control and eventually crashed into the passenger side door. No air bags deployed. The driver had received injuries to their shoulder, arm, and minor whiplash. No medical attention was needed. The driver of the t... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Nov 9, 2022
Went to the dealer for oil change & tire rotation. Service department told me they could not do the tire rotation due to the fact they could not remove the lug nuts. They wanted me to buy new lug nuts at a cost of $334.00. I declined, decided to research on my own to replace. Hopefully I don’t have to worry about a wheel falling off.
Incident date: Nov 9, 2022
Went to the dealer for oil change & tire rotation. Service department told me they could not do the tire rotation due to the fact they could not remove the lug nuts. They wanted me to buy new lug nuts at a cost of $334.00. I declined, decided to research on my own to replace. Hopefully I don’t have to worry about a wheel falling off.
Incident date: Oct 28, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Lincoln Navigator. The contact stated while driving approximately 10 MPH and reversing into a parking space, the brake pedal was depressed and went to the floorboard and failed to stop the vehicle as needed. The contact stated the vehicle was stopped by the curb. The contact stated that the low brake fluid warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that she purchased... Read more
Incident date: Nov 7, 2022
The contact owns a 2006 Lincoln Zephyr. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V904000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. Th... Read more
Incident date: Jan 6, 2019
The brake booster went out, as well as the PTU
Incident date: Jan 6, 2019
The brake booster went out, as well as the PTU
Incident date: Sep 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2008 Lincoln MKZ. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle overheated, and smoke was coming inside the cabin through the A/C vents. The contact was able to veer to the side of the road to inspect the vehicle and noticed that coolant was leaking onto the ground. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the thermostat was replaced; however, the f... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Sep 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2008 Lincoln MKZ. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle overheated, and smoke was coming inside the cabin through the A/C vents. The contact was able to veer to the side of the road to inspect the vehicle and noticed that coolant was leaking onto the ground. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the thermostat was replaced; however, the f... Read more
Crash