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: Aug 1, 2022
This safety feature for braking, collision, warning. and adaptive cruise control fails on the majority of MKCs and simple google search shows the frequency in online forums of this system consistently failing.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2022
This safety feature for braking, collision, warning. and adaptive cruise control fails on the majority of MKCs and simple google search shows the frequency in online forums of this system consistently failing.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2022
This safety feature for braking, collision, warning. and adaptive cruise control fails on the majority of MKCs and simple google search shows the frequency in online forums of this system consistently failing.
Incident date: Aug 2, 2022
I believe my car uses Takata Airbags and it has been over a year since the recall was issued. No remedy has been suggested.
Incident date: Jul 27, 2022
Power Steering Assist light came on on startup, unable to steer car. Lincoln reports steering rack needs to be replaced, and our car is not covered under the existing recall.
Incident date: Jul 29, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 Lincoln MKX. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the brake pedal depressed to the floorboard. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the brake needed to be serviced. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage... Read more
Incident date: Jun 6, 2022
Vehicle randomly downshifts at speed causing sudden and jarring loss of speed. Vehicle will eventually and intermittently flash a service wrench error, speedometer stops working, and displays "000 Miles to Empty" message. Diagnosed at the dealer as a failing Molded Lead Frame. There was extended warranty coverage to 150,000 miles due to this being a know faulty part but my vehicle was over the mil... Read more
Incident date: Jul 28, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Lincoln MKS. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel seized with the "Steering Assist Fault, Service Required" message displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to file a complaint with the NHTS... Read more
Incident date: Jun 4, 2017
The contact owns a 2014 Lincoln MKT. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH and attempting to overtake another vehicle, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle did not respond. The contact stated that he floored the accelerator pedal however, the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that the failure occurred intermittently and at various speeds. The contac... Read more
Incident date: Jul 27, 2022
While driving, my passenger front brake line bursted. This is not normal and should not have happened. I had my kids in the car. I was able to coast into a parking lot to get off the road. There was no road hazards either at the time of the incident. There is no know cause to me as to why this happened. There is a known recall for this happening but not tied to my specific vin.
Incident date: Jan 10, 2022
Vehicle serviced for cam shutter. They only flashed the computer. Did not fix the mechanical problem. Engine failure shortly afterwards at 100k. Loss of power, stalled after vehicle came to rest, could not restart. Towed to nearby dealership. Complete engine failure. Entire engine replaced by Ford Dealership near Corpus Christi -- 15k.
Incident date: Jul 25, 2022
I purchased a new 2022 Lincoln Navigator Reserve L and just took a 3000 mile road trip and used their Active Glide driver assistance extensively and have uncovered a MAJOR safety issue with their system. The issue I found is that when using the adaptive cruise control feature the system will sometimes read a car in the adjacent lane as moving in front of my vehicle and apply the brakes very hard ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 25, 2022
I purchased a new 2022 Lincoln Navigator Reserve L and just took a 3000 mile road trip and used their Active Glide driver assistance extensively and have uncovered a MAJOR safety issue with their system. The issue I found is that when using the adaptive cruise control feature the system will sometimes read a car in the adjacent lane as moving in front of my vehicle and apply the brakes very hard ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 25, 2022
I purchased a new 2022 Lincoln Navigator Reserve L and just took a 3000 mile road trip and used their Active Glide driver assistance extensively and have uncovered a MAJOR safety issue with their system. The issue I found is that when using the adaptive cruise control feature the system will sometimes read a car in the adjacent lane as moving in front of my vehicle and apply the brakes very hard ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2018
Rear view camera intermittently does not work. Rear view mirrors don’t provide enough field of view to see all behind the car without assistance of the camera. Vehicle shows error message.
Incident date: Jul 19, 2022
I have had to replace wheel bearing and axle every few months because of premature wear and causing driving to be a safety concern. Once it wears thin, the car shakes and wobbles and the tire almost snapped off twice.
Incident date: Jul 19, 2022
I have had to replace wheel bearing and axle every few months because of premature wear and causing driving to be a safety concern. Once it wears thin, the car shakes and wobbles and the tire almost snapped off twice.
Incident date: Jul 19, 2022
Brake pedal will go all the way to floor. Very soft pedal. For over a year we have talked to the dealers around Home. They all say Ford and Lincoln don’t have a problem. I talked to Lincoln concierge and she said if it became a safety issue to contact a dealer. It was still on the csp recall at the time. But I was told it expired. I paid to get the car worked on and had a pedal again. Now it’s... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2022
The contact owns a 2010 Lincoln MKS. The contact stated that upon placing her vehicle into park(P), the temperature gauge indicated that the engine was hot. The engine then failed to restart after the failure. The contact had the vehicle towed to a dealer where she was informed that the water pump was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicl... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2022
Our car is in excellent running and cosmetic condition. It has been well maintained and garaged and never in an accident. Recently my wife was driving and was getting angry gestures, honking, and yells from other cars. She discovered that her breaklights and blinkers were not functioning. It is an intermittent problem. It took the ford dealer multiple days to be able to recreate the problem. They ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2022
Driving down the road all of a sudden Accutrac warning came up and then check brake system. The brakes were like a sponge and stopping was very difficult and required using emergency brake. Shut car off for a few minutes and then problem went away. Then it did it again. This is the same exact issue a recall was issued for the 2006-2010 model of Lincoln MKZ hybrid. Mine is a 2011 but built in the ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Lincoln MKZ. The contact stated while driving 45 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated intermittently. The contact was able to continue driving to her destination. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic who associated the failure with NHTSA Campaign Number: 17V427000 (Power Train) however, the VIN was not included. The vehicle was not repaired. Th... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2022
When the weather is hot (over 85F), the backup camera and alerts randomly stop working. The screen either goes black or moves up in multiple frames.
LINCOLN
CONTINENTAL
(2017) - SUSPENSION
Jul 14, 2022
Incident date: Aug 15, 2018
The contact owns a 2017 Lincoln Continental. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH, the driver's side rear tire experienced a blowout. The blowout was on the middle of the tire. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact was informed that the tire failure was due to a rear axle and wheel misalignment failure. The dealer repaired the vehicle and replaced the tire; however... Read more
LINCOLN
CONTINENTAL
(2018) - UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Jul 11, 2022
Incident date: Jul 9, 2022
On July 09, 2022 I delivered my vehicle to Heller Ford 700 Main Street El Paso, IL, (309) 527-6050 to have my original Cabin Air Filter eeplaced with a unit which I supplied. Their technician performed a commendable removal of the original unit. He found the original Motor Craft Cabin Air Filter had deteriated to a black fragmented crust which had clogged the blower motor to the extent the motor h... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 7, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Lincoln MKC. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked unattended in the garage, it caught fire. The fire department extinguished the fire. There were no reported injuries, property damage or police report filed. The contact called the local dealer but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified but no additional assistance. The appr... Read more
Fire
Incident date: May 1, 2022
Driver side Headlight goes on and off. Signal light not working. Dealership said new BCM is needed and unfortunately they have been discontinued/obsolete for this vehicle
Incident date: May 1, 2022
Driver side Headlight goes on and off. Signal light not working. Dealership said new BCM is needed and unfortunately they have been discontinued/obsolete for this vehicle
Incident date: Jun 28, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Lincoln MKC. The contact stated that while the wife was driving into an intersection the vehicle crashed into a second vehicle. During the crash, the front of the vehicle was severely damaged but only the front driver air bag located under the dashboard console had partially deployed. No other airbags in the vehicle were deployed to provide protection to the driver. No in... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 11, 2021
This 2021 Lincoln Corsair is equipped with Auto Start/Stop technology. Auto Start/Stop Technology automatically shuts off the engine when the vehicle comes to a full stop and idles for more than a few seconds. Once the driver puts pressure on the accelerator, then the engine turns back on. It's simple, and some say it can save between 3-5% of gas in stop-and-go traffic. My car while s... Read more
Incident date: Dec 11, 2021
This 2021 Lincoln Corsair is equipped with Auto Start/Stop technology. Auto Start/Stop Technology automatically shuts off the engine when the vehicle comes to a full stop and idles for more than a few seconds. Once the driver puts pressure on the accelerator, then the engine turns back on. It's simple, and some say it can save between 3-5% of gas in stop-and-go traffic. My car while s... Read more
Incident date: Dec 11, 2021
This 2021 Lincoln Corsair is equipped with Auto Start/Stop technology. Auto Start/Stop Technology automatically shuts off the engine when the vehicle comes to a full stop and idles for more than a few seconds. Once the driver puts pressure on the accelerator, then the engine turns back on. It's simple, and some say it can save between 3-5% of gas in stop-and-go traffic. My car while s... Read more
Incident date: Jul 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Lincoln MKZ. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed but went to the floorboard. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number 22V011000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulics) for whi... Read more
Incident date: Aug 7, 2015
The contact owns a 1997 Lincoln Town Car. The contact stated while driving at 40 MPH, another vehicle crashed into the front passenger side of the vehicle. The vehicle that crashed into the contact was driving at approximately 55 MPH. The air bags failed to deploy. There were no injuries reported. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The contact had a second accid... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jun 14, 2022
The roof of my Lincoln 2022 roof leaks water above the driver seat during rain, while driving, or when the car is parked. I checked the sunroof, but there is no sign of a water leak from around the seal. It looks like the water is entering the roof panel either from the front windshield glass or elsewhere. The water drips on the driver seat and the steering wheel and has caused discoloration to t... Read more
Incident date: Jun 14, 2022
The roof of my Lincoln 2022 roof leaks water above the driver seat during rain, while driving, or when the car is parked. I checked the sunroof, but there is no sign of a water leak from around the seal. It looks like the water is entering the roof panel either from the front windshield glass or elsewhere. The water drips on the driver seat and the steering wheel and has caused discoloration to t... Read more
Incident date: Jun 26, 2022
engine temperature warning light came on. engine coolant leaked out. engine die while we were waiting for help on the side of I-15 freeway. The vehicle is now at Lincoln dealership for repair. They also told me that there is a faulty fuel pump code that they are looking at. They told me that the factory did not place a water hose in the properly designed placement. The truck die at about 500 miles... Read more
Incident date: Jun 29, 2022
Takata recall. The contact owns a 2011 Lincoln MKZ. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V158000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had... Read more
Incident date: Jun 28, 2022
There is a recall already for this problem except our 17 Lincoln wasn’t included in it. We are experiencing this issue right now. Campaign # 22V150000
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Lincoln Navigator. The contact stated while making a left turn, the vehicle started to stall and seized. The contact stated that an unknown power train warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to restart the vehicle and continued driving to her destination. The contact stated she continued to experience the failure. The contact took the vehicle to the local deale... Read more
Incident date: Jun 3, 2022
The contact owns a 2003 Lincoln Town Car. The contact stated while his son was driving on the highway, the accelerator pedal was slightly released; however, the vehicle stopped instantly. There was no warning light illuminated. The driver was able to drive to his destination safely. The vehicle was towed to the contact's workplace. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic to b... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
UNKNOWN - When I'm driving at a lower speed, I will feel a bounce back in the brake or gas pedal and will receive 4 different alerts on my dashboard (hill start unavailable, service auto trac and a couple others). Once this happens, I loose power steering and it becomes difficult to turn my wheel. At times, this will happen when I am reversing and caused my car to go into neutral on it's own. When... Read more
Incident date: Jun 27, 2022
When I was at the dealership today, I was informed the lug nuts on my car have swollen and that if they are not replaced I probably will not be able to change a spare tire alongside the road if needed. I was informed that there is a manufacturing defect that Ford is aware of, but has not recalled yet.
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
MKX has 75000 miles on it and the tss and oss sensors have gone out. Car goes into limp mode and will barely move, it shifts very hard, speed odometer quits and all the warning lights come on. If you stop let it sit and restart car it resets issue but you never know when it will happen again. It can happen at cruising speed or at start of car. VERY unsafe
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
MKX has 75000 miles on it and the tss and oss sensors have gone out. Car goes into limp mode and will barely move, it shifts very hard, speed odometer quits and all the warning lights come on. If you stop let it sit and restart car it resets issue but you never know when it will happen again. It can happen at cruising speed or at start of car. VERY unsafe
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2010 Lincoln MKZ. The contact stated that while in the car wash the transmission was shifted back to the Driver position when suddenly the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle and crash into a pair of the iron post. During the crash, the front of the vehicle was severely damaged but the airbags did not deploy. The driver s... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2010 Lincoln MKZ. The contact stated that while in the car wash the transmission was shifted back to the Driver position when suddenly the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle and crash into a pair of the iron post. During the crash, the front of the vehicle was severely damaged but the airbags did not deploy. The driver s... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jun 22, 2022
Driver side brake line ruptured for the second time.Almost got into an accident.Had to run off the road to keep from hitting another vehicle. This is a very serious situation.Needs to be a recall on this brake line.I see other MKZ owners having same issue.