All makes / Lincoln

Lincoln problems by model

Owners have filed 13,607 complaints with NHTSA about the 12 Lincoln models with enough data to profile here, covering 68 model years from 1990 through 2020. The Town Car draws the most at 3,722, 27.4% of the make's total.

Models12

Model years68

Complaints13,607

Crashes889

Deaths73

Read this first

Complaint volume tracks how many cars a make sold as much as how they held up, and NHTSA complaints are unverified owner reports rather than confirmed defects. Nothing on this page compares Lincoln against another manufacturer. Use it to find the model, then the model year, then read what owners of that year actually filed.

Every Lincoln model

Model	Model years	Complaints	Most-reported year	Top system that year
Town Car	16 1990–2007	3,722	1997 395	Engine and engine cooling (23.5%)
MKZ	10 2007–2017	1,880	2008 328	Air bags (50.9%)
Continental	7 1990–2000	1,562	1991 399	Engine and engine cooling (16.8%)
MKX	7 2007–2016	1,497	2007 350	Air bags (44.3%)
LS	6 2000–2005	1,341	2000 458	Suspension (29.0%)
Mark Viii	6 1993–1998	979	1993 286	Exterior lighting (67.8%)
Navigator	6 1998–2004	946	1998 240	Tires (22.5%)
MKC	4 2015–2019	641	2017 231	Engine (47.2%)
Aviator	3 2003–2020	452	2020 169	Electrical system (22.5%)
Zephyr	1 2006–2006	277	2006 277	Air bags (51.3%)
MKS	1 2013–2013	182	2013 182	Steering (33.5%)
Nautilus	1 2019–2019	128	2019 128	Electrical system (23.4%)

Model years shown are those with at least 100 complaints on file, the gate every page on this site has to clear.

Reading the numbers

Across every Lincoln model year on the site, air bags are the system named most often: 1,657 complaints, 15.7% of those filed under a named system. Individual model years diverge from that sharply, which is the reason to read the year rather than the badge.

The three most-reported Lincoln models (Town Car, MKZ and Continental) account for 52.6% of the make's complaint volume. The rest is spread across the other 9 models. Bear in mind that a nameplate selling in the millions will out-file a niche one whatever its record.

Of the 13,607 complaints, 889 describe a crash, 611 describe a fire and 73 report a death.

Most-reported Lincoln model years

1997 Lincoln Town Car 395 complaints · 23.5% engine and engine cooling 2008 Lincoln MKZ 328 complaints · 50.9% air bags 1991 Lincoln Continental 399 complaints · 16.8% engine and engine cooling 2007 Lincoln MKX 350 complaints · 44.3% air bags 2000 Lincoln LS 458 complaints · 29.0% suspension 1993 Lincoln Mark Viii 286 complaints · 67.8% exterior lighting 1998 Lincoln Navigator 240 complaints · 22.5% tires 2017 Lincoln MKC 231 complaints · 47.2% engine 2020 Lincoln Aviator 169 complaints · 22.5% electrical system

The single heaviest model year of each Lincoln nameplate, 1990–2020. Heaviest is not worst. Read it alongside the model page.