Lincoln Navigator
Reliability, NHTSA Complaints & Recall History
10 model years analyzed (2017–2026). All data sourced directly from the NHTSA public complaints and recall database — the same data used by federal regulators.
Checking a specific Lincoln Navigator? Run a VIN check for its exact history.
⭐ NHTSA NCAP Crash Test Ratings
New Car Assessment ProgramNCAP crash tests measure how well a vehicle protects occupants in controlled frontal crash, side crash, and rollover scenarios. Stars are awarded per category (5 = safest). These laboratory results are independent of owner complaints and are performed by NHTSA engineers on new production vehicles.
AI Interpretation
High ConfidenceAverageComplaints for the Lincoln Navigator (2017–2026) are concentrated in the powertrain, electrical system, and engine. The highest number of complaints occurred in 2019, with 2018 and 2017 also elevated. Crash-related complaints are relatively low at 12 out of 238 total complaints.
- Powertrain complaints lead with 59 reports, followed by electrical system (43) and engine (37).
- The 2019 model year has the most complaints (63), while 2026 has none.
- Seat belts (18), service brakes (17), and back over prevention (16) also show notable complaint counts.
- UNKNOWN OR OTHER component category accounts for 29 complaints, indicating some issues are not clearly categorized.
- Powertrain issues are the most frequently reported component.
- Electrical system problems are the second most common complaint.
2019 (63 complaints), 2018 (46), and 2017 (30) have the most complaints, driven primarily by powertrain, electrical system, and engine issues.
Model years 2023, 2025, and 2026 show very few complaints (6, 9, and 0 respectively), which may indicate improved reliability or lower reporting rates.
- Inspect the powertrain, electrical system, and engine for known issues.
- Verify all open recalls at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
- Request service records for reported components.
- Have a mechanic inspect before purchase.
🔔 NHTSA Safety Recalls
79 recalls foundSafety recalls are mandatory repair campaigns ordered by NHTSA when a vehicle defect poses an unreasonable risk to safety. Manufacturers are required to fix recalled vehicles free of charge. Always verify open recalls before buying a used car.
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Source: NHTSA Recalls Database. Data covers model years 2017–2026. Always run a VIN-specific check below for the most up-to-date open recall status.
🔧 Most-Reported Problem Areas
Based on component keywords extracted from all 238 NHTSA complaints.
📋 NHTSA Complaint Reports
238 totalThese are consumer-submitted safety complaints filed directly with NHTSA. Each complaint describes a real owner's experience. Complaints flagged as crash-related or fire-related are highlighted.
On Tuesday, May 5 2026 upon entering the vehicle, my wife closed the drivers door at which time the rear windshield exploded. The vehicle is scheduled for an appointment on Monday, May 11, 2026 at Porterville Ford for inspection. Approximately 50% of the glass came out, both inside and outside the vehicle. If my children were there, they would have been covered in broken tiny pieces of glass. This vehicle has just over 6,000 miles since new and has never had any damage to the glass. I have researched online and there are many other instances where this has happened, often siting incorrect or too tight of installations where the pressure from closing a door shatters the tempered glass.
The contact owns a 2025 Lincoln Navigator L. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. No warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the vehicle jerked violently while accelerating and while reversing on a hill. 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 take the vehicle to the dealer to be diagnosed. The failure mileage was approximately 500.
Driving vehicle at 73mph on I-75 in GA Northbound. Front panel of moon/sun-roof exploded/shattered with no indication of impact causing the failure. Loud bang followed by safety glass falling into cabin. Vehicle had lincoln-approved/dealer roof-rails.
The lane keeping assistance is not working at all. The blue cruise also stopped working and the car is was with dealer for 2 weeks and they cannot fix it.
See attached document for complaint.
This vehicle has been returned to service 5 times. It is currently in service for the same 4 issues that it was taken to service for the very first time on 12/10/2025. This includes inappropriate braking on the interstate, driver window malfunction, the key intermittently stops working, and the connectivity does not regularly work. In addition to these 4 issues, the main screen in the car stopped working and the rear Vox screen has stopped working. Based on state law, Lincoln should have bought the car back, as I have had it for just over 2 months. As of February 2nd, 2026 the car has been returned to service 5 times and has been back to the dealership for service for 37 days and still counting since the original pick up date of 11/21/2025. The dealership has not honored their commitments with black label service. I was upsold on the vehicle for this service. On multiple occasions I have not been provided the delivery that is included. I was told by the assistant manager that this service would include a Lincoln Navigator brought to my location. The GM informed myself and my husband that they do not have to honor that. They offered a car that did not legally fit my 4 children in the backseat. Eventually, after many phone calls, they offered a much smaller Aviator. The service manager stated they they attempted 3 different eyeballs. When questioned on dates that they provided to Lincoln, he became very defensive and hung up on me. My husband and I attempted to meet with him in person at the dealership. After being told that he would meet with us and then waiting 3 hours, we had to leave. The GM did not provide assistance with this, as he stated he was in a meeting. The GM and assistant manager have both stated that we have no legal recourse, as I signed an arbitration agreement.
Pre collision pedestrian/cyclist warning automatic braking not working. Dealership tried 2x did all upgrades, checked another vehicle same results. Ford said both to technician and myself. This is normal. So pre collision does not activate in city traffic when they advertise and charge for this feature. Open to accidents and I jury.
The contact owns a 2025 Lincoln Navigator. The contact stated that while driving between 20-70MPH, no precaution assist warning message illuminated. The vehicle will slow independently. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed; however the diagnosis. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact mentions that the failure has occurred on several different occasions. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and they informed her that they do not know why this was happening to her vehicle or alerting the driver. The approximate failure mileage was 38,000.
The contact owns a 2025 Lincoln Navigator. The contact stated that while driving in the driveway at approximately 2 - 3 MPH, several brake warning lights were illuminated, and the vehicle failed to respond immediately while depressing the brake pedal, which required the contact to exert an excessive amount of pressure on the brake pedal. The messages "Auto-Hold Disabled", "Brake Function Failure" were displayed, and unknown warning lights were temporarily illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by the dealer or an independent mechanic. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and a case was filed. The manufacturer confirmed that the VIN was not under recall. The failure mileage was approximately 2,000.
On May 26, 2024, I entered into a lease agreement for a Lincoln Navigator vehicle manufactured and warranted by Lincoln Motor Company. This vehicle subsequently developed multiple serious and dangerous safety defects, including uncontrolled and spontaneous seat inflation, failure of seat pump systems, infotainment system failure including loss of backup camera and safety display systems, unexpected closure of side mirrors while driving, and continued seat movement and mechanical activation after the vehicle was powered off. These defects presented a direct and substantial risk to occupant safety. On multiple occasions, uncontrolled seat inflation physically restrained and trapped an occupant, including a minor child, by causing the seat structure to expand while the seatbelt locking mechanism engaged, restricting the occupant’s ability to exit the seat. These events occurred while the vehicle was in operation, including while traveling on a public freeway, creating an immediate and dangerous safety hazard. Lincoln Motor Company and Galpin Ford were repeatedly notified of these safety defects. On January 6, 2025, the vehicle was delivered to Galpin Lincoln, an authorized Lincoln Motor Company repair facility, for emergency repair due to these ongoing and escalating safety failures. Lincoln Motor Company retained possession of the vehicle for approximately eighty-three (83) days. During this time, Lincoln Motor Company admitted in writing that critical seat systems and associated pump mechanisms were not functioning as designed. Lincoln Motor Company further admitted that no repair remedy existed for certain infotainment and software-related system failures due to lack of available corrective software or engineering solution. Despite these admissions & despite exceeding statutory repair period thresholds, Lincoln Motor Company failed to repair myriad safety hazards on our Navigator leaving us with an inoperable vehicle.
The contact owns a 2024 Lincoln Navigator. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 MPH on several occasions, the transmission independently shifted into neutral(N). The contact stated that during each failure, the drive(D) button was pressed without depressing the brake pedal first. The contact stated that an undisclosed message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer on three occasions; however, the dealers were unable to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,700.
The contact owns a 2024 Lincoln Navigator. The contact stated that while driving approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle abruptly stopped in the middle of the roadway. During the failure, the message "Check Brake System" was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who was unable to duplicate or identify the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and the contact was informed that the VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V488000 (SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC). The contact stated that the vehicle had experienced the failure listed in the recall. The failure mileage was 23,000.
The vehicle vibrates, specially over 50MPH. Problem reported 3 times to Lincoln. Lincoln claims they know there is an issue with 2024 navigators drivability, but cannot offer a solution at this time.
Tires keep losing balance. From my initial test drive of this new 2024 Lincoln Navigator L, I have noticed a rough ride and vibrations, especially at highway speeds. Initially, 1 tire was identified as not being able to be road force balanced within spec as the cause of the vibration and that tire was replaced. Within a short period of time, the rough ride and vibration issues reoccurred, and the dealership stated that two additional tires were determined as no longer being able to be road force balanced within spec and needed to be replaced. It was then suggested that all 4 OEM Pirelli tires be replaced with a full new set of Michelin tires. Shortly thereafter, the rough ride and vibration issues cropped again and it was determined that all four Michelin tires would no longer road force balance within spec and they were replaced with an all new set of four Michelin tires. Those tires have now been road forced balanced twice more, with tires needing to be rebalanced. Even though the dealership service departments have tried, no underlying suspension issues have been identified as causing all these tires to need rebalancing. I have even taken my vehicle to an independent tire shop to assess if tires are out of balance, and they verified that they were and performed a road force balance on them, however within a matter of weeks the tires needed to be rebalanced again. In total, in the 4 months that I have had this vehicle, it has been at the dealership service department for more than 25% of the time with no determination as to what the underlying cause of why tires need to be rebalanced so frequently, or fail to the point that they no long rebalance and need to be replaced.
When driving with the Cruise control Activated, after the brake has been applied or the cruise control cancel button is pressed, the Forward collision warning and Automatic Emergency Braking system doesn't appear to be active. The sensors do not detect a car in front until either Cruise control is re-engaged, or the Cruise Control system is turned of completely. Dealer has verified that this behavior is similar to another car of same model and year. Dealer has inspected and said that it appears to be designed to work that way, but will talk to senior manufactures technical resources.
From the initial test drive, I have felt an unusual vibration felt in both the steering wheel and seat while driving the vehicle. This vibration becomes more pronounced at higher speeds, especially after 70+ MPH, but still noticeable at lower speeds at 45+ MPH. Tires were initially blamed as the underlying cause, and the original tires were completely replaced within the first month of ownership, but the problems continued. Subsequently, at the 2nd month of ownership, the new set of tires were completely replaced again (this is now the 3rd set of tires), and the problem still persists. Dealership tells me that Lincoln engineers are aware of this situation, and that other owners of the 2024 Lincoln Navigators and 2024 Ford Expeditions have complained about this same concerns. Besides the vibration, the ride quality of the vehicle is terrible, and appears to me that the adaptive suspension is not performing as expected. I had a 2022 Lincoln Navigator which did not have any of these issues, and I know how this vehicle should ride and feel, and I know that this particular vehicle is not handling and riding as designed. Vehicle has less than 3000 miles on it and is on its third set of tires, and the underlying issue has not been identified.
I bought new 2024 Lincoln Navigator in March 2025. From day 1, the vehicle rattles and vibrates above 40mph. The vibrations are high pitched and lead to whole car shimmering. I had all four tires and wheels replaced by the dealership. The vibrations are significantly intense when compared to normal road feedback. The vibrations lead to excessive fatigue and tiredness over long distances travel. Lincoln has issued service bulletin and no fix has been found so far.
When driving with automatic brights, occasionally when it automatically switches to dim, the dim lights will shine only about 10 feet in front of the car. When it does this, it shines so bright directly in front of the car, the brights won't come back on. It is also a very harsh demarcation so that it is completely dark beyond 10 feet and to the sides. You can shut the car off and back on and it corrects it. This happened on my way to work in the dark right before I hit standing water in the road under a narrow bridge. It nearly caused me to have an accident. The dealership fixed this issue once and recorded that they replaced some melted wiring and connectors. It is happening again and has been reported to the dealership and to Lincoln Customer Service.
The vehicle has a vibration at interstate speeds 70-85 mph. The dealership has rebalanced the tires that came on the car, installed new tires and road forced balanced, replaced transfer case, rear drive shaft, but different size tires on car, and done another road force balance on the 2nd set of new tires that were put on car. FSE told dealership to give the car back to us and there was noting else they will do even though vibration still remains. Dealership put in it's service notes that the condition still remains, but was told to give customer back the vehicle. We have put less than 700 miles on the car and dealership has put close to 1100 or so miles on it test driving after repairs each time. This vibration could cause bearings, gears, and drive train failure that could result in potential death at highway speeds. Upon investigating this problem I found this to be a issue with the 2024 Lincoln Navigator throughout the US. I have requested Lincoln buy the vehicle back and was told they would not. My case number with the Lincoln customer service is [XXX] . Teresa 888-214-2155 ext.77992 is the representative. I would ask the NHTSA to investigate this problem for us consumers out here. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Drivers side rear quarter panel glass shattered out of no where. Was at a dead stop in 90 degree traffic in florida, heard a loud bang, and window broke. You can see the window flexed out from the break. I think this was a faulty window due breaking out of no where with no impacts.
Showing 20 of 238 total NHTSA complaints. Source: NHTSA Complaints Database
Check a Specific Lincoln Navigator
This page shows fleet averages across all 10 model years. Enter a VIN to see the exact accident history, odometer records, title brands, and open recall status for a specific car.
📖 Understanding This Data
What is an NHTSA Complaint?
An NHTSA safety complaint is a report filed directly by a vehicle owner or driver describing a safety-related issue. Anyone can submit a complaint at NHTSA.gov. The number of complaints is a signal of how common a problem is — but complaints per model-year matter more than raw totals, since popular vehicles naturally receive more reports. The Lincoln Navigator has 238 complaints on record across 10 model years.
What is a Safety Recall?
A safety recall is a mandatory campaign issued by NHTSA when a vehicle component poses an unreasonable risk to safety or does not comply with federal motor vehicle safety standards. Unlike complaints (which are owner-reported), recalls are formally investigated and confirmed by regulators. Manufacturers must fix recalled vehicles free of charge. The Lincoln Navigator has 79 recall campaigns in the NHTSA database.
What Are Crash Complaints?
Crash complaints are NHTSA filings where the owner indicates a crash occurred as part of the incident. 12 of the Lincoln Navigator's 238 complaints involved a crash. This metric is particularly important because it indicates how often defects resulted in actual collisions — a key safety signal beyond general reliability.
How Is the AI Rating Calculated?
The AI reliability rating (Average) is generated by analyzing the vehicle's total complaints, recall history, crash complaint ratio, fire complaint ratio, and top component failures relative to class averages. The rating provides a plain-English summary for buyers who want a quick verdict without parsing raw numbers. It is one input in your buying decision — always verify with a VIN-specific report.
Why Do Newer Years Have Fewer Complaints?
Newer model years appear to have fewer complaints because there has been less time for owners to file them. Complaints accumulate over years of ownership. A 2020 model year vehicle will typically show fewer complaints than a 2015 model year even if it is less reliable — simply because fewer owners have had time to report issues. Focus on complaints per year of market presence when comparing across model years.
Fleet Data vs. Individual VIN
Everything on this page reflects aggregated data across all Lincoln Navigator vehicles on the road — not any specific car. Two Lincoln Navigator vehicles of the same year can have very different histories: one may have been in three accidents and have an open recall; another may be clean. A VIN check gives you the individual car's history: accidents, title brands, odometer records, service history, and real-time recall status.
What Are NHTSA Investigations?
When NHTSA receives a pattern of related safety complaints, it opens a formal investigation. A Preliminary Evaluation (PE) is the first stage — NHTSA determines if a safety defect may exist. If evidence is strong, it escalates to an Engineering Analysis (EA), which can result in a mandatory recall. The Lincoln Navigator has 0 investigations on record (0 active). Investigations listed above may have already led to the recalls shown on this page.