2014 Lincoln MKZ
This year drew an ordinary 210 complaints for a Lincoln MKZ — the model's median is 169. What they were about is the unusual part: 25.7% of them mention restart, against 8.3% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 210 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 169 |
| Involving a crash | 19 |
| Recalls | 14 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 25 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- restart — 25.7% of this year's complaints, against 8.3% across the model's other years (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: restart, restart vehicle, vehicle stalled, stalls.
- damage — 24.3% of this year's complaints, against 8.9% across the model's other years (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: damage, end, front end, feet.
- wheel — 18.6% of this year's complaints, against 4.9% across the model's other years (3.8×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
WHEN REVERSING, BACKUP CAMERA INTERMITTENTLY RESTARTS, SHUTS OFF, OR NEVER SHOWS. THIS IS A DANGER AS IT IS UNPREDICTABLE AND CAN CAUSE DAMAGE IF IT TURNS OFF WHILE IN MOTION. CAR DISPLAY SAYS "CAMERA UNAVAILABLE. PLEASE CONTACT DEALERSHIP". CODE READER GIVES…
UPON STARTING THE VEHICLE, WHEN I PUT THE CAR IN REVERSE ORDER DRIVE IN LOW SPEED OR GETTING INTO GEAR THE CAR SPUTTERS. IT STALLS AND POWERS OFF, CREATING A HAZARD. IT IS BEGINNING TO HAPPEN MORE FREQUENTLY. IT WILL ACT AS IF IT IS NOT RECEIVING FUEL AND IT M…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V632000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 16V875000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V167000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 17V210000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 14V597000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V250000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 15V246000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 14V164000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 14. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Lincoln MKZ was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2014 Lincoln MKZ? What happened to yours?
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