2009 Lincoln MKS
This year drew an ordinary 56 complaints for a Lincoln MKS — the model's median is 43. What they were about is the unusual part: 30.4% of them mention brakes, against 4.2% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 56 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 43 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- brakes — 30.4% of this year's complaints, against 4.2% across the model's other years (7.2×).
- brake — 30.4% of this year's complaints, against 4.6% across the model's other years (6.6×).
- floor — 7.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the model's other years (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: floor, breaks, london, continuer.
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
BREAKS ON LONDON MKS 2009, THE BREAKS ON THIS CAR CONTINUER TO HAVE PROBLEMS. I HAVE TAKEN IT TO MULTIPLE SHOPS AND NO-ONE CAN FIND THE PROBLEM. I HAVE REPLACED THE MASTER CYLINDER, BREAKS, ROTOR, CHECKED BREAK LINE AND THEY ARE ALL GOOD AND CONTINUE TO GREASE…
WHILE DRIVING 40 MPH, THE BRAKES FAILED INTERMITTENTLY. THE CONTACT HAD TO DEPRESS THE BRAKE PEDAL TO THE FLOORBOARD AND SHIFT TO A LOWER GEAR IN ORDER TO STOP THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A REPAIR SHOP WHERE THE BRAKE BOOSTER WAS REPLACED TWICE HOWEV…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V247000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Lincoln MKS 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 2009 Lincoln MKS? What happened to yours?
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