2011 Lincoln MKS
This year drew an ordinary 43 complaints for a Lincoln MKS — the model's median is 44. What they were about is the unusual part: 7% of them mention difficulty, against 0% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 43 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 44 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- difficulty — 7% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (34.9×).
- extremely — 7% of this year's complaints, against 1% across the model's other years (7.1×).
- driving vehicle — 7% of this year's complaints, against 1% across the model's other years (7.1×).
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
POWER STEERING RANDOMLY LOCKS AND UNLOCKS ITS SELF, CAUSING THE VEHICLE TO PULL TO THE LEFT AND DISPLAYING DIFFICULTY TO STEER WHEEL TO THE RIGHT OR STRAIGHT AHEAD. BRAKES SEEM TO LOCK OR SLIP IN CERTAIN ENVIROMENTS AT MODERATE SPEEDS.
WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 70 MPH WITH THE LOW BEAM HEADLIGHTS ACTIVATED, OTHER DRIVERS WERE COMPLAINING OF THE LIGHTS BEING EXTREMELY BRIGHT. THE DEALER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE AND STATED THAT THERE WAS NO WAY THE LIGHTS COULD BE ADJUSTED. THE VEHICLE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 15V040000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 15V340000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 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 2011 Lincoln MKS? What happened to yours?
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