Model years › Lincoln MKS

2013 Lincoln MKS

Complaints about this year name power steering far more often than the model's other years — 33% of them, about 4× the usual rate of 9.1%.

NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.

What the complaints were about

• vin — 28.4% of this year's complaints, against 10.6% across the model's other years (2.7×).
• covered — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (39×). Owners wrote it as: covered, repair covered, covered under, said vehicle.
• module — 19.9% of this year's complaints, against 7.4% across the model's other years (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: module, control module, creating, module needed.

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.

Also unusual this year

• steering wheel — 23% of complaints, 4× usual
• without — 9% of complaints, 23× usual
• warning light — 11% of complaints, 6× usual

What owners wrote

after starting the vehicle, the Electronic Power Steering Assist warning light illuminated, and the steering wheel was stiff with very limited maneuverability. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. Af…

after starting the vehicle, the steering wheel became difficult to turn while attempting to reverse the vehicle. The contact stated that the power steering assist warning light was illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer; however, the veh…

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.

Recalls for this year

• 15V040000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
• 16V621000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
• 15V812000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
• 15V340000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
• 14V393000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
• 13V227000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
• 13V270000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.

Own a 2013 Lincoln MKS? What happened to yours?

Loading comments…

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.

Every year of the Lincoln MKS →