Lincoln Continental Recalls & Complaints by Model Year
NHTSA lists 46 safety recalls and 1,678 owner complaints across 32 model years of the Lincoln Continental (1969–2020). The most-complained-about year is 1991.
Pick your Lincoln Continental model year
- 1969
- 1974
- 1975
- 1977
- 1978
- 1979
- 1981
- 1982
- 1983
- 1984
- 1985
- 1986
- 1987
- 1988
- 1989
- 1990
- 1991
- 1992
- 1993
- 1994
- 1995
- 1996
- 1997
- 1998
- 1999
- 2000
- 2001
- 2002
- 2017
- 2018
- 2019
- 2020
| Model year | Recalls | Complaints |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 Lincoln Continental | 2 | 7 |
| 2019 Lincoln Continental | 3 | 32 |
| 2018 Lincoln Continental | 2 | 21 |
| 2017 Lincoln Continental | 4 | 75 |
| 2002 Lincoln Continental | 0 | 33 |
| 2001 Lincoln Continental | 1 | 32 |
| 2000 Lincoln Continental | 3 | 63 |
| 1999 Lincoln Continental | 2 | 42 |
| 1998 Lincoln Continental | 1 | 72 |
| 1997 Lincoln Continental | 1 | 96 |
| 1996 Lincoln Continental | 2 | 48 |
| 1995 Lincoln Continental | 1 | 70 |
| 1994 Lincoln Continental | 5 | 190 |
| 1993 Lincoln Continental | 4 | 121 |
| 1992 Lincoln Continental | 3 | 126 |
| 1991 Lincoln Continental | 3 | 203 |
| 1990 Lincoln Continental | 3 | 158 |
| 1989 Lincoln Continental | 4 | 158 |
| 1988 Lincoln Continental | 9 | 84 |
| 1987 Lincoln Continental | 1 | 9 |
| 1986 Lincoln Continental | 5 | 8 |
| 1985 Lincoln Continental | 2 | 15 |
| 1984 Lincoln Continental | 2 | 6 |
| 1983 Lincoln Continental | 2 | 2 |
| 1982 Lincoln Continental | 1 | 1 |
| 1981 Lincoln Continental | 0 | 1 |
| 1979 Lincoln Continental | 2 | 2 |
| 1978 Lincoln Continental | 0 | 1 |
| 1977 Lincoln Continental | 1 | 1 |
| 1975 Lincoln Continental | 2 | 1 |
| 1974 Lincoln Continental | 1 | 0 |
| 1969 Lincoln Continental | 1 | 0 |
What Lincoln Continental owners complain about
Across all model years, owners have filed 1,678 complaints with NHTSA. The 1991 model year has the most, with 203.
All Lincoln Continental recalls (46)
Every NHTSA safety campaign that lists a Lincoln Continental, most recent first, with the model years each one covers.
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Software (back over prevention)
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2018-2022 Transit Connect, 2019-2020 MKZ, MKX, Edge, Continental, F-150, Nautilus, Fusion, 2019-2023 Ranger, Mustang, 2020-2021 EcoSport, Expedition, Navigator, 2020-2022 Escape, F-250 SD, Corsair, 2020-2023 Aviator, Transit, 2020-2024 Explorer, 2021-2024 Bronco Sport, and 2022-2024…
Remedy: Dealers will update the rearview camera software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed September 4, 2025. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is…
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Camera (back over prevention)
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2017-2020 F-Super Duty F-250, F-350, F-450, and 2017-2020 Lincoln Continental vehicles equipped with the 360-degree camera system. Degradation of the camera's anit-reflective lens coating can lead to a foggy or cloudy rearview camera image.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the rearview camera, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 14, 2023. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-800-1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 22S51.
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Latch (latches/locks/linkages)
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2017-2019 Lincoln Continental vehicles. The door latch pawl motors may not function properly, possibly resulting in a door latch not fully engaging.
Remedy: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the latch assemblies on all four doors, free of charge. The recall began October 14, 2019. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for…
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Inflator module (air bags)
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2016-2017 Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX vehicles and 2017 Lincoln Continental vehicles. In the event of a crash, the driver's frontal air bag may not fully inflate or the air bag cushion may detach from the air bag module. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal…
Remedy: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver frontal air bag module, free of charge. The recall began June 16, 2017. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this…
Model years: 2017
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Headlights (exterior lighting)
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain model year 2017 Lincoln Continental vehicles manufactured June 14, 2016, to September 23, 2016 and equipped with high intensity discharge (HID) headlights. The headlights may have been built with incorrect lenses, adversely affecting the turn signal visibility as well as not being properly…
Remedy: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the headlights, replacing them as necessary, free of charge. The recall began November 16, 2016. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's…
Model years: 2017
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Air bags: frontal
On certain passenger vehicles, the driver and/or passenger side air bag could deploy as a result of underbody impacts near the sensors, such as those occurring from pieces of gravel or debris thrown from the wheels while the vehicle is being operated at moderate to high speed or being accelerated.
Remedy: Dealers will recalibrate the air bag sensors. Owner notification began march 31, 2003. Owners may contact lincoln at 1-800-521-4140.
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Motor (visibility)
Vehicle description: passenger cars, sport utility vehicles, and light and medium duty pickup trucks. A switch located in the plastic cover of the wiper motor gear case could malfunction and overheat, potentially resulting in loss of intermittent wiper function, loss of wiper park function, complete loss of wiper function, or ignition…
Remedy: Dealers will inspect the date code on the wiper motor. Motors built with the suspect time frame will have the wiper motor gear case cover replaced. Owner notification began august 20, 2001. Owners who take their…
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Anchorage (seat belts)
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. The seat belt retractor may have a pin shaft in the switchable elr/alr mechanism that is incorrectly formed. In some circumstances, the switching mechanism could become nonfunctional, preventing the seat belt webbing from being extracted from the retractor. It is also possible that malfunction of…
Remedy: Dealers will inspect the lap and shoulder belt assemblies. Assemblies with julian date codes of 200 through 223 are suspect and will be replaced.
Model years: 2000
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Frame and members (structure)
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles originally sold or currently registered in connecticut, delaware, district of columbia, illinois, indiana, iowa, kansas, kentucky, maine, maryland, massachusetts, michigan, minnesota, missouri, nebraska, new hampshire, new jersey, new york, ohio, pennsylvania, rhode island, vermont, virginia, west…
Remedy: Dealers will install subframe rear mount bolts, reinforcement plates, and plate nuts.
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Hoses, lines/piping, and fittings (fuel system)
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. The fuel rail crossover hose was damaged during fuel rail assembly allowing fuel leakage.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the fuel rail with a revised fuel rail assembly.
Model years: 1999
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Headlights (exterior lighting)
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. The text and/or graphics for the vehicle headlamp aiming instructions provided in the owner guides are not sufficiently clear. This does not meet the requirements of FMVSS no. 108, "lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment."
Remedy: Owner guides containing revised aiming instructions will be mailed to owners of these vehicles.
Model years: 1998
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Switch (exterior lighting)
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. The headlights can flash intermittently as a result of the circuit breaker opening. The vehicle's headlights can go out for brief intervals.
Remedy: Dealers will install a headlight switch that incorporates a cricuit breaker of revised design and installation of a wiring harness connector and wiring, if needed.
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Buckle assembly (seat belts)
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. The front outboard seating position seat belt buckles may not latch or unlatch.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the front outboard seat belt buckle assemblies.
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Vehicle speed control
Vehicle description: vehicles equipped with 3.8l engines and originally sold or currently registered in the following states: alaska, colorado, iowa, idaho, illinois, indiana, kansas, massachusetts, maine, michigan, minnesota, missouri, montana, north dakota, nebraska, new hampshire, new york, ohio, pennsylvania, south dakota, vermont,…
Remedy: Dealers will add a boot to the speed control cable.
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Fan (engine and engine cooling)
These vehicles are originally sold or currently registered in the following states: alaska, iowa, minnesota, nebraska, north dakota, and south dakota. The vehicles involved are 1992-1994 tempo/topaz vehicles with 3.0l engines; 1994 tempo/topaz with 2.3l engines; 1992-1995 taurus/sable with 3.8l engines; 1994-1995 taurus/sable with 3.0l…
Remedy: Dealers will install an electrical jumper harness containing an automatic resetting circuit breaker to protect the fan motor low speed circuitry from overheating.
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Automatic transmission (power train)
The automatic transmission park pawl shaft may not be free to rotate as intended. If the park pawl shaft does not rotate, it would prevent the park pawl from engaging the park gear when the shift lever is in the park position.
Remedy: Dealers will inspect the park pawl shaft rotation and those shafts with restricted rotation will be replaced with a shorter shaft that will not restrict rotation.
Model years: 1996
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Gear position indication (prndl) (power train)
The park pawl abutment bracket has a sharp edge which can cause the parking pawl to hang up and not engage the park gear. This would allow the vehicle to move even though the gear shift indicator shows that the vehicle is in park.
Remedy: Dealers will inspect and, if necessary, replace the park pawl abutment bracket.
Model years: 1997
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Exterior lighting
A defective control module in the "autolamp" system can malfunction. If the "autolamp" system is being used to activate the exterior light (including headlamps), the headlamps could shut off without warning. This will not occur if the exterior lighting is turned on manually by the headlight switch.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the "autolamp" control module. Owners are instructed to use the manual headlamp switch until the control module can be replaced.
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Pedals and linkages (service brakes)
The brake pedal push rod retainer (hairpin clip) may be missing or not properly installed on the service brake pedal. This can cause disengagement of the brake pushrod and loss of braking ability.
Remedy: Dealers will inspect and, if necessary, replace the retainer.
Model years: 1994
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Frame and members (structure)
Vehicle description: taurus and sables built from 10-14-85 through 8-19-88, and lincoln continentals built from 11-4-87 through 9-30-88 (except 1989 - 1991 2.5l taurus and 1989 - 1992 sho). The affected cars were originally sold or currently registered in the following states: connecticut, illinois, indiana, maine, massachusetts,…
Remedy: Install a corrosion-resistant reinforcing plate and a new bolt on both rear subframe mounts. This recall campaign has been superseded by recall 98v-323.
Model years: 1988
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Rotor (service brakes)
Front disc brake rotors of the subject vehicles may experience severe corrosion if operated in areas where calcium chloride and sodium chloride are used extensively.
Remedy: Replace front brake rotors with full cast front brake rotors.
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Hoses, lines/piping, and fittings (fuel system)
Process used for connecting the gas lines was substandard.
Remedy: Install standard gas line compression fittings.
Model years: 1988
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Retractor (seat belts)
The left side, rear seat belt retractor assembly may be improperly secured and could pull free of its mounting location.
Remedy: Reinstall the retractor attachment bolt.
Model years: 1989
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Electrical system: wiring
Electrical circuit that controls current to brake pump motor relay, heater and air conditioning blower motor, turn signals, and a electronic message center may overheat due to inability of ignition circuit wiring connections to dissipate heat generated by electrical loads.
Remedy: Replace ignition switch and modify switch wiring.
Model years: 1988
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Electrical system: front underhood
Nylon shielded wiring harness, located in the engine compartment, is susceptible to heat damage and melting of the nylon material in 100 degree plus weather.
Remedy: Wrap wiring harness with heat resistant fiberglass tape.
Model years: 1988
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Column shift (power train)
Transmission shift cables may not meet fords pull out load specifications for the swivel tube portion of the cable, which could allow the swivel tube to separate from the shift cable assembly.
Remedy: Replace shift cable.
Model years: 1988
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Coil springs (suspension)
Two torsion springs attached to rear suspension control arms may fracture and rub against a rear tire.
Remedy: Install torsion spring seats to restrict the springs from contacting the tire if they should fracture.
Model years: 1988
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Seat belts
Driver and right front passenger inboard seat belts may be improperly anchored due to loose nuts that could back off.
Remedy: Inboard seat belt anchorages will be corrected to prevent loosening.
Model years: 1988
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Hoses, lines/piping, and fittings (fuel system)
Spring lock fuel line coupling may not be properly engaged.
Remedy: Install retainer clips over the couplings to prevent coupling separation and fuel leakage.
Model years: 1986, 1987
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Hydraulic (service brakes)
Under certain conditions, contacts in brake system relay could remain closed, causing the brake pump motor to run continuously, causing it to overheat and eventually fail. Consequence of defect: should the brake supply motor fail, the power assist to the front brakes will be lost, and after about 10 to 15 normal brake stops, loss of…
Remedy: Replace pump motor relays.
Model years: 1985, 1986
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Ignition (electrical system)
The ignition lock cylinder may hang up and not fully return to the "on" position from the "start" position after starting the engine. If this occurs, the engine will remain running, but the battery current to the brake system supply motor will be interrupted. Consequence of defect: with power to most accessories and the brake system…
Remedy: Replace ignition lock cylinders with revised design cylinders.
Model years: 1986
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Antilock/traction control/electronic limited slip (service brakes)
Wiring connections in an electrical connector to the master cylinder reservoir fluid level sensors were reversed and fail to indicate low fluid levels as specified by FMVSS 105, hydraulic brake systems. Consequence of defect: sensor will not transmit signal to brake warning light when the fluid level is less than one fourth full.…
Remedy: Re-configure wiring to the fluid level sensor connector.
Model years: 1986
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Vehicle speed control
An aluminum casting flash on the face of the throttle body may break off and become trapped between the throttle plate and the bore in the throttle body. Consequences of defect: throttle may fail to return to idle position when released and could result in loss of vehicle control which may cause an accident.
Remedy: Remove excess casting flash.
Model years: 1986
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Air suspension system (suspension)
A malfunction may occur in the air suspension electrical circuitry.
Remedy: Replace control module with a newly designed module.
Model years: 1985
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Connecting (steering)
If the selector is gently or slowly moved towards park, the transmission may not change to parking gear. Similarly, slow movement of the selector from reverse to neutral may not remove the transmission from reverse gear.
Remedy: Dealer will replace rubber-isolated shift rod with a conventional one-piece rod and will readjust the shift linkage.
Model years: 1984
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Anchorage (seat belts)
The bolts that attach the d-shaped ring for the shoulder belt are inadequately supported by the material in which they are mounted. The attachment does not comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 210, "seat belt assembly anchorages".
Remedy: Dealers will install new attaching hardware to improve the strength of the mounting.
Model years: 1984
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Automatic transmission (power train)
The parking gear may not engage, even though the gear shift lever is placed in the "park" position. This occurs if the linkage inside the transmission that actuates the park gear was improperly manufactured. A pin that retains components on a linkage (actuating) rod could break and the linkage may not engage the parking gear.
Remedy: Dealer will inspect and, if necessary, replace the parking pawl actuating rod assembly.
Model years: 1983
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Column shift (power train)
The shift indicator may not accurately reflect the shift selector position. Some vehicles were produced with transmission control selector tube retaining clips that may not be hard enough. The clip may loosen or fall off, and the selector tube may become displaced.
Remedy: The dealer will replace the transmission control selector tube retaining clip at no charge to owner.
Model years: 1983
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Filler pipe and cap (fuel system)
The involved vehicles may have been produced with an inadequate seal between the fuel filler pipe-housing assembly and the fuel filler opening-collar assembly. Two attaching screws at the bottom of this joint were omitted during assembly. It is possible that a small quantity of overflow fuel could leak into the right rear fender well…
Remedy: Dealer will install the two missing fasteners and a lower flange reinforcement at no cost to owner.
Model years: 1982
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Pedals and linkages (service brakes)
The involved vehicles were produced with brake push-rod to brake pedal retaining pins which were not heat-treated as specified. This could allow the brake pedal to become disengaged from the push-rod.
Remedy: Dealer will replace the suspect brake retaining pin.
Model years: 1979
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Automatic transmission (power train)
The involved vehicles were equipped with automatic transmissions in which the parking pawl was not heat-treated. During normal vehicle operation, a parking pawl that has not been heat-treated could become deformed or worn to the point that the transmission will not lock in "park". As a result, the vehicle could roll free if the driver…
Remedy: Dealer will inspect and, if necessary, replace the parking pawl with one that has been heat-treated.
Model years: 1979
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Column shift (power train)
The involved vehicles were fitted with tilt steering columns containing transmission control inserts intended for trucks rather than passenger vehicles. This may cause the transmission selector pointer to be misaligned and the possibility of starting the engine when the selector is between the neutral (n) and drive (d) detents and the…
Remedy: Dealer will inspect and, if necessary, replace the transmission shift control insert, without charge to owner.
Model years: 1977
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Steering wheel/handle bar (steering)
Model years: 1975
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Carburetor system (fuel system)
Model years: 1975
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Vehicle speed control
Model years: 1974
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Hose, piping, and connections (steering)
Model years: 1969
Other Lincoln models
- Town Car3,308 complaints
- Mkz1,665 complaints
- Mkx1,417 complaints
- Navigator1,353 complaints
- LS982 complaints
- Mark VIII826 complaints
- Mkc599 complaints
- Aviator488 complaints
Source: NHTSA recall and complaint databases and EPA fuel economy data, October 2026. Complaint counts are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. Recall counts are safety campaigns that list this model year; whether a particular car was already repaired depends on its VIN. How this data is compiled.