Owners filed 13 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the visibility/wiper. It has been recalled 2 times.
What fails
Component
Reports
Crashes
Fires
Injuries
Visibility/Wiper
7
0
0
0
Electrical System
2
0
0
0
Unknown or Other
1
0
0
0
Power Train
1
0
0
0
Fuel/Propulsion System
1
0
1
0
Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness
1
0
0
0
2 safety recalls
Part 573 reports
Air Bags › Frontal26V389000
Filed Jun 12, 2026250,857 vehiclesJaguar Land Rover North America, Llc
Defect. Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2020-2026 Land Rover Defender, 2021-2026 Discovery, and 2022-2026 Range Rover vehicles. The driver’s air bag clockspring connector may corrode, which can cause the air bag not to deploy as intended.
Risk. An air bag that does not deploy as intended increases the risk of injury in a crash.
Remedy. Dealers will apply a protective lubricant gel to the driver’s air bag connector terminals, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed August 3, 2026. Owners may contact Land Rover's customer service at 800-637-6837. Land Rover's number for this recall is D120.
Equipment24E102000
Filed Dec 6, 2024485 vehiclesJaguar Land Rover North America, Llc
Defect. Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2020-2025 Land Rover Defender vehicles equipped with Raised Air Intake (RAI) aftermarket accessory equipment, with part number VPLEP0543. The raised air intake may not be secured properly, which can allow the intake to detach from the vehicle.
Risk. A detached raised air intake can fall off the vehicle and become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy. Dealers will inspect, and if necessary, remove and reinstall the RAI accessory, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed February 20, 2025. Owners may contact Land Rover customer service at 1-800-637-6837. Land Rover's number for this recall is N964.
What owners reported
Newest filings
Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness
Filed Sep 10, 2026IL
My child was in the car seat and I noticed that the harness was not staying tight. I did research and apparently if a small object and or crumbs gets stuck under the fastener the harness won’t lock in place. I reached out to the manufacturer and they failed to do anything about this. They have no warnings regarding it and did not want to replace it. Something must be down, if this is happening on mine it is happening to many others.
Visibility/Wiper
Filed Jul 14, 2026FL
The windshield cracked the 1st week owned the car. Land Rover didn’t warranty the windshield and have to buy a new one for 2500. The second windshield got a rock chip and now it expanded into a crack over 3 days.
Visibility/Wiper
Filed May 7, 2026TN
I am now on my 4th windshield on my 2025 Land Rover Defender 110. I have had 5 chips/cracks on these windshields. Only 1 crack was from a rock that you might expect glass breakage, the others were all caused by small pebble sized road gravel that was more like insect splatter. Safelite was repairing 1 very small chip and the windshield cracked during this common repair. Clearly the provided glass is substandard and should be upgraded for all Land Rover Defenders. I now never drive this car without the thought of another windshield break that’s about to occur.
Visibility/Wiper
Filed May 7, 2026TN
I am now on my 4th windshield on my 2025 Land Rover Defender 110. I have had 5 chips/cracks on these windshields. Only 1 crack was from a rock that you might expect glass breakage, the others were all caused by small pebble sized road gravel that was more like insect splatter. Safelite was repairing 1 very small chip and the windshield cracked during this common repair. Clearly the provided glass is substandard and should be upgraded for all Land Rover Defenders. I now never drive this car without the thought of another windshield break that’s about to occur.
Visibility/Wiper
Filed May 7, 2026TN
I am now on my 4th windshield on my 2025 Land Rover Defender 110. I have had 5 chips/cracks on these windshields. Only 1 crack was from a rock that you might expect glass breakage, the others were all caused by small pebble sized road gravel that was more like insect splatter. Safelite was repairing 1 very small chip and the windshield cracked during this common repair. Clearly the provided glass is substandard and should be upgraded for all Land Rover Defenders. I now never drive this car without the thought of another windshield break that’s about to occur.
Visibility/Wiper
Filed Mar 23, 2026TN
30 years of car ownership have never had a chipped or cracked windshield. 2025 Land Rover Defender has had 3 rock chips in a year and now a 20" crack from very minor impact from a pebble. This windshield has a design flaw and is extremely fragile.
Visibility/Wiper
Filed Mar 1, 2026FL
Driving down the road and my windshield spontaneously cracked. No road debris, no rock, no trauma or accident.
Electrical System
Filed Feb 17, 2026NH
While driving on Back Rd in New Hampshire at approximately 30 mph on Saturday, Feb 14, the vehicle suddenly lost power steering assist and simultaneously shifted into neutral. I received warning messages and immediately lost propulsion. Luckily, there was no traffic on the road with me, but that is not always the case on this particular road. I had to manually steer the vehicle without power assist and muscle it to the side of the roadway. The vehicle was disabled in the road and required towing. The vehicle has approximately 5,400 miles and is a 2025 model year, purchased in late June of 2025. The dealer has indicated the likely cause is a failed DC-DC converter, and I have been told the part is on backorder with extended delays. I've look online at forums, and it sounds like this is a widespread known issue that effects Land Rover cars with model years of 2022 and potentially prior as well. This sudden loss of steering assist and propulsion created a safety hazard in traffic, and it is possible that Land Rover has known about this issue for awhile.
Electrical System
Filed Feb 14, 2026IL
The DC converter went bad and within 30 seconds while driving on the highway I got a battery warning and then the car went into neutral and stopped and went into park and the car turned off in the middle of the road and couldn’t be moved at all. Luckily some cops came and protected the car from behind until a tow truck came. The part needed is out of stock and may not be in stock for months!
Unknown or Other
Filed Jan 8, 2026NJ
I had the car while driving loss of power then engine light came on. Dealer twice checked and stated no issue until they tested and found that the replacement of the Hybrid battery system was issue. I've found this same issue with Converter system showing up with others on the facebook 'The New Defender Owners' group. It seems to be a larger issue JLR is not telling people about that has been issue over a couple years.
Power Train
Filed Jan 3, 2026FL
The transfer case on my new 2025 LR Defender 130 went out at 5,000 miles. This unit distributes power to the axles. I was told that if I continue to drive it, it could seize up, possibly leading to a loss of control of the vehicle. Land Rover is aware that they installed a bad batch of transfer cases on their new vehicles. They have the batch number(s), and have apparently issued a 'service bulletin,' but not a recall. Nor did they contact owners to let them know of this problem proactively. Given the potential danger in the failure of this unit, a recall is the only safe option.
Fuel/Propulsion SystemFire
Filed Sep 28, 2025FL
I was driving on [XXX] In Sarasota County, Florida, at approximately 70mph I witnessed flames coming from passenger rear portion of the car, I pulled over and jumped out at the interior was filled with smoke. In less than 15 minutes the car completely burned to nothing but black molten metal. The vehicle was purchased new, had been on order for over 5 months and had approximately 1,300 miles on it, and was only approximately 45 days in my possession. The vehicle was inspected by police and fire department, it has been towed to the local Land Rover dealer in Sarasota, Florida. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Visibility/Wiper
Filed Jul 9, 2025VA
Front Windshield has cracked. Defender has less than 10K and has only been driven on city roads and highway. No offroad. Chip left of center occurred from pebble while driving on Freeway back February. Took vehicle to Safelite for repair within a week. Two months later Chip expanded into a lateral crack extending nearly two feet towards passenger side. Crack is now extending towards driverside almost 10" Land Rover claims Defender is made for offroad but there appears to be the windshield is structurally weak.
No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.
Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.
Recall repairs are free for as long as the recall stands. Check whether a specific car still has open work at NHTSA's VIN lookup.
Most recent recall on file: Jun 12, 2026. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.