Lincoln Navigator

Which Lincoln Navigator years should you avoid?

Going by 1,358 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Lincoln Navigator years to avoid are 1998, 1999, 2003 and 2000.

• 1998192 complaints, 3.7× a typical Navigator year, most often about the tires.
• 1999132 complaints, 2.5× a typical Navigator year, most often about the tires.
• 2003127 complaints, 2.4× a typical Navigator year, most often about the suspension.
• 2000109 complaints, 2.1× a typical Navigator year, most often about the tires.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2016, 2017 and 2021 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

Too new to judge: 2025, 2026 and 2027. Complaints take a few years to arrive, so a new model year looks better than it is.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →