AutoUtility currently tracks 38 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2021 Land Rover Defender. Visibility, Wipers & Glass issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 13 complaints (34.2% of submitted records). Zero crashes, fires, injury reports, or fatality reports are cited across these complaint records.
Factual proportion of owner complaints categorized by automotive subsystem in NHTSA records
13 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI for this subsystem.
12 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI for this subsystem.
5 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI for this subsystem.
3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI for this subsystem.
Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
"Driver Side Daytime running lamp illumination failed at 45 thousand miles. There is no internal notification of the failure and it failed prematurely. Its outside of the JLR warranty and they are not supporting any repair nor is the dealer who wants to replace both lamps at the cost of $6,000."
"On XXX at approximately 8:10am I received this red warning on my vehicle: "OK to drive with caution. Hybrid system fault detected." I was driving my daughter to daycare at the time and didn't feel safe continuing to do that. My wife had to drive 25minutes to come and get us and safely continue our..."
"The left headlight daytime running light has died due to a defective chip in the light itself. It may cause a higher chance of a daytime wreck because of reduced visibility. Also, more chance of me getting pulled over for my headlight not working. Apparently it’s a common issue that JLR know about,..."
"The contact owns a 2021 Land Rover Defender. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 26V248000 (Electrical System); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable..."
"The contact owns a 2021 Land Rover Defender. The contact stated that while driving at highway speeds, the driver-side windshield exterior A-pillar trim detached from the vehicle and blocked the driver-side rearview mirror, obstructing rear visibility. The vehicle was driven to the shoulder of the..."
Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2020–2026)
| Model Year | NHTSA Complaints | Crash Reports | Safety Recalls | Detailed Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Land Rover Defender | 53 | 1 | 7 | View 2020 Problems → |
| 2021 Land Rover Defender Current Page | 38 | 0 | 9 | Current |
| 2022 Land Rover Defender | 72 | 2 | 6 | View 2022 Problems → |
| 2023 Land Rover Defender | 79 | 0 | 9 | View 2023 Problems → |
| 2024 Land Rover Defender | 24 | 0 | 6 | View 2024 Problems → |
| 2025 Land Rover Defender | 12 | 0 | 2 | View 2025 Problems → |
| 2026 Land Rover Defender | 0 | 0 | 0 | View 2026 Problems → |
Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 13 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications
| Vehicle Component / System | Total Complaints | Crash Reports | Fire Reports | Injury Entries | Fatality Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fuel System NHTSA category: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LANE DEPARTURE,BACK OVER PREVENTION | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steering NHTSA category: STEERING | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Cross-reference safety recalls, crash test safety ratings, and EPA fuel economy for this model year
Key performance indicators, EPA fuel economy specs, powertrain variants, and summary ratings.
Official recall campaigns, safety defect descriptions, and manufacturer free remedy instructions.
NHTSA 5-Star NCAP crash test results, driver assistance systems, and rollover resistance ratings.
EPA fuel economy ratings, electric range, and annual energy cost benchmarks.
Direct, deterministic answers synthesized from verified United States government databases for the 2021 Land Rover Defender
In official NHTSA consumer records, the most frequently cited issue area for the 2021 Land Rover Defender is Visibility, Wipers & Glass, appearing in 13 records (34.2% of submitted filings).
Secondary reported categories include Exterior Lighting (12) and Electrical System (5).
AutoUtility does not issue subjective reliability scores or commercial ratings. In official United States government records, NHTSA tracks 38 consumer defect complaints and 9 safety recall campaigns for the 2021 Land Rover Defender.
Reviewing documented component complaint distributions, recall remedy notices, and active federal investigations provides an objective, evidence-based view of the vehicle's historical safety and defect record.
Consumer complaint records on file with NHTSA for the 2021 Land Rover Defender cite zero crashes, zero fires, and zero injuries.
Incident entries represent consumer descriptions at the time of submission to federal authorities and do not establish mechanical causation or legal liability.
The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database under 49 CFR Part 576.
Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.