AutoUtility currently tracks 7 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2018 Lincoln MKT. Body & Structure issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 3 complaints (42.9% of submitted records). Zero crashes, fires, injury reports, or fatality reports are cited across these complaint records.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 7 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Body & Structure (3 reports • 42.9% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Fuel & Propulsion System (1), Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (1)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 0 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
7
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
0
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2018 Lincoln MKT

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 42.9% of complaints

Body & Structure

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#2 Problem Area 14.3% of complaints

Fuel & Propulsion System

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 14.3% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 14.3% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 14.3% of complaints

Electrical System

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2018 Lincoln MKT

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Body & Structure NHTSA ODI ID: #11740353
Filed: 05/27/2026

"The contact owns a 2018 Lincoln MKT. The contact stated the black panel trim had detached while driving at 55 MPH on the highway. The driver ran over the plastic. The contact received the recall notification letter for the NHTSA Campaign Number. 25V827000 (Back Over Prevention) The contact called..."

Incident Date: 05/20/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: STRUCTURE
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA ODI ID: #11711523
Filed: 01/16/2026

"Car started to hesitate, then when I stopped at a light it started running rough like it wanted to stall. Then the engine light started blinking. Vehicle was towed to dealership. All fuel injectors, spark plugs, and ignition coils replaced."

Incident Date: 01/07/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11695030
Filed: 10/22/2025

"The problem is with the rear camera alerts. Sometimes, when I am backing up, it does not alert me when a person is walking in back of my car or sometimes it is a moving vehicle, and I am in reverse and slowly backing up. All of a sudden I see them right there in back of me so I step on the break..."

Incident Date: 10/16/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: UNKNOWN OR OTHER,BACK OVER PREVENTION
Body & Structure NHTSA ODI ID: #11575730
Filed: 03/06/2024

"On [XXX] the drivers side keyless entry fell off our vehicle while traveling on the Ohio turnpike. The wiring harness held the trim component from falling off the vehicle, but caused it to fling and smash into the vehicle until we pulled off the turnpike. We duct taped the part in place until we..."

Incident Date: 03/01/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: STRUCTURE
Body & Structure NHTSA ODI ID: #11544805
Filed: 09/15/2023

"The contact owns a 2018 Lincoln MKT. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the exterior windshield trim on the driver's side door detached. After some time, the exterior windshield trim on the passenger's side door also detached. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who did not..."

Incident Date: 05/15/2023 • Raw NHTSA Component: STRUCTURE
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Lincoln MKT

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2019)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Lincoln MKT 24 2 6 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Lincoln MKT 9 0 3 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Lincoln MKT 3 0 3 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Lincoln MKT Current Page 7 0 2 Current
2019 Lincoln MKT 15 0 4 View 2019 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2018 Lincoln MKT

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 5 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 3 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (7). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.