AutoUtility currently tracks 135 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2017 Lincoln MKZ. Engine & Cooling issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 72 complaints (53.3% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 6 filings cite a crash, 4 cite a fire, 4 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 135 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Engine & Cooling (72 reports • 53.3% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Powertrain & Transmission (24), Brakes & Traction Control (16)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 6 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 4 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 4 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
135
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
6
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
4
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
4
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2017 Lincoln MKZ

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

#1 Problem Area 53.3% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

72 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 3 crash reports 🔥 1 fire report 🩹 2 injury report entries
#2 Problem Area 17.8% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

24 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns 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.
⚠️ 3 crash reports 🔥 3 fire reports 🩹 1 injury report entry
#3 Problem Area 11.9% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

16 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
#4 Problem Area 7.4% of complaints

Electrical System

10 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 6.7% of complaints

Fuel & Propulsion System

9 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
🔥 3 fire reports 🩹 1 injury report entry
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%.

Symptoms Mentioned in NHTSA Owner Reports for 2017 Lincoln MKZ

Specific mechanical, electrical, and driver-assist defect symptoms identified via deterministic narrative analysis

AutoUtility uses deterministic phrase matching to identify recurring symptom descriptions within consumer-submitted NHTSA complaint narratives.

Engine & Cooling 26.7% of complaints

Engine Coolant Intrusion / Oil Leak

36 complaint narratives describe this symptom
Powertrain & Transmission 5.9% of complaints

Loss of Motive Power While Driving

8 complaint narratives describe this symptom
Symptom Identification Method: A complaint may describe more than one symptom, so percentages may sum to more than 100%. Symptom identification reflects text contained in consumer-submitted complaint records and does not establish a confirmed mechanical diagnosis.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2017 Lincoln MKZ

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

Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11758713
Filed: 08/22/2026

"We are submitting this vehicle safety complaint regarding a dealer-confirmed coolant-intrusion failure in our 2017 Lincoln MKZ equipped with the 2.0L EcoBoost engine. The vehicle had approximately 60,063 miles when presented to Parks Lincoln of Longwood. The vehicle developed a check engine light,..."

Incident Date: 06/21/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11758233
Filed: 08/20/2026

"Engine has rough idle and can stall. Ford says engine has coolant intrusion and needs a new engine. The repair will cost between 8500 and 10000 dollars."

Incident Date: 08/12/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11756788
Filed: 08/13/2026

"Coolant intrusion into my 2.0l eco boost engine requiring engine replacement"

Incident Date: 09/20/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11754775
Filed: 08/04/2026

"The contact owns a 2017 Lincoln MKZ. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, there was an abnormal rattling sound coming from the engine compartment. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the torque converter, flex plate, and transmission fluid pump were..."

Incident Date: 07/26/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11753663
Fire Cited 1 Injury Entry Filed: 07/30/2026

"I am reporting a catastrophic engine failure and engine-compartment fire involving my 2017 Lincoln MKZ Select, equipped with a 2.0L EcoBoost engine, VIN [XXX]. The vehicle had approximately 99,864 miles when the final failure occurred. Shortly after I purchased the vehicle, the original engine..."

Incident Date: 09/04/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
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 MKZ

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2020)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Lincoln MKZ 80 4 11 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Lincoln MKZ 63 8 7 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Lincoln MKZ Current Page 135 6 4 Current
2018 Lincoln MKZ 32 1 2 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Lincoln MKZ 19 2 1 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Lincoln MKZ 3 0 1 View 2020 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 2017 Lincoln MKZ

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 41 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 51 0 0 2 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 12 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 7 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 7 0 0 0 0
Engine & Cooling NHTSA category: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 6 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 4 0 1 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 3 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 3 1 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 0 2 1 0
POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 2 1 1 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS 2 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 1 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,SEATS 1 1 0 1 0
Back Over Prevention / Camera NHTSA category: BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 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,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,WHEELS,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 1 0 0 0 0
EQUIPMENT,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
PARKING BRAKE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,AIR BAGS,ENGINE 1 1 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 1 1 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,POWER TRAIN 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
STRUCTURE,LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN 1 0 0 0 0
Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 1 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 (135). 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 NHTSA Defect Investigations (2)

2 CLOSED

Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)

Official Federal Inquiries: NHTSA opens a defect investigation when safety screening or consumer defect trends indicate a potential unreasonable safety risk. An open investigation is a formal inquiry and does not by itself confirm a defect or result in a mandatory recall.
CLOSED Defect Petition (DP) ODI Action #DP22005
Opened: 2023-01-27 • Closed: 2023-08-07

Pedestrian alert sounds

Affected Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:PROPULSION SYSTEM

NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight ra...

✓ Resulted in Safety Recall Campaign: 22V063000 Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Recall Query (RQ) ODI Action #RQ22004
Opened: 2022-08-08 • Closed: 2023-03-24

Front Brake Jounce Hose Failures

Affected Component: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:HOSES, LINES/PIPING, AND FITTINGS

On August 8, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this investigation based on 50 Vehicle Owner Questionnaires (VOQs) alleging front brake jounce hose ruptures on model year (MY) 2013-2018 Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ vehicles. A ruptured front brake hose results in a brake fluid leak. As a result, the driver may experience an increase in pedal travel and a reduction in the rate of deceleration, increasing the risk of a crash. It...

✓ Resulted in Safety Recall Campaign: 23V162000 Official NHTSA File →
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.