There are 27 owner-reported electrical system complaints for the 2020 Lincoln Aviatorin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
Backup camera is not working properly and the lane departure system doesn’t work
We purchase car on [XXX]. On [XXX] there is a significant leak in the panoramic sunroof that completely floods the trunk (unsure if this is related to the next problem). Our car is at the dealer for repairs 12/12/25 - 1/8/26 and is "fixed" as per the dealer. On [XXX] it starts running independently in the driveway when we are not home and both keys are untouched inside our locked home. We return a call from a concerned neighbor to enter our home, get the key, and turn off the car. After this incident the car is nearly undriveable because so many error messages begin to populate the screen. With the unpredictable nature of the car starting it is extremely frightening to depend on this car and know if it is going to suddenly start running (or driving!) unsupervised which could lead to all different kinds of compromised safety situations, especially since our driveway has easy access to the main street where kids often play. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The vehicle doors lock on their own. Also the keyless entry keypad on the drivers door does not respond so entry cannot be made using that method. This is very dangerous and possibly fatal if one of us were to exit the car let's say to pump gas and all the doors locked with a grandchild still in the car. I have spoken to the Lincoln service department but their response is that they do not know of any such issues. I believe this first happened once or twice last year but it now seems to happen monthly. We have changed the battery in the key fob with no improvment.
See attached document for complaint.
The inside electric push-button switch that opens the door behind the driver was intermittent and is now completely inoperative. The inoperative switch means that anyone in the seat behind the driver must either roll down the window, reach out, and push the outside door button to open the door, or must slide across the rear seat and open the rear door on the right-hand side of the vehicle. The inoperative switch could be extremely dangerous when people must exit the car quickly.
I came to a stop a light in a busy intersection. The auto start/stop feature turned off the engine. When the light turned green, the car would not start and put us in danger from traffic approaching from the rear. When trying to start the car with the push button, it made one click and nothing more. The lights and other electrical systems seemed to behave and appear as normal. No warning lights or messages about errors or failures. I turned the car completely off, opened and closed the door to "reset" the car and still would not start. I tried this four times. I then opened the hood, got out of the car (all while at this busy intersection of multiple lanes of traffic, now working their way around me) and checked the battery connection just to be sure. Both positive and negative leads checked solidly connected. I then got back in the car and was able to start the car and move out of the way of traffic. I have not yet had it repeat and have not taken it to a service center yet. Very concerning to be stuck at that busy light with what appears to be a fully functioning car that would not restart after the auto start/stop feature activated.
Most current recall has not been fixed. Vehicles displayed screen goes black with no warning, leaving no access to front or rear parking cameras, also leaving no access to GPS while in use. I have several videos of this incident occurring and have sent to dealer, brought to dealer while occurring and they deny any problems even though their employees, and the owner have seen this occur after they claim the recall was repaired. Lincoln corporate will not get involved. Dealer claims it is my cell phone, even though it occurs with any cell phone connected.
Driving car on side street - going about 30 mph and car lost ALL power. Stopped completely in middle of road. No power - would not restart. NO FLASHERS. Since Aviator has "piano keys", the car would not go into Neutral and once we figured how to manually put car in neutral, we could not get the driver's door to close and latch. Car was placed on flatbed wrecker and driver had to tape the door shut for transportation. Luckily this happened during daylight hours and Sherriff's office sent a car to park behind us. Had this happened on my commute to office (at 0500) when it was DARK outside, it could have horrible - NO FLASHERS
The exit switches on both rear doors on my wife's 2020 Lincoln Aviator all of the sudden stopped working today. For whatever reason, Lincoln decided to make the exit handles electronic instead of a traditional pull-style exit handle. This is a HUGE safety concern as the passengers in the rear of the vehicle are now trapped inside. I am a professional fire fighter and I take this problem very seriously. After doing some research for the last two hours online, I've found that dozens of people have experienced the exact same malfunction on their 2020 Lincoln Aviators. I've checked the recalls for the 2020 Aviator on your website and to my disbelief, this is not a recall! Prior to both door exit switches failing, there were no warning lamps, messages, or any other notification. They simply just failed without notice.
Rear camera blue screen. Screen intermittently blacks out.
When I am inside the car, the button to open the door from the inside (drivers side) is not working. As of right now there is no way to exit the vehicle from the drivers side. When we called Galpin Lincoln to make an urgent appointment since this is a safety issue - they said there was nothing they could do and we go online and make an appointment for a month++ out. My safety is currently at risk as there is no way for me to safely get out of my car since the door does not open from the inside.
I would like to express my concerns about the Lincoln Aviator (2020) I used to own and to why I traded it in. I spoke with Ford and even took my case to BBB and lost. I was asking for my money back to buy my Ford Explorer. The case was about all my electrical problems I was having and due to the fact, I did not take mv car into the dealer enough I lost. The dealership had advised me to make a list of problems instead of taking the car in each time because of travel distance that was a big mistake on my part as I felt they knew the car had problems and they were putting the problem back on me. They also had mentioned I did not drive very much and I tried explaining I was driving it more. One example was I drove it 50 miles one way and when I got to my destination I could not open back lift gate until I used button inside even though it was fine when I used it to load up the car before I left the house. Another time I came back from going to the coast, a good 3-hour drive, and I couldn't get in until I used key fob. You never knew how the car was going to act electrical. One morning I got up to go to store and the car was completely dead. Tow truck came and driver jumped the car and I backed it out of garage and put the car in park and it shut the car down. I remembered the little latch and was able to get out and the tow truck driver jumped it again and left the charger on the car to load the car up on the tow truck. I see now there is a recall for audible seat belt warning that has not been fixed yet. The biggest issue I addressed with Ford was since there is only one way out how were the passengers suppose to get out and they told me they had to climb over everything to go out the driver's door. Then I asked what if the person is large and has disabilities they are stuck, also what if there is an accident and they hit the driver door then there is no way out. I also said what if the car is going to catch fire, then what? You can't get out. I mentioned we have a 2006 corvette and we have 3 ways to get out of that car if the battery goes dead. I feel this car is very unsafe and I traded it off and will never buy anther car without door handles inside and outside. I hope you address this problem as it could become a hazard. If you do find this is a problem, could I as least get my down payment back as I paid too much for the Explorer due to covid. Thank you for listening
The contact owns a 2020 Lincoln Aviator. The contact stated while driving 80 MPH, the vehicle shifted from drive to neutral. The contact pulled over and restarted the vehicle. The vehicle failed to shift to park. The battery was drained, and the vehicle had to be jumpstarted. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the wiring harness needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was contacted, but no additional assistance was provided. The contact stated the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V534000 (Visibility, Electrical System). The failure mileage was approximately 144,000.
AWD sensors repeatedly are going off then disappearing after car is turned on and off. Happens in City mostly but has triggered while driving on the highway. Caused all ability to use cruise control to deactivate. It also shows the down hill assist fault error.
The vehicle main screen locks up and does not auto dim. It has been in the shop 6 times for this problem. No repairs are fixing the problem. Extremely distracting when driving.
There have been two recalls on this vehicle. One was a battery cable issue, the other is a backup camera issue. The battery cable was fixed. The backup camera has been worked on 6 times and has not been fixed. I have notified Lincoln they told me to visit another dealer. After two dealerships and 6 trips, the backup camera still flashes or goes blue. The dealer cannot fix. Also, the entire main screen in the vehicle has issues with 1. Locking Up (inoperable until shutting car down) 2. Screen does not automatically dim at night. Both of these issues are a huge distraction and causes us to look away from the road, or even pull over in bad areas to attempt to reset. This is also why the vehicle has been in 6 times for this issue. I believe the backup camera and screen are inter-related. Lincoln concierge has been notified. They are aware and are not fixing the issue. The vehicle is dangerous. I have videos and photos.
The lights on the visor mirrors and the garage door opener located on the visor stopped working. 2 days later, all of the switches on the drivers door ( window controls and mirror adjustments) stopped working. Now the dome lights have stopped working. The dealership had the car for a week and performed a master reset and a DDM configuration and window learn procedure. None of these problems were resolved. Dealership states vehicle will have to be scheduled when a repair is made available. While most of these problems are merely an inconvenience, I feel there is a safety issue due to the fact that I have no emergency egress. The Lincoln concierge told me I can "just crawl over the console and go out one of the other windows." I can also not adjust the mirrors after a seat adjustment, which is also a safety concern. The dealership said I will have to make a manual adjustment until a fix is made available. There have been no warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms prior to the failure which happened 4 weeks ago. The dealership is Liberty Ford in Canton OH. RO number 797409. Lincoln case number 33186048-P8G5J5.
the radio screen at night will not dim/switch to night mode and it's a bright spotlight in your face while driving. This is blinding and dangerous. I believe this is a software glitch and I don’t believe Lincoln is in a hurry to fix it unless the NHTSA steps in like they did for the back up camera issue. In my photos I’m including you can see it is night with the headlights on yet the screen is in daytime mode almost washing out the camera lens due to it’s brightness. I’m also including a link to reform or discussions are picking up about this issue. As it is not just me noticing this. https://lincolnforums.com/forums/threads/%E2%80%9Cnight%E2%80%9D-display-background-bug.40837/#post-733751 For comparison I included one photo with green highlights to show what night mode is supposed to look like when it works.
DISPLAY SCREEN /REAR CAMERA GOES BLANK AND DISPLAYS ERROR MESSAGE INTERMITTENTLY PART FOR IMAGE PROCESSOR WAS REPLACED AND STILL OCCURS THIS HAPPENS WHEN DRIVING AND ALSO WHEN IN REVERSE
Vehicle was purchase in 12/2019 and garaged most of 2020 due to Covid. Started using vehicle in late 2021 and discovered a number of electrical problems that dealt directly with the safety systems of the vehicle. False vehicle theft alarms, "Pre Collision Assist Not Available" warnings continuously, "Remote Features Disabled" notices, "Hill Assist Warning " detected a failure, rear camera flickering, Adaptive Cruise control not functioning, adaptive headlights not functioning, Lane Keeping Assist warning and corrective non functional. Myself and any passengers were put at risk because of the vehicle inoperative and failing electronics. Pedestrians and Rear Cross traffic were put at rick due to intermittent failures of detectors and rea camera. Vehicle was in the possession of Planet Lincoln, Dallas for 4 different times totaling 30 days. Vehicle was examined by a Ford Engineer that was flown in from Ford Headquarters at Grapevine Lincoln for 5 days. Dealership or Ford Motors would not provide information of the issues found because of a Lemon Lawsuit we had filed. The issues began on or around August 2020. The last repair attempt by the Ford Engineer was performed in late December 2020. This attempt failed to correct all safety issues also.
Showing 1–20 of 27 complaints
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 26, 2026