There are 3 owner-reported steering complaints for the 2021 Lincoln Navigatorin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
Car purchased in Feb 2022. November 9, 2023 after a couple of previous complaints about the car riding rough, this time , after telling them the car jumps and throws into the next lane, it was diagnosed as having passenger rear leaking strut, front pinion seal leak, front driveshaft c/v joint torn and leaking grease. These were repaired under warranty. Dec 2024: had noise and had vibration felt through floorboard - diagnosed with problem in front differential and found carrier bearing failure and damage to case from bearing failure/spun. The axle housing assembly was replaced. April 2025: transmission shifting hard and clunk noise as well as riding rough again. These transmission assembly will be repaired for known problems on original 10 speeds but they don’t fix until customer complains, the rear differential pinion seal is leaking and the front struts are leaking. Something is very wrong with the suspension, drive train and transmission in this vehicle.
A grinding noise was noticed during the driver memory function or when manually adjusting the power tilt or telescoping steering column. I took the car to Ford for service and was very surprised to hear that the entire steering column needs to be replaced at the cost of $1700.00. This defect is ONLY covered under the limited warranty. This is obviously a safety hazard if it requires a new motor in the steering column. Upon a quick investigation of the defect, it was learned that this is a KNOWN problem on all Navigators from 2018-2021. Ford KNOWS that this defect exists on certain vehicles and has not issued a recall to correct this. This is not a normal "wear and tear" item that should have anything to do with your warranty. Very dangerous to need a new steering column motor for something that was known by FORD and LINCOLN to have problems in certain production years. Plus $1700.00 is a huge cost for the consumer.
The contact owns a 2021 Lincoln Navigator. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the power steering suddenly malfunctioned causing the steering wheel to become very difficult the turn in either direction. Additionally, the instrument panel display became distorted and unreadable, the brake light remained illuminated, and the vehicle would not properly accelerate. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, but the cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer was not yet notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 19,000.
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