Land Rover Defender Complaints

230 consumer complaints on file.

#11585715April 28, 2024
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Windshield cracks easily.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11585649April 28, 2024
VISIBILITY/WIPER
The windshield of the vehicle had a crack form from the upper passenger corner down to the middle of the glass then turning towards the middle of the glass. It is about 16 inches long and the temperature was a modest 85 degrees F.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11585616April 27, 2024
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Vehicle windshield spontaneously cracked with large crack extending across most of passenger side. Vehicle has 10K miles. No offroad driving. No rock or foreign object struck vehicle. Driven on smooth roads. Weather was not issue. This is clearly a SAFETY issue. Crack will likely extend and I will need to replace windshield in vehicle less than 1 year old. I will take a picture of it. It needs to be replaced immediately..I've arranged service but am worried that vehicle-specific windshield is inherently flawed, regardless of who installs it. This was common knowledge (frequent cracks) in this model through 2022 but I don't know what has been done to address the problem. thank you
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11581450April 5, 2024
EQUIPMENT:MECHANICAL:ACCESSORY SCISSOR/SCREW/BOTTLE JACK/LIFT
LAdder broke with me on it. I am 190 lbs. Well below what it is rated for. Both ladder hinges snapped with me falling on the ground as a result. Very painful. Informed LR and my dealer. No action taken.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11579658March 27, 2024
BACK OVER PREVENTION: REARVIEW SYSTEM BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
The Land Rover Defender has a center touchscreen that displays the cameras (rear back up camera, forward facing camera, Birds Eye camera). There have been two instances now when, upon turning on the vehicle, the center touchscreen remained blank (did not power on). Turning the vehicle on/off did not make it come on, neither did "restarting" the system by holding down the infotainment power button. Without the center touchscreen functioning, the rear back up camera would not display when the vehicle was in reverse and the rear back up sensors did not alarm when items were in the way. The screen did come back after turning off the vehicle for an extended period of time and then turning it back on, but for the duration of my drive, the screen remained black and the rear back up camera was not active. There were no other warning lamps, messages, or symptoms beyond what has been described above.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11579564March 26, 2024
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The contact owns a 2023 Land Rover Defender. The contact stated that while driving 35 MPH with no other vehicles or objects nearby, the Forward Collision Avoidance system activated with the Automictic Emergency Braking function drastically slowing the vehicle nearly causing a crash. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 13,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11577756March 16, 2024
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Windshield cracks. Minor chips causes major cracks that go across the windshield and reduces visibility. While driving, I watched the crack spread across my sight line which impaired driving. This is the second windshield I have had to replace in two months. Service center states that are having to repair many windshields for this vehicle.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11576594March 11, 2024
VISIBILITY/WIPER, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Windshield glass started to crack without any impact or driving. Potentially due to temperature change in standard California Bay Area climate.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11567000January 22, 2024
STEERING
It happened after being parked at work for 9hrs. The lane assist not available! warning came on when I started the car. I noticed the steering wheel was VERY hard to turn. You have to use both hands and lean with body weight to turn the wheel a few inches which when the car is at a stand-still. It did get a little easier if the car was moving. The screen didnt dim but now I recall, just for a few seconds, part of the cameras on the display screen were grayed out when I put it in reverse. This only happened once for a short time during the multiple engine on/off cycles I tried hoping it would go away. The 20 sec pivi reboot didnt fix it (I tried it about 3 times). Walking away and coming back didnt fix it.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11566651January 20, 2024
STEERING, LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
Steering wheel is locked and does not turn the wheels
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11564087January 8, 2024
STEERING, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
The steering column won't move. The car starts, you can drive forward and back but the steering column doesn't move. This has happened twice now and I am afraid if this happens while I'm driving unexpectedly, death or serious injuries are very possible.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11563512January 4, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
My 2022 Land Rover Defender was equipped with a factory-spec winch (a WARN Xeon Platinum 10-S, with Land Rover-supplied surrounds, etc.) installed immediately upon delivery by a JLR dealership. The winch is setup for a wireless winch remote, which intermittently loses pairing to the actual winch control unit. Due to the design of the Land Rover mounts, however, the winch’s controls (necessary to reset and reconnect the remote) are entirely inaccessible. The truck has to be taken to a JLR dealer every time the winch remote disconnects, the bumper and winch surrounds must be removed, and the controls thereby accessed to reset the system. So, several days’ worth of work every time the remote happens to disconnect, which is not a workable design. I have had the unit examined and serviced four times by dealerships and none are able to address the issue as the issue is with the factory design itself. There are third-party solutions (from WARN) available to reroute the winch controls to an accessible location, which the dealership has recommended I undertake just to get the factory design to function sustainably. This will likely run me $3,000 out of pocket, just to address design issues with the original $6,000 factory accessory. I have already contacted JLR customer service, who offered me a $300 voucher for future dealership service. After many discussions about the insufficiency of this voucher, they suggested that I file a NHTSA complaint.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11562181December 27, 2023
STEERING, LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING
Lane assistance and power steering failed. There was no warning light or alarm. The warning light in the dashboard came on reading “Lane assistance not available” and “power steering resistance reduced” immediately when both systems failed. We were able to safely park, no one was injured. The car has been at the service center at the dealership for 10 days.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11561955December 26, 2023
STEERING
This morning I got into my Defender, started it, and the power steering was clearly not working at all. The steering wheel was not locked. With very significant effort I could turn the wheel. After searching online I found that this is apparently a widespread problem with Land Rover Defenders since about 2021. I was lucky that it happened in my driveway and not while I was actually driving. I was able to regain steering by disconnecting the negative terminal of the battery for 60 seconds and reconnecting. After that, the car drove fine.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11558909December 7, 2023
STEERING, LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING
Dec 6. Started vehicle and steering wheel would nor move. All functions of car worked. Fwd, rev, engine running , lights all worked. Turned off and restarted 3 times and steering wheel still not moving. All of a sudden wheel became free. I worry now if this could happen while driving. Light did come on saying "lain assist not available"
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11558558December 5, 2023
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
The passenger side headlight is malfunctioning. The halo and outer bulbs do not come on which disables the daylight running lights and reduces the effectiveness of the headlight at night. There is no warning light or message indicating the failure. The vehicle has been inspected by the manufacturer’s dealer and they confirmed that the headlight is faulty. I feel like this issue should be repaired by the manufacturer and at their expense. My research has shown that this is a common issue in this vehicle and is reason for a recall.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11557380November 29, 2023
STEERING
I was ready to leave for work and started the car. The steering wheel was locked and would not turn left or right. The car could be put in gear but, the steering wheel not move. I turned the car off several times and nothing helped. Hopefully, this will not happen while driving. Had to drive my other car to work.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11555087November 14, 2023
STEERING, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
The power steering failed and the car was not drive-able. The warning light for no lane assist available also turned on. The vehicle was in-operable and left us stranded. This would have been a much bigger issue in the winter time, or if I was not at my home. I contacted Land Rover, who had me call LandRover road side to have the car towed to the dealership, since this occurred on a Sunday. They confirmed the issue of power steering malfunction. There was no warning that his was going to happen. It first appeared when we tried to start the car and it was not drive-able. Once at the dealership, I was made aware there was a service bulletin-not a formal recall- regarding this malfunction. It required two code updates (that I was unable to complete with attempt to update software prior to tow) and a battery reset. With this being such a significant issue, making the car in-operable, it was frustrating to hear it was a known issue that was not a recall. The dealership told me there were others in the area that had the same issue and were fixed, with out recurrent of the issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11553672November 5, 2023
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Headlamps are faulty. Replaced the drivers side at almost the end of the 49k miles and after about another 900 miles, the passenger side went out. There is a defect with these lights and they’re back ordered through the UK. Police have told me that I have a headlight out and there is nothing I can do about this.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11553610November 4, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Infotainment screen randomly goes black while driving. Does not come back on. This screen displays and controls everything for the vehicle. Maps, system info, music, etc. Instructions to "reset" the system consists of reaching toward the passenger side of the dashboard to hold down a power button for about 30 seconds. I have done this multiple times, it's not safe. You are stretched out across your vehicle, trying to pay attention to indicator lights, while you also need to pay attention to the road.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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