Land Rover Defender problems: recalls, complaints and what they cost
The Land Rover Defender was sold in the US for model years 2020–2026. Pick a year below for its open safety recalls and the components owners complain about most — then, for each of those, whether it is safe to keep driving and what the repair should cost.
Choose a year to load recalls and complaints.
What goes wrong with the Land Rover Defender?
Across 4 model years sampled between 2020 and 2024, NHTSA records 33 recall entries for the Land Rover Defender, counted once per model year covered. Complaint records for this vehicle are incomplete in our latest retrieval, so no total is shown rather than an understated one — use the year selector above for live figures.
By model year
| Year | Recall entries | Complaints |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 8 | not retrieved |
| 2023 | 10 | not retrieved |
| 2022 | 7 | not retrieved |
| 2020 | 8 | 55 |
Model year 2021 is not in this retrieval, which means no records were returned for it — not that there were none. Use the year selector above to query that year live.
Older years accumulate more complaints simply by being on the road longer, so compare a year against its neighbours rather than against the newest one.
Recent safety recalls
Exterior Lighting
A voltage spike, triggered by a bright light shining on the rear of the vehicle, can cause the turn signals, brake lights, and tail lights to fail.
Free remedy: Dealers will replace the rear light assemblies, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed September 27, 2021. Owners can contact Land Rover customer service at 1-800-637-6837.
Equipment
The owner's manual incorrectly states that the third-row seating is equipped with LATCH child seat restraints with top tethers.
Free remedy: Land Rover will mail owners the correct information to insert into the owner's manual, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on September 23, 2021.
Power Train
The Powertrain Control Module (PCM) may unexpectedly switch off while the vehicle is in motion, resulting in an engine stall with no warning.
Free remedy: The Connected Diagnostic Services (CDS) and the Over-the-air (OTA) diagnostics functionality will be disabled, either by a dealer or through an OTA update, free of charge.
Seat Belts
The driver and front passenger seat belt pretensioners may be damaged, which can cause the seat belts to not…
Free remedy: Dealers will inspect and replace the front seat belt assemblies, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed September 16, 2022.
Recall repairs are free with no mileage or ownership limit. Take the campaign number to any franchised dealer. How recalls work.
Recall text above is abridged from the NHTSA record. Search the campaign number at nhtsa.gov/recalls for the full notice, affected VIN ranges and dealer instructions.
Source: NHTSA (US Department of Transportation), public domain, retrieved 2026-10-08. Use the year selector above for the current live figures.
How does a SUV or crossover typically fail?
Most modern crossovers are unibody cars underneath, so they inherit car failure patterns rather than truck ones — with two differences. The extra weight over the same platform works the suspension and brakes harder, and all-wheel-drive systems add transfer cases, couplings and driveshafts that a front-wheel-drive car simply does not have. Those extra driveline parts are where the segment-specific complaints concentrate.
What should I check first?
For a SUV or crossover, the systems worth ruling out before anything else are all-wheel-drive driveline noise and uneven tyre wear. Match what the vehicle is actually doing to the guide below — each one opens with a safety verdict, not a parts list.
- Clunk over bumps
- Humming rises with speed
- Grinding when braking
- Transmission slipping
- Shaking at highway speed
What is the difference between a recall and a complaint?
A recall is a defect the manufacturer must fix free of charge, forever, with no mileage limit and regardless of how many owners the car has had. A complaint is one owner’s report filed with NHTSA. One complaint is an anecdote; two hundred naming the same component is a pattern, and patterns are what you want before you buy or before you authorise a large repair. Read the complaint list by concentration, never by total — a model that sold three times as many units collects roughly three times as many complaints while being no worse.
What should I check before buying one?
On any all-wheel-drive example, check that all four tyres match in brand, model and tread depth. Mismatched rolling diameters quietly destroy couplings and differentials, and it is the single most common expensive mistake previous owners make on this segment.
Beyond that, the checks that find expensive problems are the same on any vehicle: see it started from stone cold, look under the oil cap, smell the transmission fluid, and scan it for stored and recently-cleared codes. Our used car inspection checklist walks through each one, and why cars fail explains how systemic defects emerge in the first place.
Check one before you buy it
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Does the Land Rover Defender have any open recalls?
Open safety recalls for the Land Rover Defender are listed on this page, pulled live from NHTSA's public database. Recall repairs are free with no mileage or ownership limit, so an open campaign is money the manufacturer owes you rather than a repair you pay for. Check by VIN for certainty on one specific vehicle.
What are the most common Land Rover Defender problems?
The complaint list on this page groups owner reports by component, which is the useful view: one component dominating the list is a pattern, while complaints spread evenly across many systems usually just means the model sold in volume. For this class of vehicle, all-wheel-drive driveline noise and uneven tyre wear are the areas worth checking first.
Is the Land Rover Defender expensive to repair?
Cost depends far more on which system fails than on the badge. Each symptom guide linked from this page carries a parts-and-labour range for US independent shops, so you can price the specific fault rather than the car in general.