Airbag inflator rupture on the 2010 Lincoln Mkz
2 crashes 2 injuries 4 of the 66 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When airbag inflator rupture gets reported
Owners of the 2010 Lincoln Mkz report airbag inflator rupture at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 80,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 45,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 200,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 153,264 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44,736 miles | 46,553 miles | 72,500 miles | 115,000 miles | 198,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a crash and 2 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $0–$0 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 75,000 miles.
By volume the 2007 carries the most reports, with 121; the 2010 has 66. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Takata recall - dealer never contacted me. When I called dealer they told me replacement airbags are unavailable. This is total [xxx]. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Takata recall--I received notification of NHTSA recall 16v-384 in a letter from lincoln motor company dated july, 2016, which stated that I would be notified when parts were available for the repair. In december, 2017 a 2nd letter arrived from lincoln advising me that I should not allow anyone to sit in the front row passenger seat, and that lincoln expected remedy parts to be available in the spring of 2018. On 6/11/18 a 3rd letter arrived from lincoln dated may,2018 advising me that parts are anticipated to be available during the 2nd and 3rd quarter of 2018, and that lincoln would pay up to $45 per day for a rental vehicle while waiting for parts. However, $45 per day will not cover the cost of renting an equivalent vehicle. A call to lincoln informed me that that car rental allowance has been increased to $55 per day (which will still not cover the cost of renting an equivalent vehicle. I live in south florida where the hot humid climate puts my car at greater risk. In the more than two years since the first recall notice ford and lincoln have continued to build and sell new vehicles (presumably with safe passenger air bags)…
Takata recall: fortunately, my auto has not yet been in a situation that would cause the front airbags to deploy, however, lack of action on this airbag recall is causing me economic hardship. I desire to obtain a new vehicle, but am unable to trade in the 2010 lincoln as the dealer said they cannot sell a vehicle under an active recall, and no parts are available to rectify the situation. I've requested an update from the ford dealer in hutchinson, mn multiple times, and have very rudely been told there are no replacement parts and to stop asking. So, I can't safely drive my car, sell my car, or repair it! The trade in value has dramatically decreased in the year I've been trying to get rid of the vehicle. This takes corporate irresponsibility to a whole new level. What is taking so long, and why is ford and its dealerships being allowed to be so rude and irresponsible?
Also reported on the 2010 Lincoln Mkz
Other brake problem
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
Master cylinder or brake booster failure
Other speed control problem
Other body or interior problem
Airbag failed to deploy in a crash
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 66 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does airbag inflator rupture happen on the 2010 Lincoln Mkz?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is airbag inflator rupture on the 2010 Lincoln Mkz?
66 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.0 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed