Other steering problem on the 2011 Lincoln Mkz
1 crash 1 of the 9 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 other steering problem gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Lincoln Mkz report other steering problem at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 100,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 88,292 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
25% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13,548 miles | 34,050 miles | 64,000 miles | 76,250 miles | 101,840 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, 1 a crash is 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 $350–$2,400 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 6 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2012 at 80,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 17; the 2011 has 9. 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 lincoln mkz. The contact stated that the vehicle drifted to the left abnormally. The contact stated that the failure would occur most frequently when traveling at highway speeds of 60 MPH and above. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who was unable to locate a failure within the steering. The vehicle was not repaired. The current mileage was approximately 4,000 and the failure mileage was 359. Updated 06/0611 *bf updated 1/24/2012 *ln *tr
I drive a 2011 lincoln mkz and today I had a bit of a problem. A coworker of mine needed to be taken to a hyundai dealership so that she may pick up her vehicle for some servicing that she had done, and during my attempt at parking I lost my power steering. At first I couldn't move the car so I had put my vehicle in park and then I turned it off. I had turned to my coworker and she had noticed my difficulty steering. I had then started my car once again and tried to park but this time I was capable of steering. The number of turns it took to actually steer were far beyond the usual and it was coupled with a chatter that I both could feel and hear. Luckily I opted for a warrant that included roadside assistance and I had my vehicle towed to the dealer. I've yet to receive any sort reply from my dealer and I will surely keep the appropriate authorities notified. *tr
False advertising . Misleading and false information on vehicle purchase bait and switch . Auto fraud dealer road runner auto sales inc 24560 taylor michigan 48180 sales manager [xxx] scammers salvaged vehicles not disclosed at time of purchase and false information or document stating that car is free of damages . Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr
Also reported on the 2011 Lincoln Mkz
Airbag inflator rupture
Other body or interior problem
Water pump failure
Other wheel or tire problem
Airbag failed to deploy in a crash
Door latch or handle failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 9 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 other steering problem happen on the 2011 Lincoln Mkz?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other steering problem on the 2011 Lincoln Mkz?
9 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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