There was a time when Land Rover was duking it out with the big boys in thanks to the simple yet rugged Defender. Now a unibody rather than a body-on-frame SUV, the luxed-up Defender also suffers from tremendous quality and reliability problems.
At the time of writing, there are no fewer than seven complaints concerning the 2020 model on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website. An owner explains that “the brakes failed with no warning” while driving a one-month-old Defender. Another owner wrote about the A-pillar cover coming loose, allowing the smaller cover at the base of the A-pillar to fly off the vehicle while moving.
In no particular order, the remaining complaints include two reports of poor headlight performance, windshield wipers that wouldn’t turn on during a rainstorm, lane keep assist that wouldn’t turn off even after the owner turned it off, and the battery light activating without warning. Be that as it may, The Fast Lane owns what can only be described as the worst 2020 Land Rover Defender sold in the U.S. of A.
48 hours after taking delivery, the sport utility vehicle had 167 miles on the odometer when the check engine light turned on for no apparent reason. After a software update at the dealership, the Defender’s cameras went blank. One camera module later, the check engine light came on again. This prompted Jaguar Land Rover’s regional office to get serious, but as you know from the headline, that didn’t work either.
The latest update from JLR can be summed up as “this engine isn’t repairable.” As a result of that, Tommy and Roman Mica were offered three choices. Between a replacement engine expected to arrive in the United States by the end of the month, the money back in full, and an all-new vehicle, TFL decided on the latter option.
Given the number of complaints on the NHTSA's page and the total lemon of a Defender we’ve talked about in this story, there’s no denying Land Rover should be doubling down on quality and reliability before it’s too late.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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