1998 Lincoln Town Car problems
Owners have filed 194 complaints with NHTSA about the 1998 Lincoln Town Car. Engine is the most reported problem area, at 15% of complaints. After that come brakes (11%) and suspension (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 194 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 16% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 7 and 8
- Injuries and deaths
- 3 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 84,000 miles 77 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 3 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 6 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 13 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 13 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 16 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 5 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 11 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 6 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 77 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 84,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 95,000 miles (21 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 7 complaints mention a crash; 8 complaints mention a fire; 3 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1998 ranks 9th most-complained-about out of 19 model years of the Lincoln Town Car with enough data (79 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 7 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Consumer was sitting at a traffic stop light and was waiting to make a left hand turn in a left hand lane when another vehicle veered into left lane and hit consumer's vehicle head- on. Upon impact, dual airbags didn't deploy, and consumer was hurt. Dealership aware of problem.
While driving on highwy 84 east the right rear tire and wheel in my lincoln fell off and consequently caused me to lose control of my vehicle while trying to get it off the highway. Resulting in a crash. Upon recovery of the wheel and tire it shows where the axle broke off.
Accident 7/11/04 wife rear ended a dodge dorango and totaled her lincoln town car. She didn't see thr car stop in front of her quick enough when applying the brakes the car went in a nice straight line but did not have good braking . I found this to be true when driving this car myself . Now we have to pay the price of increased ins. And a bad mark . My wife has never had an accident but there is no room for this in the ins.
When braking , the steering wheel would pull hard to the right. This made it hard for the driver to maintain control of vehicle. The brake rotors were warped. Also the lower ball joints were replaced, the engine light illuminated, the dealer found the evap canister solenoid valve leaking.
Dt: the contact stated the cruise control caused vehicle to accelerate while he was depressing the brake pedal. The brake was depressed to disengage the cruise. However, the vehicle sped up. He had to depress the brake pedal several times to get the cruise control to shut off. He took the vehicle to dealer ,they offered to fix the problem at contact's expense. Therefore, repairs were not done. Updated 12/27/05.