2020 LINCOLN AVIATOR Electrical System Problems

Upon starting the vehicle around 7p on Friday, 10/31/25, the following errors flooded the screen: Hill start assist not available Service advancetrac 4WD Malfunction service required Pre-collision assist not available Rear sense breaking not available Additionally, cruise control could not be turned on and utilized. There was no incident to trigger these. The car had been sitting parked and off for ~2 hours prior to being turned on. No issues or errors prior to this date and time of turning on the vehicle. The warnings detailed describe how our safety was put at risk. All of these safety and basic features no longer functioned and our children’s safety was put at risk due to this electronic issue causing major functionality breaks/discontinuation of functions. Reproduced and confirmed by Capital Mazda of Cary (NC). Quoted to repair at our expense and “remove and throw out the electronic and replace with a manual.” Furthermore we’ve been informed verbally by our service associate that Ford (parent company) is aware of this safety issue. A TSB was located with a summer 2023 date. Lincoln customer service has stated this would’ve been covered under warranted “if it had come up while under warranty.” This dealership is the only place that has reviewed the vehicle and conditions and provided the explanation and information.

See attached document for complaint.

Axle shaft Seal no warning besides loud grinding noise. Electrical issues- causing speakers to not work and the lights coming on and going off. Then it causing the crash detection to not have sound.

The vehicle doors lock on their own. Also the keyless entry keypad on the drivers door does not respond so entry cannot be made using that method. This is very dangerous and possibly fatal if one of us were to exit the car let's say to pump gas and all the doors locked with a grandchild still in the car. I have spoken to the Lincoln service department but their response is that they do not know of any such issues. I believe this first happened once or twice last year but it now seems to happen monthly. We have changed the battery in the key fob with no improvment.

The inside electric push-button switch that opens the door behind the driver was intermittent and is now completely inoperative. The inoperative switch means that anyone in the seat behind the driver must either roll down the window, reach out, and push the outside door button to open the door, or must slide across the rear seat and open the rear door on the right-hand side of the vehicle. The inoperative switch could be extremely dangerous when people must exit the car quickly.

I came to a stop a light in a busy intersection. The auto start/stop feature turned off the engine. When the light turned green, the car would not start and put us in danger from traffic approaching from the rear. When trying to start the car with the push button, it made one click and nothing more. The lights and other electrical systems seemed to behave and appear as normal. No warning lights or messages about errors or failures. I turned the car completely off, opened and closed the door to "reset" the car and still would not start. I tried this four times. I then opened the hood, got out of the car (all while at this busy intersection of multiple lanes of traffic, now working their way around me) and checked the battery connection just to be sure. Both positive and negative leads checked solidly connected. I then got back in the car and was able to start the car and move out of the way of traffic. I have not yet had it repeat and have not taken it to a service center yet. Very concerning to be stuck at that busy light with what appears to be a fully functioning car that would not restart after the auto start/stop feature activated.

The contact owns a 2020 Lincoln Aviator. The contact stated while pulling out of a driveway at 5 MPH, the vehicle lost power steering functionality, the tires locked up, and the vehicle veered to the right into rocks and bushes, causing damages to the front passenger's side axle. The message "Steering Assist Fault" was displayed. The contact stated that the Forward Collision Avoidance and other unknown warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the residence, where a mobile independent mechanic replaced the front passenger's side axle. Additionally, the mechanic informed the contact that the battery had experienced an electrical shortage, and the battery was replaced. The vehicle was then towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the steering harness and knuckle had failed. The vehicle was not repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for the VIN to be added in Ford Campaign Number: 20S69. The failure mileage was approximately 96,000.

Mileage: 96,000

Most current recall has not been fixed. Vehicles displayed screen goes black with no warning, leaving no access to front or rear parking cameras, also leaving no access to GPS while in use. I have several videos of this incident occurring and have sent to dealer, brought to dealer while occurring and they deny any problems even though their employees, and the owner have seen this occur after they claim the recall was repaired. Lincoln corporate will not get involved. Dealer claims it is my cell phone, even though it occurs with any cell phone connected.

Driving car on side street - going about 30 mph and car lost ALL power. Stopped completely in middle of road. No power - would not restart. NO FLASHERS. Since Aviator has "piano keys", the car would not go into Neutral and once we figured how to manually put car in neutral, we could not get the driver's door to close and latch. Car was placed on flatbed wrecker and driver had to tape the door shut for transportation. Luckily this happened during daylight hours and Sherriff's office sent a car to park behind us. Had this happened on my commute to office (at 0500) when it was DARK outside, it could have horrible - NO FLASHERS

Driving down the road and all of a sudden multiple warnings come on the dash. They include : Service AvanceTrac, pre collision assist not available, 4WD fault service required, and Hill start assist not available. These warning all clear upon restart but will come back at random times. I joined a forum for this vehicle and a lot of owners are reporting this issue.

The exit switches on both rear doors on my wife's 2020 Lincoln Aviator all of the sudden stopped working today. For whatever reason, Lincoln decided to make the exit handles electronic instead of a traditional pull-style exit handle. This is a HUGE safety concern as the passengers in the rear of the vehicle are now trapped inside. I am a professional fire fighter and I take this problem very seriously. After doing some research for the last two hours online, I've found that dozens of people have experienced the exact same malfunction on their 2020 Lincoln Aviators. I've checked the recalls for the 2020 Aviator on your website and to my disbelief, this is not a recall! Prior to both door exit switches failing, there were no warning lamps, messages, or any other notification. They simply just failed without notice.

The contact owns a 2020 Lincoln Aviator. The contact stated while driving 80 MPH, the vehicle shifted from drive to neutral. The contact pulled over and restarted the vehicle. The vehicle failed to shift to park. The battery was drained, and the vehicle had to be jumpstarted. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the wiring harness needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was contacted, but no additional assistance was provided. The contact stated the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V534000 (Visibility, Electrical System). The failure mileage was approximately 144,000.

Mileage: 144,000

Rear camera blue screen. Screen intermittently blacks out.

I would like to express my concerns about the Lincoln Aviator (2020) I used to own and to why I traded it in. I spoke with Ford and even took my case to BBB and lost. I was asking for my money back to buy my Ford Explorer. The case was about all my electrical problems I was having and due to the fact, I did not take mv car into the dealer enough I lost. The dealership had advised me to make a list of problems instead of taking the car in each time because of travel distance that was a big mistake on my part as I felt they knew the car had problems and they were putting the problem back on me. They also had mentioned I did not drive very much and I tried explaining I was driving it more. One example was I drove it 50 miles one way and when I got to my destination I could not open back lift gate until I used button inside even though it was fine when I used it to load up the car before I left the house. Another time I came back from going to the coast, a good 3-hour drive, and I couldn't get in until I used key fob. You never knew how the car was going to act electrical. One morning I got up to go to store and the car was completely dead. Tow truck came and driver jumped the car and I backed it out of garage and put the car in park and it shut the car down. I remembered the little latch and was able to get out and the tow truck driver jumped it again and left the charger on the car to load the car up on the tow truck. I see now there is a recall for audible seat belt warning that has not been fixed yet. The biggest issue I addressed with Ford was since there is only one way out how were the passengers suppose to get out and they told me they had to climb over everything to go out the driver's door. Then I asked what if the person is large and has disabilities they are stuck, also what if there is an accident and they hit the driver door then there is no way out. I also said what if the car is going to catch fire, then what? You can't get out. I mentioned we have a 2006 corvette and we have 3 ways to get out of t

When I am inside the car, the button to open the door from the inside (drivers side) is not working. As of right now there is no way to exit the vehicle from the drivers side. When we called Galpin Lincoln to make an urgent appointment since this is a safety issue - they said there was nothing they could do and we go online and make an appointment for a month++ out. My safety is currently at risk as there is no way for me to safely get out of my car since the door does not open from the inside.

AWD, Adaptive Cruise Control, infoTrac, and Collisiom assistance lights continue going off while on freeways. Have brought in several times in less than a year and I can’t imagine that the ABS module is the issue as they reinstalled and it didn’t work along with replacement of numerous sensors. Please look into this

AWD sensors repeatedly are going off then disappearing after car is turned on and off. Happens in City mostly but has triggered while driving on the highway. Caused all ability to use cruise control to deactivate. It also shows the down hill assist fault error.

This was the most recent issue I experienced with my Aviator, the first being electrical after 2 months of owning it. I was driving and the car completely shut off (engine, power steering, breaking) the electrical components went crazy, but I thankfully was not on a highway as I had to guide the truck until it stopped from moving 25mph+. I went into oncoming traffic but no one was there. Then I had to turn the truck back on. The dealership towed it as it is a safety issue and with the amount of times it has been in the shop, the problems increasing are worrisome.

The vehicle main screen locks up and does not auto dim. It has been in the shop 6 times for this problem. No repairs are fixing the problem. Extremely distracting when driving.

Vehicle was purchase in 12/2019 and garaged most of 2020 due to Covid. Started using vehicle in late 2021 and discovered a number of electrical problems that dealt directly with the safety systems of the vehicle. False vehicle theft alarms, "Pre Collision Assist Not Available" warnings continuously, "Remote Features Disabled" notices, "Hill Assist Warning " detected a failure, rear camera flickering, Adaptive Cruise control not functioning, adaptive headlights not functioning, Lane Keeping Assist warning and corrective non functional. Myself and any passengers were put at risk because of the vehicle inoperative and failing electronics. Pedestrians and Rear Cross traffic were put at rick due to intermittent failures of detectors and rea camera. Vehicle was in the possession of Planet Lincoln, Dallas for 4 different times totaling 30 days. Vehicle was examined by a Ford Engineer that was flown in from Ford Headquarters at Grapevine Lincoln for 5 days. Dealership or Ford Motors would not provide information of the issues found because of a Lemon Lawsuit we had filed. The issues began on or around August 2020. The last repair attempt by the Ford Engineer was performed in late December 2020. This attempt failed to correct all safety issues also.

There have been two recalls on this vehicle. One was a battery cable issue, the other is a backup camera issue. The battery cable was fixed. The backup camera has been worked on 6 times and has not been fixed. I have notified Lincoln they told me to visit another dealer. After two dealerships and 6 trips, the backup camera still flashes or goes blue. The dealer cannot fix. Also, the entire main screen in the vehicle has issues with 1. Locking Up (inoperable until shutting car down) 2. Screen does not automatically dim at night. Both of these issues are a huge distraction and causes us to look away from the road, or even pull over in bad areas to attempt to reset. This is also why the vehicle has been in 6 times for this issue. I believe the backup camera and screen are inter-related. Lincoln concierge has been notified. They are aware and are not fixing the issue. The vehicle is dangerous. I have videos and photos.

the radio screen at night will not dim/switch to night mode and it's a bright spotlight in your face while driving. This is blinding and dangerous. I believe this is a software glitch and I don’t believe Lincoln is in a hurry to fix it unless the NHTSA steps in like they did for the back up camera issue. In my photos I’m including you can see it is night with the headlights on yet the screen is in daytime mode almost washing out the camera lens due to it’s brightness. I’m also including a link to reform or discussions are picking up about this issue. As it is not just me noticing this. https://lincolnforums.com/forums/threads/%E2%80%9Cnight%E2%80%9D-display-background-bug.40837/#post-733751 For comparison I included one photo with green highlights to show what night mode is supposed to look like when it works.

The lights on the visor mirrors and the garage door opener located on the visor stopped working. 2 days later, all of the switches on the drivers door ( window controls and mirror adjustments) stopped working. Now the dome lights have stopped working. The dealership had the car for a week and performed a master reset and a DDM configuration and window learn procedure. None of these problems were resolved. Dealership states vehicle will have to be scheduled when a repair is made available. While most of these problems are merely an inconvenience, I feel there is a safety issue due to the fact that I have no emergency egress. The Lincoln concierge told me I can "just crawl over the console and go out one of the other windows." I can also not adjust the mirrors after a seat adjustment, which is also a safety concern. The dealership said I will have to make a manual adjustment until a fix is made available. There have been no warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms prior to the failure which happened 4 weeks ago. The dealership is Liberty Ford in Canton OH. RO number 797409. Lincoln case number 33186048-P8G5J5.

IN REVERSE (BOTH STATIC AND IN MOTION), REARVIEW CAMERA FLICKERS CONSTANTLY BETWEEN IMAGE AND BLACK SCREEN MAKING IT UNSAFE TO USE CAR IN REVERSE AND DEPEND ON CAMERA FOR VISIBILITY OF OBSTACLES. 4+ ATTEMPTS TO FIX BY LINCOLN, INCLUDING REPLACEMENT OF THE REAR BACKUP CAMERA UNDER WARRANTY, HAVE NOT RESOLVED THIS SAFETY ISSUE.

Mileage: 15

DISPLAY SCREEN /REAR CAMERA GOES BLANK AND DISPLAYS ERROR MESSAGE INTERMITTENTLY PART FOR IMAGE PROCESSOR WAS REPLACED AND STILL OCCURS THIS HAPPENS WHEN DRIVING AND ALSO WHEN IN REVERSE

Mileage: 1,500

WHEN PUTTING THE VEHICLE INTO GEAR (WITH THE BRAKE PEDAL PRESSED) IT SOME TIMES BEGINS MOVING AND THE BRAKE PEDAL DOES NOT ENGAGE THE BRAKES. THIS FORCES THE DRIVER TO QUICKLY PUT THE CAR BACK INTO PARK TO STOP THE VEHICLE.

Mileage: 14,000

ON DELIVERY OF THE VEHICLE (6/5/2020), THERE WAS AN ERROR MESSAGE ON THE CONSOLE INDICATING AN ISSUE WITH A DOOR LOCK SENSOR (ACCORDING TO THE DEALER). THE DEALERSHIP HAD THE CAR FOR 3 DAYS TO MAKE THE REPAIR. ON 6/26/2020, WE REPORTED TO THE DEALERSHIP THAT THE FRONT PASSENGER DOOR LOCK WAS NOT WORKING AND THE BUTTON TO OPEN THE DOOR WAS INOPERABLE. TODAY, 6/29/2020, THE AUTO IS COMPLETELY DEAD. APPARENTLY, THE ELECTRICAL ISSUE DRAINED THE BATTERY. THIS IS A SAFETY ISSUE. WHAT ARE WE TO DO IF WE CANNOT GET OUT OF THE CAR. INOPERABLE DOOR OPENING BUTTONS IS DANGEROUS. FURTHER, WHEN THE CAR WAS PARKED IN MY DRIVEWAY, IT SUDDENLY AND ON ITS OWN BEGAN FLASHING LIGHTS AND THE MIRRORS RETRACTED SOME 15 MINUTES AFTER WE USED THE REMOTE TO LOCK THE CAR.

Mileage: 60

ELECTRONIC DOOR RELEASE ON THE INTERIOR DRIVERS DOOR HAS FAILED AT 2200 MILES. THE BUTTON DOES NOT WORK AT ALL AND IS LOOSE IN THE DOOR. THIS PREVENTS EXIT FROM INSIDE THE CAR WITHOUT USING THE MANUAL OVERRIDE OR ROLLING DOWN THE WINDOW TO ACCESS THE OUTSIDE HANDLE.

Mileage: 2,200

WHILE DRIVING THE VEHICLE WHEN BACKING UP OR PULLING FORWARD THE BACK UP CAMERA, AND THE FORWARD CAMERA ARE NOT CONSTANT, AND JITTER RAPIDLY. THIS CAN LEAD TO AN ACCIDENT WHEN A PERSON IS BACKING UP AND THE CAMERA JITTERS TO THE POINT WHERE THE PERSON CAN NOT SEE CLEARLY USING THE BACK UP CAMERA OR THE FRONT CAMERA DURING DRIVING OPERATIONS.

Mileage: 3,000

I WAS DRIVING HOME AND THE ENGINE COOLANT DISPLAY ON THE PANEL ALL OF THE SUDDEN WAS AT THE MAXIMUM. IT THEN WOULD NOT LET ME THROTTLE ANY MORE, SO I HAD TO PULL OVER TO THE SIDE AND TURN THE VEHICLE OFF. I DID AND LET IT SIT 20 MINUTES AND THE ISSUE WAS STILL PRESENT. VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO DEALER. IT TURNS OUT TO BE AN INSTRUMENT / ELECTRICAL ISSUE AND THE VEHICLE WAS NOT ACTUALLY OVER HEATING. SAME THING HAPPENED AGAIN 2 WEEKS LATER AFTER THE DEALER HAD UPDATED THE INSTRUMENT PANEL AND REPLACED THE SENSOR. MY CAR HAD LESS THAN 5000 MILES AND BEEN IN THE SHOP ALMOST 5 TIMES INCLUDING THESE 2 INSTANCES.

Mileage: 3,500

I PURCHASED THE AUTO ON AUG 24, 2019. I HAVE ENCOUNTERED 5 ISSUES WITH THE VEHICLE SO FAR - 3 MECHANICAL AND 2, COSMETIC. I'LL FOCUS ON THE MECHANICAL. BESIDE THE PENDING RECALL, I AM EXPERIENCING THE FOLLOWING: 1) THE PASSENGER SEAT IN FRONT ROW LACKS THE MOTOR FOR THE MASSAGE FUNCTION. LINCOLN HAS NOW TAKEN OVER 2 MONTHS TO REPAIR DUE TO LACK OF PART. 2) THE ELECTRICAL PARKING BRAKE COMES ON WHILE DRIVING OCCASIONALLY. 3) THE VEHICLE CAMERA GETS DISTORTED WHEN SWITCHING CAR ON. HAPPENED TWICE, LAST TIME IT HAPPENED WAS A WEEK AGO 11/12.

Mileage: 1,800