Owners have filed 426 complaints on the Lincoln Mark, covering 1984–1998. The system named most often is Exterior Lighting (272 reports). Worst years by volume: 1993, 1994, 1990; cleanest: 1984, 1986, 1987. 21 reports describe a crash, 19 a fire, 6 a death. On average the car was 7.4 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Lincoln Mark
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 426 Mark complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Exterior Lighting 272 Read
Headlights did not light up road well enough to see dog in road hit dog craked my bumper killed dog
The car has insufficient lighting and I have encounterd several close calls as a result. The most recent incident could have been avoided if the lighting in these vehicles was not of poor design. A deer in the roadway could not be seen due to the lack of sufficient lighting which caused over 3k in damage to my car.…
The head lighting system on the 1993-1996 lincoln markviii are sub par. After dark it becomes hard to see the road or anything on the side of the road, it is my belief that the poor head lights caused my accident with a deer that was attempting to cross the road. If the head lights had been better I believe that I…
Electrical System 26 Read
Vehicle lost control twice, causing one accident
1)walked into garage in evening and found white, acrid smoke. Upon pulling car out of garage, heard whooshing sound. 2 )upon removing the rt front fender well, found the speed control deactivator switch had caught fire and melted and had melted the rt front air line to suspension routed above it. Lucky it didn't set…
The contact stated the vehicle caught on fire after being parked for a few months. The fire was localized near the master cylinder reservoir. Ash was scattered over the entire engine, and blown onto the front fenders. The vehicle was not seen by a dealer following the fire, however the manufacturer was notified
Vehicle Speed Control 23 Read
- while driving the contact's car caught fire and both the driver and a passenger received fatal injuries. The cruise control deactivation switch was not deactivating the cruise control. According to the police, the car caught fire the driver attempted to pull over. The brakes were not operational and he struck a…
Ford motor company, had a cruise control deactivation switch that was defective, so they decided to do a recall. But in stages, as to not scare off the consumers. My son was driving my 1993 lincoln mark viii, to which the cruise control switch had been activating. On 12-9-06 my son was driving his girlfriend home when…
Car involved is a 1994 lincoln mark viii. The car was parked in garage, engine off and key out of ignition. The car caught fire in my garage at 1:30 am due to the brake de-activation switch, as I have researched after the incident is a known problem with ford lincoln mercury vehicles. Fortunately I happen to hear the…
Service Brakes 17 Read
Brake booster failed when outside temperature changed dramatically, other ford brake boosters have had other failure modes. I still have original failed part.. Part was replaced by lincoln dealer with original equipment
Brake calipers/pads/rotors replaced due to brake failures
Rear view mirror fell off
Power Train 15 Read
Vehiclle jumped from park into reverse while driver had stepped out. Vehicle hit an embankment, while traveling backwards, jumped into drive and ran over driver, severely injuring driver. Neither lincoln dealership nor a ford desing analysis engineer could find the cause for this erratic occurrence
Transmission failure
When putting vehicle into drive the gear is jumping into neutral, causing the consumer to drive in low two gears. Also, there is a problem with the computer chip which is causing other items to work intermittently
Visibility 14 Read
Sometimes the windshield wipers quit completely, consumer has been informed that there is no problem
Headlight lens-driverside- reflectors were burnt brown color. Do you think the hallogen bulb is burning too hot & therefore, burning the lens? Notice the passengerside is also starting to tan over. Will I have trouble on that side too?
When the problem first started to occur I noticed the power windows were goin up little slower...a few months pasted...then the major problems started to occur...when I would turn on the stereo and the AC..the AC would kick on and off the stereo would kick on and off..also one day the car would start then the next I…
Suspension 13 Read
Right/rear upper control arm bolt came out far enough to strike the wheel, did not come completely out, dealer replaced the bolt. Tt
You can be driving along at any speed and feel a vibration , like the whole car is just shaking
While driving at 30mph vehicle vibrated and shuttered violently. Contacted dealer, and they made the necessary repairs
Steering 10 Read
The contact owns a 1993 lincoln mark viii. The contact stated while driving 35 mph the vehicle suddenly shut off in the middle of the road and caused a crash. There were no injuries. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was not filed. The contact had the vehicle towed to a mechanic who stated that the head…
While driving steering column was very loose, making it difficult to drive vehicle.*ak consumer adds that the steering wheel came off the vehicle
Transmission replaced at 55k miles. Primary symptom was shuddering during overdrive gear shifts. (79k) heater will not work. Unit only blows cold air. Vehicle eats rotors. Rotors need to be turned or replaced at least once a year. Electric steering adjustment won't go up or down. Temporarily fixed by beating on…
Mark years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Exterior Lighting | — | 1 | |
| 1997 | Steering | — | — | |
| 1996 | Electrical System | 1 | — | |
| 1995 | Equipment | — | — | |
| 1994 | Electrical System | 7 | 7 | |
| 1993 | Air Bags | 12 | 5 | |
| 1992 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | — | |
| 1991 | Electrical System | 1 | 1 | |
| 1990 | Electrical System | — | 1 | |
| 1988 | Electrical System | — | 1 | |
| 1987 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | 1 | |
| 1986 | Seat Belts | — | — | |
| 1985 | Electrical System | — | 2 | |
| 1984 | Electrical System | — | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 100 |
| Average complaints per series | 4.3 |
| Worst single series | 30 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 7.4 years |
A model average of 4.3 hides a worst series at 30. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
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- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Mark?
By complaint volume, 1993, 1994, 1990 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Mark years are the cleanest?
1984, 1986, 1987 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Lincoln Mark have?
426 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1984–1998. Of those, 21 describe a crash and 19 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.