Acura CL vs Lincoln Navigator

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Acura CL	Lincoln Navigator
Complaints on file	731	1,794
Model years covered	1997–2004	1998–2025
Worst model year	2001	2003
Best model year	1998	2012
Crashes reported	49	136
Fires reported	4	116
Injuries reported	35	116
Deaths reported	7	4
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	13%	20.7%

Acura CL by year

106 69 66 11 317 71 89 2

97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 333 45.6%

Airbags 77 10.5%

Electrical System 63 8.6%

Engine & Cooling 42 5.7%

Brakes 30 4.1%

Suspension 27 3.7%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 26 3.6%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 25 3.4%

Lincoln Navigator by year

240 155 137 116 48 179 119 71 90 56 40 10 22 10 15 20 25 31 33 45 69 97 35 40 33 9 28 21

98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Electrical System 200 11.1%

Engine & Cooling 188 10.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 174 9.7%

Tires 170 9.5%

Suspension 163 9.1%

Brakes 111 6.2%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 96 5.4%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 95 5.3%