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The 2020 Land Rover Defender is deemed an all-terrain SUV that has won countless awards and continues to be a fan favorite. The automaker claims that it is “capable by nature,” but many customers are struggling to feel the same way. This luxury SUV seems to suffer from a defective electrical system, faulty engine and malfunctioning service brakes.
Click on other model year to view more problems: 2021 2022 2023
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NHTSA Complaints for the 2020 Land Rover Defender
| Complaint Category | Number of Complaints |
|---|---|
| Exterior Lighting | |
| Steering | |
| Visibility/wiper | |
| Structure:body | |
| Engine | |
| Electrical System | |
| Service Brakes | |
| Tires | |
| Unknown Or Other | |
| Lane Departure |
Problems with the Electrical System
The Land Rover Defender has none of the latest gadgets and technology, which is surprising for many luxury car lovers. However, it’s not enough for it to come with these features, but they must also work well. However, the Defender lacks these attributes.
One Edmunds review states, “We’ve had ours since June 8. After 8 days, the Check Engine light went on. Land Rover then had the car for 9 days. The dealer determined that three mechanical faults set the light off, but the mechanical faults were non-existent; it must have been a software issue that caused the light to come on. Land Rover (the dealer, in consultation with engineers from Land Rover USA on the east coast and Land Rover England) cleared the Check Engine light but never determined what software issue set it off in the first place. We then got the car back, Land Rover having had it for a longer period of time than we did. About a week later, Sirius went out. It comes in and out intermittently, and we have an appointment to have that fixed, but we can’t get in to the dealer until the end of July. While waiting for that appointment, the Check Engine light came on again. I’m anticipating another long stint with a loaner.”
Even Land Rover knows that this model is glitchy. Service Bulletin #SFCC Jul20_32 states that customers can lose audio control from the radio, no matter what source is being used. This doesn’t prove to anyone the capability that the Defender should exhibit. Stereo systems are nothing new, so this isn’t ground-breaking technology that needs to be worked out – it should be a given.
Problems with the Engine
As a luxury model, the Defender is expected to have a potent, powerful engine. While it all looks good on paper, there are serious issues with the motor.
An Edmunds user wrote, “Acceleration lag. I would say close to two second delay and then all in a sudden power kicks in and you are propelled forward abruptly. Passengers are not happy, the driver at least can hold the steering wheel.”
Land Rover even acknowledges this issue with Service Bulletin #SFCC_AUG2020_31. The automaker says that the delay in acceleration could be the result of a faulty upstream oxygen sensor. The engine should run right after the O2 sensor is replaced. While that’s great that the problem is fixed, how many customers want to deal with this problem right after buying a new vehicle? This proves that the Defender is only truly “capable” after some tweaks and fixes by the technicians.
Problems with the Service Brakes
The service brakes are the system that is responsible for stopping the SUV before an accident occurs. However, this is just one more part that appears to be defective with the Defender.
One final Edmunds review states, “The brakes, if applied too sharply have a bad noise and vibrate thru the pedal, not a good feeling.”
To further showcase the issues, Service Bulletin #SFCC_SEP20203334 says that customers are also complaining of a judder or thumping noise while braking. It seems apparent why Land Rover chose to name this SUV the Defender – it’s because it has to defend its reputation, attempting to prove it’s not a lemon.
Your Lemon Law Legal Rights
Think you have a lemon? Sit back and let the experts work out your lemon case at no cost to you. The law makes Land Rover pay legal fees. You may be able to get your lemon out of your life. Every year, auto manufacturers buy back, replace or pay cash settlements to thousands of ‘lemon’ owners like you.
Complaint Data
| Category | Tires |
| Date | Dec 12, 2022 |
| State | NY |
| Description | 255/60r20 |
| Category | Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Nov 01, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | My 2020 defender has had three incidences of the windshield cracking due to the smallest pebble. The first two cracks, I had professionally sealed. The latest incident involved a pebble so small that I couldn't see it. In fact, the pebble was so tiny that a point of contact on the windshield can barely be observed. However, it caused the windshield to crack clear across the middle, impairing visibility and creating an unsafe driving experience. This is, I believe, the seventh land rover windshield that I have had the misfortune to have crack on me over the years. One range rover windshield cracked while sitting in the driveway with no projectiles involved. Another cracked in cooler overnight weather. These windshields are clearly defective and land rover is aware of the problem. This is why the dealership offers a very pricey windshield package as an option when you purchase the vehicle. I have called land rover corporate again in this instance because I'm fed up with paying 00 to repair a defective bit of glass, only to have another crack appear and be forced to repair or replace that as well. Land rover corporate said that a pebble constituted "outside damage" and the windshield would not be covered under warranty. However, a driver does purchase a car under the presumption that the glass would be safe if struck by a tiny object or if taken through a car wash--as occurred with my previous range rover. Taken together, I do request that this consumer safety board review this issue as I know for a fact that I am not the only one concerned about the safety and reliability of the land rover windshields. Regards, [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6). |
| Category | Structure:body |
| Date | Sep 15, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | Driver's side a pillar trim came loose at 75 mph on freeway and blew off the side of the car. Also pulled out mounting bolt for a pillar trim. |
| Category | Electrical System, Engine, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | May 09, 2022 |
| State | MA |
| Description | Engine light came on while at a stop light, engine faltered completely and car stalled. Would not restart. Shifted car into park and tried multiple times to restart, finally got it restarted. Rolled forward per the flow of traffic and engine died again in the middle of the intersection putting me directly in harm's way. Multiple lights including engine light and dash warnings appeared. Pictures attached. This is a major safety issue, the car died and I could not move it forward. I was almost hit and could not get the car restarted, not once but twice. I have owned the car for less than one week, and it's been back in the shop now twice. The first time ( wednesday) was also for electrical issues, including sensor issues. |
| Category | Engine |
| Date | Mar 03, 2022 |
| State | OR |
| Description | Hello! My 2020 p400 defender is repeatedly not restarting itself at stoplights when the standard auto start/stop functionality engages. Upon removing my foot from the brake pedal to begin moving, what normally happens is thst the engine restarts itself and I drive off as normal. However, at least once or twice a day now, the car does not restart itself, the instrument cluster turns off, and I look down in the car has put itself into park. I am stopped in traffic etc. This is a somewhat significant fault in my opinion - because it has now happened at busy intersections, highway on ramps, and other places where you do not want people aggressively honking or worse hitting you from behind if they are distracted. I thought perhaps I just needed a software update or something, but my car is confirmed to be on the newest land rover software systems for everything in the car. I have not taken it to the dealer for this problem yet (no appts avail) but will be taking it in later this month. The reason I decided to submit this to you is that I went on a defender group on facebook, and there are many posts on there with other people in the united states having the exact same problem. With both p300 and p400 engines in defenders. So I believe this may be a fault with software or hardware (and not just an isolated issue with my defender… which by the way is my favorite car I've ever owned!) — that needs to be rectified with some sense of urgency with land rover. Also, my novice testing of why and when this is happening has concluded one workaround that I believe prevents the issue: if I press the button on the dash to turn off the auto start/stop, this problem does not occur. However, the car defaults to auto start/stop being on at each ignition cycle - so that would need to be something that users would need to remember to do each time they started the car. |
| Category | Electrical System, Engine, Steering |
| Date | Feb 26, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I was driving at a speed of 66 miles when the engine died, the cluster showed a red triangle and showed an alarm setting message. Steering wheel vibrate and I could not moved. This event last around 3 seconds and the alarm disappeared and the engine came back. |
| Category | Steering |
| Date | Jan 09, 2022 |
| State | NY |
| Description | This happenedtwice after the most recent update(os 3. 0). When I turned on my vehicle and engaged drive, power steering was disabled and/or locked. Im not sure which it was, but steering the vehicle was not possible, for several seconds, until it resolved itself. |
| Category | Steering |
| Date | Jan 04, 2022 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | Steering wheel locked and I was unable to drive the car. Tried to start and restart but the steering wheel is locked and a safety hazard for me. |
| Category | Lane Departure |
| Date | Nov 04, 2021 |
| State | NC |
| Description | The contact owns a 2020 land rover defender. The contact stated that the lane departure feature would intermittently fail to operate as needed without warning. The contact stated that the vehicle would independently deviate in the opposite direction as intended. The contact also stated that the lane deviation feature could be turned off; however, the feature was reactivated upon restart of the vehicle. The dealer had been made aware of the failure on multiple occasions and the contact was informed that there was no remedy for the failure. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 5,000. |
| Category | Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Oct 02, 2021 |
| State | AR |
| Description | Driving along the road with no cars around, the windshield made a loud noise and a crack was formed coming from the passenger side a-pillar. The crack of course grew over time. No rock chip. Clearly a defective windshield. The dealer would not replace it under warranty even though it clearly started where a rock could not have chipped it.. |
| Category | Structure:body |
| Date | Sep 29, 2021 |
| State | VA |
| Description | My front windshield cracked to the point of requiring replacement with neither notice nor reasonable cause (no impact, no crack starting point, besides the bottom edge, no temperature gradients, no pressure applied to the windshield). |
| Category | Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Sep 20, 2021 |
| State | MA |
| Description | My windshield cracked with no apparent strike with under 5k miles on the vehicle. Researching this, lots of people experience broken windshields on defenders and land rover products. There are lots of discussion in online owners' forums about the frequency of this and some notion that jlr uses glass that is thinner than other manufacturers. |
| Category | Service Brakes, Visibility |
| Date | Aug 17, 2021 |
| State | TX |
| Description | The contact owns a 2020 land rover defender. The contact stated that while driving at 25 mph, she lost control of the vehicle and crashed into two mailboxes but the vehicle kept driving down a curved road onto the left lane. The brakes had failed to engage. The contact did not receive medical attention on the scene but later went to the hospital for injuries sustained. No police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a towing yard then towed to a body shop where it remained. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure occurred after receiving the vehicle back from the dealer. The vehicle was originally taken to the dealer for the emergency brakes, lane departure, emergency steering, traction control warning lights, and cracked windshield. However, the dealer could not replicate the failure and only the lane departure software was updated and the windshield was replaced but not calibrated. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 7,434. |
| Category | Exterior Lighting |
| Date | Aug 01, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Much like the current recall n598 for the smoked rear lights. My rear lights (standard p300) red lensed lights can be turned off when a bright light is shone on the rear red lenses. Not only does it turn off the lights, it also disables the brake lights. I have been to the dealer and they believe it is a software problem (which it clearly is not) it has not been inspected by anyone else there are no warning lights that pop up when the rear lights or brake lights go out, so the only way to check is a visual check. The only way to turn them back on is to turn off the ignition and turn back on again. |
| Category | Exterior Lighting |
| Date | Jul 14, 2021 |
| State | WA |
| Description | The rear lights of the 2020 defender 110 go out when hit with a bright light from behind. The issue can be duplicated with a flashlight as well. Lights from a following car will extinguish all the rear lights on the defender, including brake lights (the slender brake light on the top of the vehicle, above the rear window still works, but none of the other lights work, including running lights, brake lights, and turn signals). This is a known problem with land rover, but there is no solution. They are expecting a software update sometime in the fall that may remedy this known issue. |
| Category | Exterior Lighting |
| Date | Jul 03, 2021 |
| State | AL |
| Description | I sell car parts and accessories online through my website powerfuluk. Com and I have sold a quantity of smoked rear lights for the defender 2021 models to the usa. These lights are fitted as an upgrade to the standard lights as they are smoked/tinted. These smoked lights are the subject of a recall n598 land rover has refused to notify or replace the lights sold to customers even though this is a popular upgrade and known issue. I think recall n598 should oblige land rover to notify all customers who have purchased the smoked lights as an upgrade to their standard model. See attached email from land rover head office |
| Category | Structure:body |
| Date | Dec 25, 2020 |
| State | NY |
| Description | On the 2020 land rover defender, a known problem is a rattling sound of the passenger side a-pillar. Land rover posted a bulletin on how to fix the issue and I brought it for a fix in november, but the sound persisted. Yesterday when driving at highway speeds there were heavy cross winds and the a-pillar flew off the vehicle into traffic but did not hit anyone. This is very dangerous. The engineers need to fix this. |
| Category | Engine, Service Brakes, Steering |
| Date | Nov 23, 2020 |
| State | NY |
| Description | Total brake and steering loss at 60mph .. I can send you the screen shots tomorrow/ november 23rd (prom the photos taken on my son's phone of the dashboard notice... Plus a virtual ghost-like abrupt take over of lane assistance despite my having turned that off! |
| Category | Exterior Lighting |
| Date | Nov 10, 2020 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The cone of light projected forward by the headlights is too narrow. When turning right or left from one dark road onto another dark road, one cannot determine if it is safe to turn. The light cone is blocked by the escutcheon around the headlight, which are set inward too deep. |
| Category | Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Oct 16, 2020 |
| State | CT |
| Description | I was at a red light and could not turn on the windshield wipers during a rainstorm. I took a video of the incident but it is too large to upload to your website |
| Category | Exterior Lighting |
| Date | Oct 06, 2020 |
| State | CA |
| Description | 1. Head light escutcheon blocks light in direction of right or left turn. When turning, this leaves the corner in the dark. 2. The touch screen display is "white", and too bright when driving at night. Very distracting. Should have been a black background, with white info. |
| Category | Steering |
| Date | Sep 21, 2020 |
| State | MD |
| Description | While driving on straight highway, the vehicle's lane keep assist feature which was turned off (the default position) activated automatically without driver input or warning and caused the steering wheel to turn and abruptly moved the vehicle from side to side. This required the driver to take corrective action to force the vehicle to remain straight. A considerable amount of force was required to override the automatic steering action. |
| Category | Electrical System |
| Date | Sep 08, 2020 |
| State | FL |
| Description | While driving my vehicle at high speeds on an interstate, the battery warning light activated. Before I was able to pull the vehicle over the air conditioner I'll probably begin to stop working. Following this, a series of multiple warning lights activated. The vehicle would not accelerate and I was forced to pull over. Following this, the vehicle would not activate whatsoever. All power was lost. I could not shift gear. The car required a tow to the local dealership. |
| Category | Service Brakes |
| Date | Aug 14, 2020 |
| State | NY |
| Description | While driving our one-month old range rover defender 110se, the brakes failed with no warning. The dealership (patrick jaguar & land rover of naperville il) was non-responsive to my requests for assistance and information when called from roadside. Vehicle had to be flat-bedded from scene. It was terrifying not to have braking ability. |
| Category | Structure:body |
| Date | Aug 13, 2020 |
| State | IN |
| Description | On august 3rd, while driving west-southwest at approximately 80 mph on interstate 90 in montana, the a-pillar cover became loose and the small cover at the base of the a pillar flew from the vehicle while moving. The two remaining pieces remained on the vehicle, one piece barely held on by a screw at the base, the other held on with about 50% of the adhesive still intact. Both would have flown off had we not immediately pulled over and removed each with the tools I had in the car (personal tools I happened to have with me). The two pieces that remained on the car were approximately 26 inches long, one 5 inches wide, the other 3 inches wide. The event startled my wife but could have really impacted a car behind us had the two pieces come off. Prior to the incident, I heard a lot of 'fluttering' noise coming from the a and / or b pillars. Being that it was a new vehicle I did not do anything about it (assumed it was part of natural road noise). I was planning addressing it with the dealer upon my return from my trip. At the time of the incident, the car had less than 3. 5k miles on the odometer. I believe this could be a safety risk to the driver and other passenger cars around the vehicle if this were to happen again. It appears that the design allows air to get under the a pillar cover which creates vibration and ultimately breaks it loose from the piece underneath attached by adhesive. |
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About the Author:
Brian Jones spent more than 20 years working as an ASE Certified Master Tech and Parts Specialist at multiple dealerships. Brian has become an authority in the industry, traveling across the country to consult for car dealerships and contributing his expertise as a writer for several major automotive publications. In his spare time, Brian enjoys working on pickup trucks, muscle cars, Jeeps and anything related to motorsports.
See more posts from Brian Jones
That is the first thing I thought.
That picture is not of a 2020 Defender…