Buyer Research

2014 Lincoln MKZ — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $9,000–$14,000. There are 3 high-severity known issues you need to know before handing over a check.

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Kestrel Take

Second year of the second-generation MKZ, with the 2.0L EcoBoost, the 3.7L V6 or the Hybrid, and fourteen recalls on the record — including one for a steering wheel that can come off in your hands. 97 complaints, and a quarter of them (26%) are the steering: the electric gear quitting without warning, salt-state bolt recalls that cover only part of the country, and the wheel bolt. Electrical faults are 18%, mostly the SYNC screen and a connector under the passenger seat that burns. Ten engine complaints carry two crashes and describe stalls and coolant that vanishes weekly. This is a good-looking, quiet car that Ford spent a decade recalling; the price of buying one is a VIN lookup with fourteen lines on it and a slow full-lock turn in the car park before you hand over a cent.

What we checked

Reconciled against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 97 owner complaints for the 2014 Lincoln MKZ, and 14 recall campaigns.

A big number here usually means a lot of these were sold, not that it is a bad vehicle — popular models collect more complaints for the same rate of trouble. So the total on its own says little. What is worth reading is the shape of it. The largest single group is steering at 26%. That is notable without being overwhelming — worth checking, not worth panicking about.

14 recall campaigns cover this model year. Recalls are repaired free, for any owner, with no time limit on most safety campaigns — but only if someone books it in. Ask the seller to show it was done, or have any dealer check the VIN; it takes them a couple of minutes and costs nothing.

Counts come from the NHTSA complaint and recall database — free, public, and worth checking yourself.

Known Issues for the 2014 Lincoln MKZ

Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.

Electric steering gear quits without warning; the steering wheel itself can come off (recall); motor bolts corrode in the salt states (two recalls)High — wallet impact

Twenty-five of 97 complaints, a quarter of the record, and one crash — a driver slowing in traffic whose wheel 'went out' and hit the car ahead. Three faults share the cluster. The biggest is the electric steering gear failing outright: a warning, then within seconds no assist, and one owner paid over $2,000 for a new rack at 100,000 miles. Recalls 15V250 and 19V632 cover cars sold or registered in the salt-belt states for the bolts holding the steering motor to the gear, which corrode until the motor separates; a car from Georgia or Texas is outside them, and the Georgia crash above is on this record. Then 18V167, which covers every 2014–2018 MKZ: the steering wheel retaining bolt can loosen until the wheel detaches while driving — one owner's nearly did — and the fix is a longer bolt, free. A 2025 owner reports the failure arriving with 'service AdvanceTrac' and 'collision warning not available' on the dash together, which is how this car announces it. Check all three campaigns on the VIN, grab the steering wheel and pull it hard toward you, then do a slow full-lock turn each way with the engine warm.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $1,500–$2,500 for a steering gear outside it

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under steering (25); 14 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

SYNC screen goes unusable, a connector under the passenger seat burns, the rear camera drops outMedium

Seventeen electrical complaints and five more filed as back-over prevention, which on this car means the rear camera. The expensive one is MyLincoln Touch: the screen that runs climate, radio and phone goes blank or stops responding, and one dealer's diagnosis was three parts at once — the front interface control module, the display and the APIM behind it — for a bill above $1,000; that owner had it fixed and it failed again eleven months later. The alarming one is an electrical overload at the connector under the front passenger seat that burns the plug, twice on the same car, with the dealer confirming it and offering no fix. The camera restarts, shuts off or shows 'camera unavailable' with a C1001 code. One owner also paid over $1,000 for a trunk latch. Run every function on the screen, put the car in reverse a dozen times, and slide the passenger seat fully forward and look at the connector for browning.

Repair cost (estimate): $300–$1,500 for the screen, control module or APIM; $150–$500 for a seat connector repair; $200–$600 for a camera

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (17), back over prevention (5).

Stalls at speed with no cause found, a purge valve that trips the light, and a 2.0T that drinks coolantMedium

Ten engine complaints and two crashes. Several are stalls — at 45 mph with the check-engine light, on the highway, at a stop after a rough start — and in two of them a mechanic had the car for weeks and found nothing, with a battery that would not hold a charge in one. A purge valve tripped the engine light the day after warranty on another, a $150 part on this engine. One owner refilled the coolant every week and did not know where it went: on the 2.0L EcoBoost that is the coolant-intrusion pattern this engine family is known for, where coolant seeps into a cylinder and leaves by the tailpipe, and it ends in a head or a long block if ignored. One Hybrid crash began with a loud bang from the passenger side and the wheels seizing at 43 mph — a single report, but not one to leave out. Medium rather than high because the stalls have no single cause on this record. Check the coolant cold on a 2.0T, watch the first start of the day for white smoke, and have the battery and charging system load-tested.

Repair cost (estimate): $150–$400 for a purge valve or a battery; $2,500–$5,500 for a head or a long block on a 2.0T — about 48% of what this car is typically worth

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the engine (10).

Front brake hoses can rupture (2023 recall); pedal bumpers crumble in the southern states and hold the brake lights on (recall)High — wallet impact

Two recalls and nine complaints with two crashes. 23V162 covers every 2013–2018 Fusion and MKZ for front brake hoses that can rupture and leak, lengthening the pedal and the stopping distance; both hoses are replaced free, and because letters only went out in June 2023 many cars are still open on it. 22V011 covers 2014–2015 cars sold or ever registered in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia and Hawaii: the rubber bumper on the brake pedal arm crumbles in heat and humidity, and without it the brake lights stay lit and the car may not know the pedal is pressed. The complaints describe a soft pedal and brakes that are 'fine but not working properly'. Check both campaigns on the VIN; with the wheels at full lock look at the hose behind each front wheel for cracks or a wet patch; have someone confirm the brake lights go out when your foot is off the pedal.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $150–$400 for hoses or a bumper outside it

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the brakes (9); 14 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Six-speed that slips or shifts hard; the earliest Hybrids can be shifted out of Park without the brake (recall)Medium

Nine powertrain complaints with two crashes, and one electrical complaint that is really the transmission slipping at 53,000 miles. The gas cars carry Ford's 6F35 six-speed, whose habits on this platform are a hard shift into Drive, a lurch between second and third and, once it is going, a slip under load; a fluid check comes first, then a valve body or a torque converter. Recall 13V594 covers 2013–2014 MKZ Hybrids built up to September 24, 2013 — the earliest 2014s — for a transmission range sensor that can let the car be shifted out of Park with no foot on the brake; the fix is a software update. Drive it ten minutes in traffic feeling for a lurch or a flare; on a Hybrid, with the engine running, try pulling the shifter out of Park with your foot off the brake — it should refuse.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $300–$800 for a fluid service or a solenoid; $1,200–$2,500 for a valve body or torque converter; $3,000–$4,500 for a rebuilt six-speed — about 39% of what this car is typically worth

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the transmission and drivetrain (9); 14 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Restraints control module that can short, seat-belt cables that can burn through, seatbacks that can loosen — three recallsHigh — wallet impact

Recall 14V597 covers 2013–2014 MKZs for a restraints control module that can short internally, and if it has, the front airbags, curtain airbags and belt pretensioners may stay silent in a crash; replacement parts were not available for a year after the recall opened, so plenty of cars carried it a long time. 16V875 covers MKZs built November 14, 2012 to July 31, 2014, which is nearly every 2014: heat from a firing pretensioner can burn through the seat-belt cable so the belt cannot hold, and the remedy is a protective coating. 14V164 covers cars built through September 10, 2013 whose front seatbacks can loosen and lean while driving. None of this shows on a test drive beyond rocking each front seatback hard, and none of it costs anything to fix; the whole inspection is three lines on the NHTSA VIN lookup.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed

Source: 14 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Door latches recalled four times — a door that shows closed can open while drivingMedium

The 2014 MKZ carries every chapter of Ford's door-latch recalls. 15V246 covered cars built July 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013; 17V210 widened it to every 2013–2014 MKZ, replacing all four latches for a pawl spring that breaks so the door will not latch or only seems to; 20V177 added 2014–2016 cars sold or registered in the hot states, where the latch fails from heat; and 20V331 sent cars already fixed back to have the date codes on the replacement latches checked, because some early fixes used parts from the same bad batch. The order matters — a latch replaced under 17V210 may still need the 20V331 inspection. At the car: close each door twice and listen for a clean double click, push each door outward from inside with the car parked, and treat a 'door ajar' warning with the doors shut as a latch on its way out.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $100–$250 per latch outside it

Source: 14 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Wheel that stiffens, or a 'service AdvanceTrac' message, on a slow full-lock turn
✗Steering wheel that moves when you pull it hard toward you
✗SYNC screen that is blank, frozen or ignores presses
✗Browned or melted connector under the front passenger seat
✗Coolant reservoir below the cold line on a 2.0T, or white smoke on the first start
✗Brake lights that stay on with your foot off the pedal
✗Any of the fourteen recalls shown open on the NHTSA VIN lookup

Good Signs

✓All fourteen recalls shown closed on the NHTSA VIN lookup, including 23V162 from 2023
✓Steering gear replaced with a dated invoice, and a steady full-lock turn each way
✓MyLincoln Touch screen and APIM replaced with the receipt, and every function responding
✓Coolant sitting at the cold line on a 2.0T after a week of driving, with a clean, dry tailpipe
✓Battery and charging system load-tested with the printout
✓Transmission fluid changed with a receipt and smooth shifts through ten minutes of traffic