What is the best year for the Lincoln MKS?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Lincoln MKS
which year?
Compare every Lincoln MKS model year the EPA recorded, 2009 to 2016. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Lincoln MKS year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Lincoln MKS years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2013
142 indexed complaint reports; steering is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2013 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect200956 indexed complaint reports; service brakes, hydraulic is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2009 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect201051 indexed complaint reports; steering is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2010 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Lincoln MKS model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2015 Lincoln MKS
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 17
- Combined EPA economy
- 20–22 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 3
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,800–3,100
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsengine 5electrical system 4power train 3
Open the 2015 evidence dossier →2016 Lincoln MKS
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 3
- Combined EPA economy
- 19–20 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 3
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $3,100–3,250
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelselectrical system 3forward collision avoidance 1power train 1
Open the 2016 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2016 has 14 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 2015.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Lincoln MKS by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 3 | electrical system 3forward collision avoidance 1power train 1 | 19–20 | 3 | $3,100–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2015 | 17 | engine 5electrical system 4power train 3 | 20–22 | 3 | $2,800–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2014 | 44 | steering 12electrical system 7fuel/propulsion system 6 | 20–22 | 3 | $2,800–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2013 | 142 | steering 61electrical system 25engine 22 | 20–21 | 3 | $2,950–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2012 | 17 | steering 8electrical system 4unknown or other 4 | 19–20 | 3 | $3,100–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2011 | 43 | steering 21engine 4service brakes 4 | 19–20 | 3 | $3,100–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2010 | 51 | steering 15vehicle speed control 10engine 7 | 19–20 | 3 | $3,100–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2009 | 56 | service brakes, hydraulic 11service brakes 9air bags 8 | 19 | 2 | $3,250 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.