Ford Crown Victoria 1996–2011

Summary

16 model years in 2 generations, 1,957 owner complaints in total.
Within their own generation, 2003 drew the most complaints in the first three years.
These are complaint counts, not failure rates: they are not divided by how many cars were sold, because no public source reports U.S. sales by model year.
Half of the complaints that give a mileage were filed by 89,616 miles (1,084 of them give one).
Owners reported 124 crashes, 65 fires, 106 injuries and 8 deaths across these model years.
33 recalls and 27 federal investigations cover these model years.

1996–1997

Each year is counted over the same span: complaints received up to two calendar years after its model year. A year is compared only when that span is over and it holds at least 50 complaints. Fewer than three years of this generation are comparable, so no year is named.

Model year	All complaints	First three years	Most reported system	Note
1996	278	90	Engine
1997	289	66	Engine

1998–2011

Model year	All complaints	First three years	Most reported system	Note
1998	122	61	Engine
1999	138	62	Engine
2000	89	33	Engine	not compared
2001	54	35	Engine	not compared
2002	60	31	Engine	not compared
2003	327	115	Wheels & Tires	most complaints
2004	155	16	Lighting	not compared
2005	213	28	Lighting	not compared
2006	53	7	Steering	not compared
2007	50	4	Steering	not compared
2008	50	9	Steering	not compared
2009	44	15	Steering	not compared
2010	12	2	Steering	not compared
2011	23	12	Steering	not compared

Engine is the largest group in 2 of the 3 compared years.

Every model year

A model year gets its own page when four sources cover it, it holds at least 50 complaints, and it either compares with the other years of its generation or shows one system in 40% or more of the complaints that name a component. The rest are listed here with their figures.

Model year	Complaints	Recalls	Investigations	Bulletins	Combined MPG	Page
1996	278	12	10	157	17–18	listed here
1997	289	11	10	167	17–18	listed here
1998	122	10	9	218	17–18	yes
1999	138	8	7	196	15–18	yes
2000	89	10	5	145	16–18	listed here
2001	54	7	7	124	16–18	listed here
2002	60	5	3	88	16–18	listed here
2003	327	8	10	118	14–18	yes
2004	155	4	7	63	14–18	yes
2005	213	7	8	44	16–19	yes
2006	53	3	3	29	17–18	yes
2007	50	4	4	23	18	yes
2008	50	3	3	18	18	yes
2009	44	2	0	18	19	listed here
2010	12	2	0	21	19	listed here
2011	23	2	0	21	19	listed here

What owners report across all years

System	Complaints	Share	Median mileage
Lighting	357	18%	100,000 mi
Engine	325	17%	88,544 mi
Steering	269	14%	104,619 mi
Suspension	211	11%	91,000 mi
Wheels & Tires	200	10%	79,832 mi

Shares are over complaints that name a component; a complaint naming several systems is counted under each.

Lighting

Owner report I'm having problems with the lighting control module my high beam lights stop working. I see this year (2003) Ford crown Victoria has a recall for the lighting control module but mines isn't listed when I put in my VIN number and I wanted to see if mines can be listed. Also I would like to know why wasn't it listed on …

Owner report The contact owns a 2005 Ford Crown Victoria. The contact stated that the headlights had become intermittently inoperable while driving at night. The contact personally replaced the fuses and undisclosed parts, per the information found online; however, the failure persisted. The odometer was inoperable. The dealer was …

Engine

Owner report My 2007 Crown Victoria has had a worsening unintended acceleration issue over the past year. When hitting hard bumps the car will suddenly begin revving my itself (normal RPM is 600 idling in drive and 800 idling in neutral) when this issue occurs it will sit around 1k rpm in drive (pushing against the brakes so I must…

Owner report The contact owns a 2003 Ford Crown Victoria. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle, the contact smelled an abnormal coolant odor. The contact inspected the vehicle and noticed there was corrosion and a crack near the intake and radiator hose. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an …

Steering

Owner report The contact owns a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria. The contact stated that while reversing, the vehicle was sluggish. The contact applied more pressure to the accelerator pedal; however, the vehicle unintendedly shifted into drive (D), accelerated, and struck the rear of a parked, unoccupied vehicle while blocking oncoming t…

Owner report The lower steering column bearing is coming apart I’ve called numerous dealers for them to tell me it’s not under recall but it’s a known issue and my car has only 130,000 miles

Largest recalls

Campaign	Component	Filed	Vehicles
07V336000	VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL	2007-08-03	3,600,000
01V227001	SEAT BELTS:FRONT:BUCKLE ASSEMBLY	2001-07-16	1,400,000
00V200000	EQUIPMENT:MECHANICAL:INTEGRATED JACK/LEVELER/STABILIZER	2000-07-18	875,000
13V385000	STEERING	2013-08-29	355,000
02I003000	FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY	2002-10-15	350,000

Whether a recall has been done on a specific car depends on its VIN; check it at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Open investigations

None open.

Service bulletins

Ford issued 1,450 service bulletins covering these model years, most often about engine and engine cooling.

A bulletin tells dealers how to fix a known condition. It is not a recall and not a defect finding. Most bulletins cover several model years at once, so a bulletin listed here may not be specific to one year. The number of bulletins tracks how long and how widely a model was sold, so it is not a measure of reliability.

Date	Component	Summary
2026-02-24	ELECTRICAL SYSTEM	Ford and Lincoln vehicles equipped with wired keyless entry keypad systems and accessory wireless keyless entry keypad systems may or may not come with a wallet card containing the master code. Unlike the integrated wired keypad, the access…
2024-04-24	EQUIPMENT	All accessory stick-on keyless entry keypads come with a wallet card containing the master code. If the accessory keypad was factory installed, this card will be placed in the glove box and should be handed to the vehicles owner during ini…
2020-07-13	STRUCTURE	This article supersedes TSB 19-2026 to update the vehicle model years affected. Some 2000 and newer Ford/Lincoln/Mercury vehicles equipped with aluminum body panels may exhibit corrosion concerns appearing as bubbled and/or peeling paint wi…
2019-09-18	ENGINE	This SKU is a Radiator Fan. The customer communication requested return of unsold inventory to inspect the electrical connections. An electrical connection issue may lead to the fan not working potentially throwing a check engine light fo…
2019-08-09	VISIBILITY	Some 2010-2020 vehicles may exhibit distorted glass with a subtle orange peel pattern or streaking etched into the surface. This is caused by hydrofluoric acid which is used in some car wash solutions as a cleaning agent. Hydrofluoric acid …
2019-05-10	POWER TRAIN	On vehicles equipped with an automatic transmission it is imperative that the converter pilot hub be greased with Motorcraft Multi-Purpose Grease Spray XL-5-A even if grease was not applied from the factory. Also verify that the engine/tran…
2019-02-07	STRUCTURE	Some 2000 and newer Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles equipped with aluminum body panels may exhibit corrosion concerns appearing as bubbled and/or peeling paint with or without accompanying white dust. Panel replacement is recommended. Fo…
2018-03-30	EQUIPMENT	Replacing the original equipment SYNC/Navigation system with either an aftermarket SYNC/Navigation kit or modifying original SYNC/Navigation parts to provide additional features is not recommended nor supported on any Ford, Mercury or Linco…
2018-01-10	EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL	The Accessory (Wireless) Keyless Entry Keypad can only be used with vehicles that are factory built with Remote Keyless Entry (RKE). The master code for the Accessory (Wireless) Keyless Entry Keypad can be retrieved from FMCDealer - Parts a…
2016-09-21	ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING	The Powertrain Control/Emissions Diagnosis (PC/ED) manual has been revised for diagnosing electronic throttle bodies (ETBs). The ETC_ACT and ETC_DSD PIDs should not used to diagnose possible ETB concerns. The IDS has a limited refresh rate …

How to read this page

Complaint counts are not failure rates. A model that sells more cars draws more complaints, and owners file more after news coverage or a recall. That is why years are compared only with other years of the same generation, over the same span, and never with other models.

Sources

NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation: complaints, recalls, investigations and manufacturer communications (data as of 2026-10-28).
U.S. EPA / DOE fueleconomy.gov: engines and fuel economy.

This page summarises public records; it is not a mechanical inspection.