Land Rover Defender

Land Rover Defender representative vehicle image
Representative editorial illustration of the Land Rover Defender.

Land Rover Sedan 1995, 1997, 2020–2026

Verify with official recall databases, service records, a mechanic inspection, and local market data before relying on this summary.

At a glance

Vehicle coverage snapshot

This snapshot uses the current page hierarchy, year-range meta, and vehicle taxonomy only.

Page roleModel Hub
Make
Land Rover
Model
Land Rover Defender
Year range
1995, 1997, 2020–2026
Generation
1995–1997 · L315 (NAS Defender); 2020–2026 · L663
Vehicle taxonomy
Defender

Model-year and generation details come from structured catalogue data; confirm the exact vehicle from its VIN.

Vehicle coverage

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Coverage path

Choose a make, model, and supported year from the structured US/Canada vehicle database.

Model coverage

Coverage dashboard

Coverage at a glance

Model-year coverage for this vehicle is confirmed from the structured US and Canada dataset. Vehicle-specific problem evidence has not been published for it yet.

Known checks by year range

Published problem clusters for Land Rover Defender are still being built. In the meantime you can look up a fault code directly, or describe the symptom and work through it step by step.

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Buyer path

  1. Start with the model hub
  2. Use OBD and symptom pages for current issues
  3. Verify recalls by VIN and inspect service records.

Coverage status

This page carries confirmed model-year and powertrain coverage. Recall, complaint and fault evidence for this model is still being expanded, and this page updates as that evidence is published.

What is on the record for the Land Rover Defender

Owner complaints for this model most often concern:

  • Electrical system194 (24.9%)Official recall records for this system: 3, covering model years 1995–2021.
  • Visibility (glass, wipers, mirrors)112 (14.4%)Official recall records for this system: 1, covering model years 2023–2024.
  • Lights106 (13.6%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 2020–2022.

Where a mileage was given (56 reports), it averaged 30,266 miles.

These are counts of records held, not a failure rate: no vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability score can be derived from it.

Explore Land Rover Defender problems by model year

Short answer

If you are checking a used Land Rover Defender, start here. This hub collects SUV buyer checks, future common-problem pages, OBD clues, and year-window risk notes as they are reviewed.

Key takeaways

  • This Land Rover Defender page is a vehicle hub, not a final reliability verdict. Verify open recalls by VIN, scan for stored codes before buying, and use sourced fault/year pages when they are available.

If you are checking a used Land Rover Defender, this hub is the starting point. It is built to gather the practical questions a buyer or owner actually has: what usually goes wrong, which year windows deserve caution, what warning signs matter, and what to check before money changes hands.

The Land Rover Defender is tracked here as a SUV coverage hub. This page is a researched coverage page, not a final reliability verdict. Specific defect claims should come from sourced child pages, not guesswork.

Before buying or ignoring symptoms, verify open recalls by VIN, scan for stored OBD codes, check service history, and use any linked CarFaultIQ fault or symptom pages to decide the next practical step.

Official evidence for this model

Coverage below spans the explicitly mapped model years. Records do not apply to every model year or configuration.

US safety recalls

19 distinct official identifiers · US

Campaigns matched to recorded model years. Only an official VIN check can confirm whether an individual vehicle is affected.

  • 26V389000 — model years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

    Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2020-2026 Land Rover Defender, 2021-2026 Discovery, and 2022-2026 Range Rover vehicles. The driver’s air bag clockspring connector may corrode, which can cause the air bag not to deploy as intended.

  • 26V263000 — model years 2026

    Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2026 Land Rover Defender vehicles. The fuel tank was improperly manufactured with walls that are too thin.

  • 26V248000 — model years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

    Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2021-2024 Land Rover Range Rover Velar and Land Rover Discovery, 2020-2023 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, 2019-2024 Land Rover Range Rover Sport, 2020-2024 Land Rover Range Rover, 2020 Land Rover Discovery Sport, 2020-2024 Land…

Official NHTSA source

Manufacturer communications / TSBs

916 distinct official identifiers · US

Manufacturer service communications are not safety recalls and do not prove that every vehicle has the described condition.

  • 11035735 — model years 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

    Intermittent Passive Entry Operation 24MY Or With New Service Smart Key Fob.

  • 11035675 — model years 2020, 2021, 2022

    Exhaust System Oxygen (O2) Sensors - Extended Warranty

  • 11035882 — model years 2025

    Blanking Connector - Install

Official NHTSA source

US defect investigations

1 distinct official identifiers · US

An investigation records a regulator review of a suspected defect. It is not automatically a finding or a recall.

  • PE25019 — model years 2024

    The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received 1 complaint stating that a rear row seat belt became detached in a model year (MY) 2024 Land Rover Defender.Photos of the seat belt received with the complaint show that the stitching of the webbing of the…

Official NHTSA source

Canadian recalls

16 distinct official identifiers · CA

Canadian-market records remain separate from US campaigns. Confirm applicability with Transport Canada and the manufacturer.

  • 2026292 — model years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

    Issue: On certain vehicles, the connector for the driver-front airbag in the steering wheel could corrode. As a result, the driver-front airbag may not inflate in a crash. Note: This problem would cause the airbag warning light to turn on. Safety Risk: An airbag that…

  • 2026206 — model years 2026

    Issue: On a small number of vehicles, the fuel tank may not have been manufactured properly. As a result, the wall of the fuel tank may be too thin and could leak fuel in a crash. Safety Risk: A fuel leak can create the risk…

  • 2026196 — model years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

    Issue: On certain vehicles, the DC/DC converter could fail. As a result, the 12 V battery would not charge and a red "Stop Safely Electrical Fault Detected" warning message would be displayed. If this happens, and you continue to drive the vehicle, there could be…

Official Transport Canada source

US owner complaint reports

292 distinct reports · US

Distinct ODI complaint identifiers, deduplicated across component and product rows. Reports are allegations, not confirmed defects, failure rates or reliability scores.

  • ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 96 reports
  • VISIBILITY/WIPER: 53 reports
  • EXTERIOR LIGHTING: 51 reports

A report can name several components. Do not add component totals together.

Official NHTSA source

Evidence is served from a locally stored official-source snapshot. No external API is called to render this page. These records do not replace inspection or diagnosis. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.

Used-car checks

No structured used-car checks are verified on this model hub yet.

Recall/safety notes

No hand-written safety notes have been added to this hub. Official recall, bulletin and investigation records held for this vehicle are listed under documented evidence on this page — the absence of a note here does not mean no records exist. Always confirm by VIN.

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