2021 Land Rover Defender reliability

Is it reliable?

The 2021 Land Rover Defender has 0 complaints with NHTSA after 6 years, or 0 per year. That is about even with the other Defender years here. Their median is 0 complaints per year. NHTSA has 10 recalls on file, including DC/DC converter, Frontal, and Equipment.

2020 Land Rover Defender — Photo by DeFacto, resized from the original. Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

Complaints

Per year

Recalls

Years on the road

Next to 2020 and 2022

The 2020 Defender has 55 complaints, 8 per year, and the 2022 has 0 complaints, 0 per year. The 2021 has fewer complaints per year than the 2020. The 2021 has about the same number of complaints per year as the 2022.

The complaint rate is complaints filed in this year’s first 3 years on the road, divided by however many of those years have passed. Recalls are a separate count. The numbers are for the US-market 2021 Land Rover Defender. How we count. Data as of 2026-10-16.

Recalls (10)

Recall DC/DC converter 2026-09-17 · NHTSA campaign 26V599000

Summary Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2019-2024 Land Rover Range Rover Sport, 2020-2024 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover Range Rover, Land Rover Discovery Sport, Land Rover Defender, 2021-2024 Land Rover Range Rover Velar, Jaguar E-Pace, F-Pace, and Land Rover Discovery vehicles. The DC-DC converter may malfunction due to an electrical overload that can occur during high power demand. Additionally, a software error can cause the DC-DC converter to stop functioning at vehicle start-up under certain circumstances. Failure of the DC-DC converter will result in the loss of 12-Volt system charging and can lead to complete loss of drive power and exterior lighting.

Remedy Dealers will update the vehicle software, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk are expected to be mailed November 13, 2026. Additional letters will be sent once the final remedy is available. Owners may contact Land Rover's customer service at 800-637-6837. Land Rover's number for this recall is E008. This recall expands previous NHTSA recall number 26V248.

Recall air bags, frontal 2026-06-12 · NHTSA campaign 26V389000

Summary 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.

Remedy Dealers will apply a protective lubricant gel to the driver’s air bag connector terminals, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed August 3, 2026. Owners may contact Land Rover's customer service at 800-637-6837. Land Rover's number for this recall is D120.

Recall DC/DC converter 2026-04-17 · NHTSA campaign 26V248000

Summary 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 Rover Defender, 2021-2024 Jaguar F-Pace, and 2021-2022 Jaguar E-Pace mild-hybrid electric vehicles (MHEVs). Insufficient electrical load balancing during times of high demand can lead to a current overload condition and malfunction of the DCDC converter. A failure of the DC-DC converter will result in a loss of 12-Volt system charging and can lead to complete loss of drive power and exterior lighting.

Remedy Dealers will update the central software, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed June 17, 2026. Additional letters will be sent once the final remedy is available. Owners may contact Land Rover's customer service at 800-637-6837. Land Rover's numbers for this recall are D126 and H575.

Recall Equipment 2024-12-06 · NHTSA campaign 24E102000

Summary Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2020-2025 Land Rover Defender vehicles equipped with Raised Air Intake (RAI) aftermarket accessory equipment, with part number VPLEP0543. The raised air intake may not be secured properly, which can allow the intake to detach from the vehicle.

Remedy Dealers will inspect, and if necessary, remove and reinstall the RAI accessory, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed February 20, 2025. Owners may contact Land Rover customer service at 1-800-637-6837. Land Rover's number for this recall is N964.

Recall engine and cooling, engine, oil and lubrication 2023-02-02 · NHTSA campaign 23V044000

Summary Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2019-2023 Range Rover Sport, 2020-2023 Range Rover, Defender, 2022-2023 Discovery, and 2023 Range Rover Velar vehicles. The engine cam carrier oil channel may be blocked, which can lead to an oil leak.

Remedy Dealers will inspect and replace the engine cam carrier and related components as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 29, 2023. Owners may contact Land Rover customer service at 1-800-637-6837. Land Rover's number for this recall is N763.

Recall seat belts, front, retractor 2021-08-26 · NHTSA campaign 21V668000

Summary Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2021 Range Rover, 2022 Range Rover Sport, 2020-2021 Range Rover Velar, Discovery Sport, 2020-2022 Discovery, and Defender vehicles. The seat belt automatic locking retractors may deactivate early, which can prevent the child restraint system from securing properly.

Remedy Dealers will inspect and replace the seat belt assemblies as necessary, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed October 20, 2021. Owners may contact Land Rover customer service at 1-800-637-6837. Land Rover's number for this recall is N630.

Recall Owner's manual 2021-07-29 · NHTSA campaign 21V584000

Summary Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2020-2021 Land Rover Defender vehicles. The owner's manual incorrectly states that the third-row seating is equipped with LATCH child seat restraints with top tethers. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 225, "Child Restraint Anchorage Systems."

Remedy Land Rover will mail owners the correct information to insert into the owner's manual, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on September 23, 2021. Owners may contact Land Rover customer service at 1-800-637-6837. Land Rover's number for this recall is N601.

Recall Seats 2021-07-01 · NHTSA campaign 21V499000

Summary Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2021 Defender 90 vehicles equipped with manually-adjustable front seats. The front seat track end-stop bracket may become deformed, which could prevent the seat from locking into place.

Remedy Dealers will replace the front seat tracks, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on October 28, 2021. Owners may contact Land Rover customer service at 1-800-637-6837. Land Rover's number for this recall is N609.

Recall exterior lighting, tail lights 2021-06-08 · NHTSA campaign 21V435000

Summary Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2020-2022 Defender X vehicles equipped with smoked rear light assemblies. A voltage spike, triggered by a bright light shining on the rear of the vehicle, can cause the turn signals, brake lights, and tail lights to fail.

Remedy Dealers will replace the rear light assemblies, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed September 27, 2021. Owners can contact Land Rover customer service at 1-800-637-6837. Land Rover's number for this recall is N598.

Recall powertrain, automatic transmission, transmission control module 2021-06-03 · NHTSA campaign 21V424000

Summary Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2020-2021 Land Rover Defender vehicles equipped with 6-cylinder engines. The Powertrain Control Module (PCM) may unexpectedly switch off while the vehicle is in motion, resulting in an engine stall with no warning.

Remedy The Connected Diagnostic Services (CDS) and the Over-the-air (OTA) diagnostics functionality will be disabled, either by a dealer or through an OTA update, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 28, 2021. Owners may contact Land Rover customer service at 1-800-637-6837. Land Rover's number for this recall is N599.

Complaints by component (0 total)

No complaints on file with NHTSA for this model year.

NHTSA crash ratings

Version	Overall	Front	Side	Rollover
2021 Land Rover Defender L663 110 SUV 4WD	Not rated	Not rated	Not rated	Not rated
2021 Land Rover Defender L663 90 SUV 4WD	Not rated	Not rated	Not rated	Not rated

Stars are how this vehicle did in NHTSA crash tests. They are a safety result, separate from the complaint record. Not rated means that test was not run for this version.

Fuel economy

Trim	Engine	Transmission	Drive	City	Hwy	Combined	Annual fuel cost
Defender 110	2L, 4-cyl	Automatic (8-speed)	Four-wheel drive	17	20	18 MPG	$4450
Defender 110 MHEV	3L, 6-cyl	Automatic (8-speed)	Four-wheel drive	17	22	19 MPG	$4200
Defender 90	2L, 4-cyl	Automatic (8-speed)	Four-wheel drive	18	21	19 MPG	$4200
Defender 90 MHEV	3L, 6-cyl	Automatic (8-speed)	Four-wheel drive	17	22	19 MPG	$4200

Specs and fitment

L663 Defender, 2020–present

Body styles SUV

Oil 0W-20 (engine dependent; capacities vary) , 7.4 qt capacity

Tire size 255/70R18, 255/65R19, 255/60R20, 275/45R22 (trim dependent)

Known issues for this generation

Recall 23V-044 covers certain 2020-2023 Land Rover Defender vehicles among other Land Rover models: the engine cam carrier oil channel may be blocked, which can lead to an oil leak and increase fire risk near an ignition source. Dealers inspect and replace the cam carrier and related components as necessary. The campaign's published unit count is shared across Range Rover Sport, Range Rover, Defender, Discovery, and Velar years listed. Recall 21V-435 covers certain 2020-2022 Defender X vehicles with smoked rear light assemblies: a voltage spike can cause turn signals, brake lights, and tail lights to fail; dealers replace the rear light assemblies. Recall 26V-389 covers certain 2020-2026 Defender vehicles among other Land Rover models: the driver's air bag clockspring connector may corrode so the air bag may not deploy as intended; dealers apply protective lubricant gel to the connector terminals.

Compare

Previous year 2020 Land Rover Defender Next year 2022 Land Rover Defender See every Land Rover Defender model year →

Frequently asked questions

Is the 2021 Land Rover Defender reliable?

Is the 2021 Land Rover Defender more reliable than the years next to it?

Has the 2021 Land Rover Defender been recalled?

The 2021 Land Rover Defender has 10 recalls on file with NHTSA. See the recalls table on this page for dates, components, and remedies.

How many complaints have owners filed about the 2021 Land Rover Defender?

Owners have filed 0 complaints about the 2021 Land Rover Defender with NHTSA.

What mpg does a 2021 Land Rover Defender get?

EPA-rated combined fuel economy for the 2021 Land Rover Defender is 18.8 MPG. See the fuel economy table on this page for city and highway figures by engine and transmission.

What oil does a Land Rover Defender (L663) use?

Engine-dependent specs cite 0W-20 with about 7.4 qt capacity on common U.S. setups; always confirm viscosity and fill in the manual for your engine code.

What tire sizes fit the modern Defender?

Trim-dependent OE sizes include 255/70R18 through 275/45R22; check the door placard rather than assuming one size for every Defender trim.

Which NHTSA recalls mention the Land Rover Defender?

Campaigns on file include 23V-044 (cam carrier oil channel), 21V-435 (smoked rear lights on Defender X), and 26V-389 (driver air bag clockspring connector); several share unit counts across multiple Land Rover models.