2024 LAND ROVER DEFENDER Complaints

The main display screen will randomly not turn on upon startup of the vehicle. This prevents me from using the reverse camera, parking aids or any other functions or driving aids that are accessed through the screen. Turning off the vehicle and / or restarting the screen does not fix the issue...the screen will just randomly start working or stop working. This might happen 2 or 3 times per day and then may not happen for a month. In my 6 months of ownership it has happen more than 15 times. Others in the online forums are experiencing this problem and I feel this is a safety issue.

The Land Rover Defender has a center touchscreen that displays the cameras (rear back up camera, forward facing camera, Birds Eye camera). There have been two instances now when, upon turning on the vehicle, the center touchscreen remained blank (did not power on). Turning the vehicle on/off did not make it come on, neither did "restarting" the system by holding down the infotainment power button. Without the center touchscreen functioning, the rear back up camera would not display when the vehicle was in reverse and the rear back up sensors did not alarm when items were in the way. The screen did come back after turning off the vehicle for an extended period of time and then turning it back on, but for the duration of my drive, the screen remained black and the rear back up camera was not active. There were no other warning lamps, messages, or symptoms beyond what has been described above.

This morning I got into my Defender, started it, and the power steering was clearly not working at all. The steering wheel was not locked. With very significant effort I could turn the wheel. After searching online I found that this is apparently a widespread problem with Land Rover Defenders since about 2021. I was lucky that it happened in my driveway and not while I was actually driving. I was able to regain steering by disconnecting the negative terminal of the battery for 60 seconds and reconnecting. After that, the car drove fine.

I was ready to leave for work and started the car. The steering wheel was locked and would not turn left or right. The car could be put in gear but, the steering wheel not move. I turned the car off several times and nothing helped. Hopefully, this will not happen while driving. Had to drive my other car to work.