2003 Land Rover New Range Rover
Safety record from NHTSA: recalls, owner complaints, investigations and service bulletins.
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Vehicles › Land Rover › New Range Rover › 2003
These records cover every 2003 Land Rover New Range Rover. To see whether one car still needs a recall repair, decode its VIN or check it with NHTSA.
Owner complaints
31 complaints2 involved a crash1 injuries
What owners report most
Latest complaints
- Power train
While driving on the new jersey turnpike traveling at a speed of approximately 65-70 miles an hour my truck suddenly made a loud noise and it felt like the brakes locked up and melt grinding sounds. I had it towed to a repair shop and was told it was front differential failure.
- Power train · Vehicle speed control
Driving up a hill and started to lose power. Eventually lost all power on highway and had to pull over and wait for a tow truck to come.
- Structure › Body · Suspension
In october 2013 while I took my car to a private garage for oil change. The mechanic noticed that the frame on my vehicle was rotted out . He called me into the garage and showed me the problem. I immediately called the land rover dealership were the car was purchased new and they have been doing…
In october 2013 while I took my car to a private garage for oil change. The mechanic noticed that the frame on my vehicle was rotted out . He called me into the garage and showed me the problem. I immediately called the land rover dealership were the car was purchased new and they have been doing the service on the vehicle since it was new . I informed the service manager of the issue and I questioned the fact that no one at the dealership ever mentioned the rust issue on my vehicle. The service manager asked me to drive up to the dealership so they can take a look at it. Once at the dealership the service manager put up the car on the lift and was shocked to see how bad things were. He took pictures of the frame and contacted land rover main office and sent them the pictures. Land rover main office contacted me and told me that they have never seen anything like this before but they made the decision not to cover fixing the problem although it IS a safety issue . My concern IS that one day this car IS going to break in half and a major accident would occur because of it. I really need your help. *tr
- Suspension
The range rover IS equipped with electronic cross linked air suspension (with variable ride height). Variable height suspension system switches from low to high on its own and creates a greater risk for roll over. When the car IS operating on the high mode, without the driver being aware because it…
The range rover IS equipped with electronic cross linked air suspension (with variable ride height). Variable height suspension system switches from low to high on its own and creates a greater risk for roll over. When the car IS operating on the high mode, without the driver being aware because it switches on it's own, it means that the car IS in gear for off road and puts road turns more dangerous, with high possibility of a roll over. The vehicle on a normal turn around 20 miles an hour speed almost lost control due to system switching to higher suspension setting on its own without my control. *Tr
- Power train › Driveline
My 2003 range rover hse suffered a failure of the front differential and driveshaft. A common and known issue to land rover. I was traveling down the interstate and suddenly lost all forward momentum. I had to immediately find a safe place to pull over and put on the hand brake to keep the vehicle…
My 2003 range rover hse suffered a failure of the front differential and driveshaft. A common and known issue to land rover. I was traveling down the interstate and suddenly lost all forward momentum. I had to immediately find a safe place to pull over and put on the hand brake to keep the vehicle from rolling. It would not move. It was towed to a repair facility and the broken parts were replaced. It was fixed with new parts, but they are the same design of the ones that failed. I was told there IS not permanent fix provided by land rover and this will happen again. *tr
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
My 2003 range rover hse differential died without warning. I had to be towed home ($200) + $1500 to fix it with an after market differential. *tr
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
Bought car july 2007 with 35,000 miles; 3 days after I was driving on the highway with my little girl in the car and the brakes locked then there was a grinning noise, had to change 4 lanes to get to the shoulder, nearly got run over by a truck..car would not stop when I put it onto park..it was…
Bought car july 2007 with 35,000 miles; 3 days after I was driving on the highway with my little girl in the car and the brakes locked then there was a grinning noise, had to change 4 lanes to get to the shoulder, nearly got run over by a truck..car would not stop when I put it onto park..it was rolling down the shoulder had to pull up hand brake. Nearly died. Car towed found out it was front diff..paid $4000 from my pocket. Eight months later same thing..front diff went..complained to dealer..they were rude and arrogant..called rover head office..complained to them..they told me they would get back to me..they never did..will never buy a rover again..the worst car, the worst service ever. *tr
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
While driving home from work late at night my 2003 range rover stop and the indicator directed me to put my car in neutral. When I stepped on the gas I heard a loud grinding sound. I was stranded at 1AM on a week night waiting for a tow truck range rover should recall this problem with the differential especially if so many people are having this issue and we paid over 80,000 for our cars. *tr
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
While driving my 2003 range rover on the freeway, the front differential suddenly failed with no advance warning. Lost all propulsion. Was barely able to glide onto the shoulder. This IS a known, significant safety defect that should have been addressed already. Only have 50,000 miles on the car.…
While driving my 2003 range rover on the freeway, the front differential suddenly failed with no advance warning. Lost all propulsion. Was barely able to glide onto the shoulder. This IS a known, significant safety defect that should have been addressed already. Only have 50,000 miles on the car. It IS well maintained. Requires total replacement of the front differential by the dealer. There IS a 2 week delay in getting replacement parts; this IS a well known, too-commonly-occurring defect. range rover should be protecting their reputation better. *tr
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
Front differential failure. *tr
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
While driving on the expressway the front differential went out on my 2003 range rover with only 52,000 miles. I was driving 60mph when the vehicle lost power from the transmission and I almost lost control of the vehicle in traffic. I was almost rear-ended and was unable to steer vehicle to side of the road. *tr
- Equipment · Power train › Driveline › Differential unit · Power train › Driveline › Driveshaft
2-9-05-Driving on the highway. veichle shut down on motorway, vehicle making loud grinding noise will not move in any gear. had to wait to be towed back to dealership. it was a faulty front fif assemby.replace front fiff and align. Replace drive shaft. 8-23-07-driving on a highway. veicle…
2-9-05-Driving on the highway. veichle shut down on motorway, vehicle making loud grinding noise will not move in any gear. had to wait to be towed back to dealership. it was a faulty front fif assemby.replace front fiff and align. Replace drive shaft. 8-23-07-driving on a highway. veicle making grinding noise while on the highway. Had to pull over the car would not accelerate. Car was towed into shop after 4 hours of waiting on the highway and being towed. front diff and drive shaft splines stripped. Replced front diff and driveshaft
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
Differential failure on my 2003 land rover range rover. Almost got killed while traveling on the freeway at 65 mph when all of a sudden complete loss of power. Stopped and put in park and vehicle still moved!! Finally used handbrake to stabilize and called a tow truck. *tr
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit · Power train › Driveline › Driveshaft
Failure of front differential/driveshaft on a 2003 land rover range rover with 48,000 miles. no accident involved, excessive wear identified by dealer during routine service and clanking"noise identified by owner upon shifting from reverse to drive. problem was consistent with other reported…
Failure of front differential/driveshaft on a 2003 land rover range rover with 48,000 miles. no accident involved, excessive wear identified by dealer during routine service and clanking"noise identified by owner upon shifting from reverse to drive. problem was consistent with other reported failures in same model with BMW drive train. differential/driveshaft was serviced twice in 2004- once due to an owner complaint of a grinding noise coming from the front differential ,and once due to a service bulletin from land rover. differential was replaced on 11 july 2007 at a cost of $2300.00 to vehicle owner. land rover continued to lack acknowledgment of problem and failure to issue a formal recall was creating a safety hazard for owners of pre jaguar drive train range rover . *ak
- Power train › Driveline › Driveshaft
2003 range rover, I was driving at 50 mph on the highway when without any prior warning the car made a very loud metallic grinding noise. A warning message told me to immediately put into neutral, I was doing 50 mph in morning rush hour traffic. The car lost drivetrain power, and I was luckily…
2003 range rover, I was driving at 50 mph on the highway when without any prior warning the car made a very loud metallic grinding noise. A warning message told me to immediately put into neutral, I was doing 50 mph in morning rush hour traffic. The car lost drivetrain power, and I was luckily able to change lanes and coast into the breakdown lane, narrowly missing a pile up accident. the car was flat bedded to a land rover dealership. They told me that the front differential/driveshaft was burned out. I asked if this was a common problem on this vehicle. They said yes! Seemingly it could happen anywhere between 30000 and 100000 miles . This car hasd 7500. miles on it) I asked if range rover knew about it and had recalled the car. They said that range rover had bullitins since 2003 after the car was introduced, but had not accepted this as a fault or issued any safety recalls. This was a disgrace, and the nhtsa needed to address this. The problem wa s well documented on the rangerover.net website.*ak
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit · Power train › Driveline › Driveshaft
I was stopped at a red light and when it turned green vehicle moved for about half a block then there was this noise coming from the front that immediately disabled the truck in traffic . the truck just stopped instantly, engine still running, but truck won't move. I had it towed to the dealer, and was told it was a faulty differential and driveshaft. *ak
- Service brakes, hydraulic
Car IS a 2003 range rover hse and has only 41K miles on it. when my husband stopped at the corner to take a right turn, there was a horrible metal-on-metal grinding sound. the car was inoperable and had to be towed.
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
2003 range rover had front differential replaced at 50K miles. At 80K miles car was being driven 30mph and suddenly made loud grinding noise and coasted to a stop in a high school entrance. At this point the vehicle could no longer move under it's own power. The vehicle had to be towed for repair.…
2003 range rover had front differential replaced at 50K miles. At 80K miles car was being driven 30mph and suddenly made loud grinding noise and coasted to a stop in a high school entrance. At this point the vehicle could no longer move under it's own power. The vehicle had to be towed for repair. Fortunately this incident occurred at low speeds. Had this incident occurred on a busy highway higher speeds, it IS unclear if we would have been able to safely navigate our way out of traffic.
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit · Power train › Driveline › Driveshaft
Front differential assembly. *Tr
- Power train › Driveline
Front drive shaft spline failure. driving on freeway approx. 60 mph around town. loud metal grinding noise. no vehicle acceleration response. vehicle slowly rolled to stop. pulled over to side. towed vehicle to lr dealer. received est. Of $3500 to replace shaft and front differential…
Front drive shaft spline failure. driving on freeway approx. 60 mph around town. loud metal grinding noise. no vehicle acceleration response. vehicle slowly rolled to stop. pulled over to side. towed vehicle to lr dealer. received est. Of $3500 to replace shaft and front differential declined and arranged for tow to home. after a week of research, purchased aftermarket driveshaft. installed myself and working great. did not have to replace front differential. *Jb
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
Front end differential failure on 2003 range rover. *Jb
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
Front end differential failure, second time. *Jb
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
Failure of front end differential with 24,396 miles on 2003 range rover III hse. *Jb
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
Range rover front differential failure - leading to lock up of transmission. If I had been traveling at speed a serious accident would have occurred. The vehicles should all be recalled by the manufacturer as it IS a safety issue. Do we need to wait until somebody IS killed? nm
- Power train › Driveline › Differential unit
1)None regular and uneventful driving. 2)total loss of drive power while driving, without any previous symptoms, leaving me stranded in between the emergency lane and right lane of highway. Second time 3RD lane of freeway right after service from the dealer from the first incident. 3) the failure was a misalignment between the driveshaft and the front differential on a 2003 land rover, range rove. *jb
Defect investigations
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened these reviews into vehicles including this one.
- Front diff. / propeller shaft failure
Summary:in a letter dated december 2, 2008, ford motor company (ford) notified nhtsa that land rover IS conducting a safety recall of model year (my) 2003 through 2005 range rover vehicles built at the solihull (uk) assembly plant from january 3, 2002 through february 22, 2005, to replace the front driveshaft joint…
Summary:in a letter dated december 2, 2008, ford motor company (ford) notified nhtsa that land rover IS conducting a safety recall of model year (my) 2003 through 2005 range rover vehicles built at the solihull (uk) assembly plant from january 3, 2002 through february 22, 2005, to replace the front driveshaft joint (nhtsa recall no. 08V-635, land rover recall no. P041). The front differential coupling sleeve and the propeller shaft may be misaligned resulting in spline wear over time, which may eventually result in the splines shearing.the defect condition can result in a loss of propulsion and subsequent vehicle disablement in the roadway or on the shoulder of the roadway. Furthermore, the defect condition can also cause loss of the transmission lock function when the vehicle IS shifted into the park position.the loss of the transmission lock function can cause a vehicle rollaway condition if the emergency brake IS not applied and the vehicle IS unattended by the driver. In july 2008, land rover initiated a service action (Q041) instructing dealers to install a redesigned front propeller shaft, front differential coupling and heat shield kit to address the misalignment and subsequent spline wear.this IS the same repair procedure that will be used in safety recall 08v-635.approximately 48 percent of the subject vehicles (18,000) have had the remedy performed under service action Q041 as of december 2, 2008. Odi believes that sudden loss of motive power without warning and failure of the transmission lock function are safety consequences that, particularly in the context of the high failure rate of the subject components, represent an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety as stated in a recall request letter sent to ford and land rover on november 6, 2008.land rover does not agree, but IS changing its customer satisfaction program to a safety recall as odi requested. Land rover noted that it was aware of one alleged accident; however, it was unaware of any injury or vehicle damage associated with the alleged accident.land rover's recall resolves the safety defect concerns pursued by this investigation. This engineering analysis IS closed.
- Front differential/driveshaft failure
In response to an information request (ir) letter sent by the office of defects investigation (odi), ford stated that the primary cause for the majority of the reported front differential/drive shaft failures IS a misalignment of the joint between the two components.certain levels of misalignment may over time cause…
In response to an information request (ir) letter sent by the office of defects investigation (odi), ford stated that the primary cause for the majority of the reported front differential/drive shaft failures IS a misalignment of the joint between the two components.certain levels of misalignment may over time cause an uneven wear of the splines.continued wear of the splines may result in a shearing of the splines and the inability of the driveshaft to transfer torque to the front differential. To address the issue in the field, ford initiated a service campaign in june 2003 to correct the misalignment issue and, if necessary, replace the front drive shaft and/or differential.the service campaign covered model year (my) 2003 and my 2004 vehicles built from april 18, 2002 through july 3, 2003.in production, ford introduced a change to the lubricating grease of the joint in february 2003 and a change to the assembly plant alignment process in july 2003 to address the misalignment and wear issue. Odi identified one crash related to the alleged defect.the crash involved a subject vehicle being struck in the rear after becoming disabled by a front differential/driveshaft failure and pulling to the side of the road. This preliminary evaluation has been upgraded to an engineering analysis (ea07-012) to further assess the scope, frequency and safety consequences of front differential/driveshaft failures in the subject vehicle population.
Service bulletins
Technical service bulletins and other communications the manufacturer sent dealers about this vehicle. Ask a dealer for the full document by its number.
- 10125267Presentation from Dealer Shop Foreman Conference Call
- 10053935Land rover: gearshift remains stuck, either up, down, in neutral, park or IS erratic or intermittent in operation of shifting, due to possible earth points are loose or corroded. Model range rover. No model year.
- 10053918Land rover: the front left hand corner, a noise of rubbing, scraping, drone type and/or a vibration appears due to transfer case chain on coast/overrun chordal vibration. Model range rover. No model years.
- 10043560Land rover: the compressor exhaust valve may be cause of the air suspension warning lamp to be illuminated and a possible electrical failure.
- 10020127Power steering squeak at bulkhead.
- 10015108Steering column reach motor noise. Updated 07-25-07.
Every Land Rover New Range Rover model year
Bars are owner complaints, dots mark years with recalls. Select a year to open its report.