2003 Land Rover New Range Rover Transmission Problems

Which parts fail

• Driveline › Differential unit
  20
• Driveline › Driveshaft
  5
• Driveline
  2
• Transfer case (4-wheel drive)
  1

Components named in complaints (automatic and manual transmissions, CVT, axles, driveshaft, 4WD/AWD).

Mileage when the problem started

• Under 25k
  312%
• 25k–50k
  520%
• 50k–75k
  936%
• 75k–100k
  728%
• 100k–150k
  00%
• 150k+
  14%

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2003 Land Rover New Range Rover owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

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

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.

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. …

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.

I own a 2003 Range Rover, and I have read of numerous problems concerning the driveshaft and front differential failing in these model suvs. I want to do my part and report that I too had my front differential fail on the road at 40200 miles. I hope that reporting this will ultimately require Land Rover to redesign this part, because this will eventually cause someone to lose there life. The truck is totally undrivable. I was on the highway at speeds of 65 MPH, and the acceleration just gave out. I was lucky that it was light traffic, and I was able to somehow get the truck to the side of the road.

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.

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.

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

Differential failure I had just exited the freeway and came to a stop at the light as the light changes I apply the gas and experience a horrible metal on metal grinding noise accompanied by sudden and complete loss of power. I immediately shut the car off and put it into park which didn't work so I used the emergency brake to keep from rolling backward. This is extremely dangerous and I am told quite common. This happened to me in the middle of a busy intersection at the bottom of a freeway off-ramp.

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.

NHTSA investigations

Transmission complaints in other New Range Rover years