Hi fellow Nautilus owners....I found out a definitive safety issue going on with my 2019 Nautilus, totally by accident, 2 days ago, here's the run down:
I had a meeting to attend in Toronto this past Thursday morning...after the meeting was over, I headed up to get on the 401 highway to make my way home...it was snowing lightly, and the night before they salted the highways, so road slush, mist combined with salt made for a very messy ride...half way through my trip, dash light warning light came on that I was low on washer fluid, so I pulled into a SHELL station and proceeded to open the hood to fill the windshield reservoir up....the hood latch would NOT release, no matter what I tried...I'd pull on the inside hood release, but it was just dead and apparently jammed!!!! by this time I was only approx 20 km from home so I decided to limp home....because of the worsening road conditions and other cars on the road, my windshield washer finally ran out...this is where the fun REALLY started!....I must have had to pull to the side road at least 16 times, get out of the Nautilus, turn wipers on and toss clean snow at the glass till wipers cleaned it up...this had to be repeated a bunch of times, so I could see where I was going...when you have salted moisture on your windscreen, unless it's cleaned off you JUST CANNOT see out!!!! I got home safe and sound but rattled by this whole experience...I decided to run my wife's hair dryer at the hood heating it up where the latch is...did that for around 30 minutes, NOTHING!!! it was still jammed shut...I asked my wife to come out to the garage and give me a hand....she was tugging at the release lever while I compressed the hood's leading edge with the hope it would release, no luck either. I called the dealership and set up an appointment so they can have a look at it the following day....Friday morning,I got in the Nautilus and started it up....warning comes on telling me the hood is unlatched and I MUST close it before I drive....this is getting really interesting....got out of the ride and pressed on the hood to make sure it was latched on, NO resistance or movement of any kind!....so I decide to drive nice and slow ( 45km/hour) to the dealership, a 35 minute drive....this is where I end up with a cop right behind me, 5 minutes into the drive I get pulled over by this lady cop...she was nice enough and asked me why I was driving so slow on a 2 lane divided highway, I explained the situation to her...tells me I should have ordered a tow truck to haul me there, I told her I suggested this approach to the dealer but they declined the idea, instead they told me to just take it easy and drive in....no tickets, thank god....dealership send it to the bodyshop and trim on their premises...get this: MOST of the front end had to be removed so they can get to the latch...they still needed to get the hood opened to remove the shroud that conceals the latch mechanism....Jim, the head body man ( a friend of mine ) ended up using a tube camera between the grille openings to try find out what was going on...prod, push, pull and a few swear words in between, the hood finally opened!....nothing out of whack with the mechanism...the cable is not broken or frayed...he cycled the latch a bunch of times...finally decided to "wash it out" with a can of WD40 and air dry it, then adjusted the latch a tad looser so it did not apply as much pressure down when the hood was closed....filled up the reservoir with washer and was on my way...Jim had a real close look at that latch, and just to be on the safe side ordered a new assembly....as a side note: While they were going over the Nautilus they discovered that the rear right outer brake lens was not coming ON when the brake was depressed....he got to the rear part of the harness that feeds power to the assembly, check it out with a mater for power, and that was fine...so he also ordered a new Lincoln assembly ( this unit is around $1,300 CDN ) plus taxes....I thought leds are supposed to last a lil longer than 9 months!!! It's all being done under warranty, but thought you guys better get a heads up to this hood issue, in a bad snow day, this is the last thing you need to encounter while you're on the road...I was also told the way the latch mechanism is designed it does not get water buildup and the possibility of freezing....Lincoln needs to issue a safety bulletin to address this potential dangerous situation....on a final note: I am being told this problem is happening with a bunch of GM and Honda cars as well....I'll be following up with Lincoln regarding these matters and keep you updated and things unfold...

Thanks for the heads up. I'll be keeping an eye on mine. I would have responded sooner but the participation level here is so low that I only check in every few weeks now. That and the recent discussions sidebar doesn't seem to update either. Your post doesn't even show up on it.

Cheers!

...thanks for the info...I heard that the Lincoln solution was...don't travel to Toronto in the Winter months.....now seriously thanks for the warning on my part I will carry a bottle of Windex just in case the same thing happens to me.....here in the US we say "**** happens" but it also happens at most innoportune times...keeps us posted please