1994 Mercury Cougar problems
NHTSA has received 178 complaints about the 1994 Mercury Cougar, and 20% of them involve brakes. After that come transmission (20%) and engine (16%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 178 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 20% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 13 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 15 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 70,000 miles 18 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 0 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 3 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 4 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 5 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 2 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 2 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 1 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 18 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 70,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 13 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 15 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1994 ranks 4th most-complained-about out of 12 model years of the Mercury Cougar with enough data (102 complaints in that window).
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Reported by police officer. The vehicel had a fire in the steering column due to the airbag deployment. Please describe.
This accident occurred at a stop light. My vehicle was stopped,but somehow the vehicle struck the back of a 1986 pickup truck. The sun was very low and there was apossibility that my judgement was impaired. The damage to the truck was minimal $350. My small dg was struck by the airbag which exploded on both sides with a force that knocked me out and injured him severely. He died 5 days later after doing everything possible to save him. His neck was snapped, and he had internal injuries.
I just think that if a cheviey taho and a chevie van hit a mercury cougar at a stop sign at the speed over 55MPH and pushes my cougar 5 feet sidways in the corner of my frunt end the airbage's should have imploded ???
I am the original owner of this 1994 mercury cougar with 33,465 miles as of mar 4, 2002. And there was a general recall issued on the problem in question which involves the potential for a premature failure of the engine head gasket(s).at the time of the notice this condition was not experienced and no action was taken. However this condition has now developed and is causing severe engine over heating.
The front coil springs broke without warning. As a result when driving at any speed the vehicle veered to the right.