1996 Mercury Cougar problems
NHTSA has received 77 complaints about the 1996 Mercury Cougar, and 25% of them involve engine. After that come brakes (8%) and exhaust system (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 77 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 25% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 4 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 5 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 61,000 miles 23 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 | 1 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 4 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 6 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 1 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 5 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 3 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 0 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 23 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 61,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 4 complaints mention a crash; 5 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1996 ranks 12th most-complained-about out of 12 model years of the Mercury Cougar with enough data (28 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
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.
Headlight switch has shorted out many times. Local delarship knows the problem and I have had it replaced by a local shop three times. Fod had checked for electrical shorts and said they were all fine. Automatic transmision went out because the filter wasnt getting enough fluid because the filter wasnt close enough to the bottom of the fan 96 cougar 41,000 original miles
The gas did not shut off during impact,along with the airbags not deploying. The driver could of been killed today. Please find out why the air bags did not deploy. Thank you jayne howard.
Intake manifold cracked. Made of a plastic material. Is there any recalls out there for this? If not, why not? Why would you put plastic material in the engine?
Campaign 96v007000----on my 96 cougarxr7 purchased in 2001--had to repace motor due to overheating--new motor started to overheat/blower caused this over-heating--because blower came on eratically mechanic did not find immediately//currently out of pocketexpenses around 6000.00--dealer should of had this fixed before selling to me or at least notified me of this recall