1997 Mercury Cougar problems
NHTSA has received 112 complaints about the 1997 Mercury Cougar, and 22% of them involve engine. After that come brakes (12%) and exhaust system (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 112 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 22% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 2 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 2 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 66,000 miles 30 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 | 1 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 10 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 9 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 4 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 1 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 3 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 30 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 66,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 72,000 miles (18 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 2 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 2 injuries reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 81% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1997 ranks 10th most-complained-about out of 12 model years of the Mercury Cougar with enough data (35 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.
Stopped vehicle in street, put the vehicle in park, tilted the steering whee, . Got out and vehicle jumped into reverse and rolled back. Dealer can't find anything wrong with vehicle.
While vehicle parked for 15 min,utes a fire started under the hood. The vehicle was totaled. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem.
I parked our 1997 cougar in the driveway around 5:00p.m. On 07/15/05. I have not been having any problems with the car. About 1:00a.m. On 07/16/05, we were awaken by neighbors who had spotted the car on fire. The firemen said it appeared to be an electrical problem starting on the right side. Since it was totally burned, we don't know how to find out what happened.
1997 cougar xr7, 4.6liter engine. Cracked intake manifod allows cooling fluid to escape. Problem has been present for over three years but has never been located until lately when fluid loss increased significantly/
I have a 1997 mercury cougar xr7 that has 42,000 miles on it. The intake manifold cracked in my garage and liquids leaked all over garage. My car was one of the excluded vehicles in fords class action and recall of cracked manifolds.