1999 Mercury Cougar problems
NHTSA has received 740 complaints about the 1999 Mercury Cougar, and 15% of them involve electrical system. After that come brakes (12%) and engine (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 740 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 15% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 34 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 38 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 73,000 miles 177 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 | 13 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 24 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 27 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 37 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 32 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 20 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 10 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 6 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 4 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 177 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 73,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 70,000 miles (29 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 34 complaints mention a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 38 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 1999 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 12 model years of the Mercury Cougar with enough data (433 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 7 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.
The victims parents believe that recall 01v-031 of the misrouted battery cable may have been the result of there daughters death, the recall was recieved 1-mar-01, 4 months after the accident occured. Nlm
Vehicle was involved in a frontal collision at 44MPH and the airbags did not deploy, resulting in injuries. Dealer has been notified.
1. Car began to lose power and the steering wheel began to lock up and lights began flickering on the dash. 2. The car stalled in the fast lane on a busy freeway. The consequence was a small truck rear-ended the back of the car and it was totaled. One person had busted lip in truck and one in the car had busted forehead and blackened eyes with back injuries and the other one had back and stomach extreme pains and legs. 3. Nothing could be done at this point-the car always had problems.
Car died all of the dummy lights came on found out it was the alternator, dealer repalced it, 8 months later same exact problem.
Purchased car new, in 57000 miles we have had to replace, 2 alternators, 1 starter, 2 batteries, entire rack and pinion, power steering pump, transmission torque converter, 4 set of brakes, 4 sets of tires plus two individual tires all with sidewall blow outs except one puncture and 2 headlight switches, 2 cig lighters. The entire upper engine gasket set had to be replaced to get to an intake leak. The head lights and foglights work itermittantly, engine warning lights are constantly going on and off.