2002 Mercury Cougar problems
NHTSA has received 127 complaints about the 2002 Mercury Cougar, and 39% of them involve fuel system. After that come engine (15%) and transmission (7%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 127 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Fuel system 39% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 16 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 21 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 74,000 miles 100 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 | 7 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 16 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 18 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 23 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 5 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 9 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 100 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 74,000 miles. For fuel system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 77,000 miles (41 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 16 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 21 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 86% 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 2002 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 12 model years of the Mercury Cougar with enough data (64 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
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.
While driving wheel locks,(which wheel unknown)which causes the brake pad to wear on one side before the other(side unknown). Please provide more details. Ph
While driving at 40 MPH a vehicle ahead slammed on the brakes and consumer hit the brakes and the vehicle jumped and accelerated which caused consumer's vehicle to hit the vehicle ahead. During this, the driver seat belt did not restrain, and the air bags did not deploy.
I have a 2002 cougar with 60k miles and I've already replaced the fuel pump,power steering pump, and now the heater core is clogged. Although lincoln/mercury is the only one to work on the car, the warranty wont cover a clog. They will cover a leak...but not a clogg. How asinine is that? Fidelity warranty service is a joke!
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury cougar. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 MPH, the vehicle suddenly decreased to 10 MPH. The vehicle was taken to a dealer and they advised her that all three catalytic converters were clogged and the fdm needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired for the fdm but not the catalytic converters. The manufacturer was contacted and they offered no assistance. The failure and current mileages were approximately 72,000. The VIN was unavailable.