2003 Mercury Grand Marquis problems
NHTSA has received 449 complaints about the 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis, and 47% of them involve lighting. After that come electrical system (12%) and steering (6%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 449 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Lighting 47% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 32 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 22 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 87,000 miles 349 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 | 37 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 22 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 51 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 50 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 57 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 43 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 32 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 22 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 12 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 6 |
| 200k+ miles | 17 |
What the data shows
Among the 349 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 87,000 miles. For lighting specifically, the median reported mileage is about 96,000 miles (167 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 32 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 22 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2003 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 21 model years of the Mercury Grand Marquis with enough data (101 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.
After starting and shifting into drive the engine raced and there was unexpected acceleration and the car would not stop even while applying brake. Turned vehicle off after crash and the engine continued to sound like it was running.
My wife hit a suburban on its driver side. Our car had $6000.00 damage to the front end of our 2003 mercury marquis with only 3000 miles on it. My complaint is that the air bag did not deploy on impact, there by causing facial injury and a broken nose.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 mercury grand marquis. The contact stated that the headlights module failed. While driving approximately 45 MPH at night the headlights shut off and caused the driver to hit a deer. The front end was damaged. The dealer advised the contact to report the failure to the manufacturer. There were no related recalls on the headlights. The failure mileage was 110,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mercury grand marquis. While driving various speeds, all the gauges on the instrument panel failed to provide the accurate reading. In addition, the air suspension that controlled the shocks failed to hold air. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 123,000.