2000 Mercury Mountaineer problems
Owners have filed 164 complaints with NHTSA about the 2000 Mercury Mountaineer. Cruise control is the most reported problem area, at 17% of complaints. After that come tires (13%) and electrical system (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 164 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Cruise control 17% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 21 and 21
- Injuries and deaths
- 25 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 81,000 miles 84 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 | 8 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 11 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 13 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 8 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 9 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 8 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 7 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 9 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 7 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 84 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 81,000 miles. For cruise control specifically, the median reported mileage is about 102,000 miles (11 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 21 complaints mention a crash; 21 complaints mention a fire; 25 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 93% 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 2000 ranks 8th most-complained-about out of 12 model years of the Mercury Mountaineer with enough data (91 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 6 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.
While leaving parking lot, accelerater pedal became stuck. Driver came to a stop by hitting other cars. Air bags did not deploy. Cause unknown.
We were rear ended and both seats broke, flinging us into the back seat. We then went into the oncoming lane (because my wife could no longer reach the steering wheel or the brakes) and were hit head on. Complaint #1 - the seats should not have broken. Complaint #2 - the airbags never deployed.
Brake lights were not lighting. Fuse was blown, replaced fuse, stepped on brake pedal, then poof of smoke at fuse inside, and under hood smoke continued for 2 minutes. Found connector for switch on master cylinder was melted and switch is still bad. Disconnected connector from shorted switch causing fuse to blow. Then replaced fuse and now brake lights work. Cruise control was intermittent for the past 2 months prior to this event. Connector is tied to keep it secure until repair is made.
I was driving to an intersection with my family while going 45 MPH. I noticed black coming through the vents. I pulled off to a gas station parking lot. I proceeded to use fire extinguishers under the hood, the fire department had to come put it out. They did a look through and determined the fire started at the fuse box. I went home and researched that this is a recurring problem with this type of vehicle. I'm now out the 6500 I used to purchase it. I cant fix it or trade it in now.