1996 Mercury Mystique problems
The 1996 Mercury Mystique has 303 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (19%) concerns electrical system. After that come engine (12%) and transmission (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 303 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 20% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 19 and 14
- Injuries and deaths
- 22 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 94,000 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 | 4 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 5 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 10 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 4 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 30 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 94,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 19 complaints mention a crash; 14 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 1996 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 6 model years of the Mercury Mystique with enough data (185 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.
On this day a truck cut in front of us in heavy traffic where I hit his bumper and no damage was done to his. But my car took damage from the impact and my husband recieved trauma from the passenger airbag that put him in the hospital for four days with trauma to his right eye. He was in his seatbelt and was knocked out with blood trauma to his righteye that cause permanent nerve damage.
Consumer had a head-on collision with a deer and air bags deployed, causing her to stay in hospital for a week and a half. Also, loss of hearing.
Vehicle was involved in a frontal collision at 55MPH, and the airbags did not deploy, resulting in minor injuries. Dealer will be notified.
The under hood wire harness burned up. This car has 89,000 miles and runs good. I heard there was a recall / TSB #( onp 99m03) on this car but ford will not honor it because the car is over 10 years old. I think ford should reimburse for repairs or buy back the car. This is a dangerous situation as the car will stall abruptly and lose power steering.
While traveling on the highway and without prior warning the steering wheel bounce off her knee and landed in the passenger side. The dealership is aware of the problem. Ts the vehicle was not responding well to steering. As consumer let go, the wheel fell off.