1997 Mercury Tracer problems
NHTSA has received 181 complaints about the 1997 Mercury Tracer, and 27% of them involve air bags. After that come electrical system (15%) and engine (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 181 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 27% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 19 and 26
- Injuries and deaths
- 21 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 82,000 miles 33 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 | 2 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 3 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 6 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 5 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 6 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 6 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 33 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 82,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 102,000 miles (13 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 19 complaints mention a crash; 26 complaints mention a fire; 21 injuries reported; 1 death reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 94% 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 1997 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 8 model years of the Mercury Tracer with enough data (102 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.
Holes eaten through heater core inlet & outlet pipes-leaked causing damage to air bag monitor which had to be replaced. New monitor came with a shiled not on the car when I bought it. This leads me to believe they know there is a problem, but did not notify me about it. I did not take my car to haper ford since when I was there for my 60 thousand mile check up , they charged me to service my automatic transmission and the car I own does not have one. I feel the didnt service my car correctly at the time.
This car is a ford mercury tracer, 1997, VIN #1melm10p2VW6246 there was a smell of burning acid and a small amount of smoke. About two hours later the car burst in flames we lost the entire interior.
Two weeks ago my car (a 1997 mercury tracer) was involved in an car accident in kingman, (4 hours north west of phoenix). The cause of the accident was the fault of the air bags suddenly deploying without cause, causing extensive damage to my car. I then notified my insurance company and it was towed to a repair shop here in kingman. Later the next day while the repair shop was doing their investigation into the cause, the car burst into flames from the air bag compartment.
While driving down at speed of 65-70 MPH, the car ceased to accelorate. I pulled over to the side of the road, once the car was completely stopped it would no longer crank. Today when I went to clean it out (happened at night)I saw that a hole was burned through the bottom of the passenger side dash board. Also I noticed that there was smoke/fire residue on the windshield coming from the defrost vents.
Tl*the contact owns a 1997 mercury tracer. The contact stated while driving 45 MPH, she lost control of the vehicle and drove into the median to avoid oncoming traffic. The engine shut off and the cylinder head was blown. The dealer was unable to diagnose the failure; however, they stated that the engine needed to be rebuilt. . The contact stated that the cylinder head in the engine failed and caused her to lose control of the vehicle. The vehicle has not been repaired.