1996 Mercury Villager problems
NHTSA has received 253 complaints about the 1996 Mercury Villager, and 16% of them involve engine. Next are latches & locks (11%) and fuel system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 253 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 16% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 12 and 8
- Injuries and deaths
- 6 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 86,000 miles 16 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 | 0 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 1 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 4 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 5 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 2 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Of the 16 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 86,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 12 complaints mention a crash; 8 complaints mention a fire; 6 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1996 ranks 5th most-complained-about out of 8 model years of the Mercury Villager with enough data (150 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 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.
Air bags deployed for no reason. The previous day the vehicle would not start and was towed to the dealer. They stated that nothing was wrong.
Vehicle was involved in a frontal collision at 45MPH. Upon impact, airbags did not deploy, resulting in minor injuries.
Consumer's wife was driving on highway when heavy rain commenced. Driver started to roll up window when window stopped just before it reached the top. Driver's hand was caught between the frame and the window, trying to get the window up. Driver received minor cuts while trying to free her hand from the window. Vehicle was in the dealer shop on several occasions before this incident occurred. Codition was never resolved.
My 1996 mercury villager has been diagosed as having broken exhaust manifold bolts. After searching the web, it's become apparent that this is an extremely common problem with certain model years of the mercury villager, including mine. The design of this part of the car is definitely flawed because of the commonality of this problem.
The car continually locks itself (power locks). If I'm outside the car I have to repeatedly try to unlock it while at the same time it relocks itself. After numerous attempts it will stop and let me in. Same is true if I'm in the car except now I can't get out. It's usually much worse during the day than at night. Doesn't matter if you're in the car, trying to get in or nearby (I don't have a remote nor is it an option).