Mercury / Villager / 1997

1997 Mercury Villager problems

Owners have filed 152 complaints about the 1997 Mercury Villager with NHTSA. Fuel system, gasoline accounts for 17.8% of them — narrowly the most common, ahead of structure at 14.5%.

Complaints152

Crashes9

Fires1

Injuries2

Deaths2

What owners report breaking

Fuel system, gasoline 17.8% · 27

Structure 14.5% · 22

Latches/locks/linkages 11.2% · 17

Engine and engine cooling 10.5% · 16

Air bags 7.9% · 12

Service brakes, hydraulic 7.9% · 12

Vehicle speed control 6.6% · 10

Power train 3.3% · 5

Severity

Of those complaints, 9 describe a crash, 1 describe a fire, 2 report an injury and 2 report a death.

Reading the numbers

Across the 7 model years of the Mercury Villager in this data, 1997 draws comparatively few complaints; 1993 is the outlier year.

Filings are rising — 5 in the last three years against 4 in the three before. For a vehicle this age that usually points to a wear-related failure owners are hitting now.

The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 100,000 miles.

In owners' own words

Since september 1997 consumer kept taking vehicle to dealer for hesitation, engine light coming on , stalling, bad gas milage and sputtering. Dealer kept telling consumer it was due to reformulated gasoline. To dealer at least 12 times. Currently, vehicle is out of warranty, and dealer finds all fuel injectors need to be replaced, at cost of $1700.*Ak *slc Fuel system, gasoline

The consumer made an appointment at the local dealer to have recall 00v-419 work performed and also asked that they replace the air filter and change the transmission fluid, when the consumer returned to pick up the vehicle he was told that they had run out of parts for the recall and they charged an outrageous amount for the other items replaced/changed. Nlm Fuel system, gasoline

Might be worth looking into the fuel pump system on this vehicle. Original was replaced 4/2/2001 and replacement pump starting to fail late in november 2001. Dealer/ford not working with customer since 3000 miles over warranty (even though we are within 12 mo. Period). Just seems weird that two fuel pumps would fail within that short a time frame. Fuel system, gasoline

Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.

Safety recalls

Checking NHTSA for open recalls…

Other Mercury Villager years

1993 516 complaints · 29.5% engine and engine cooling 1994 323 complaints · 31.0% engine and engine cooling 1995 477 complaints · 21.2% engine and engine cooling 1996 253 complaints · 16.2% engine and engine cooling 1998 100 complaints · 14.0% vehicle speed control 1999 252 complaints · 36.5% vehicle speed control

Compare all 7 model years →