Mercury Cougar owners have reported a total of 1,439 problems for their cars built in the 7 model years listed in the chart below. The chart shows the number of problems reported across all service years for each given model year of the Mercury Cougar. The 1999 Mercury Cougar cars have the most problems reported (738 problems).
| Model Year | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| 2002 Cougar | |
| 2001 Cougar | |
| 2000 Cougar | |
| 1999 Cougar | |
| 1998 Cougar | |
| 1997 Cougar | |
| 1996 Cougar |
The following chart shows the 24 most common problems for Mercury Cougar cars. The number one most common problem is related to the vehicle's electrical system (212 problems). The second most common problem is related to the vehicle's engine and engine cooling (191 problems).
It would not be fair to compare the Mercury Cougar of an older model year to newer model years since older vehicles have been in service longer and thus are expected to have more problems. In order to compare the reliability across Cougar model years, we use the PPMY index which is defined as the problems reported per thousand vehicles per Year. A smaller PPMY index indicates greater reliability of the given model year cars.
PPMY = P / S / Y * 1000,
where P = total problems reported during the life of a Mercury Cougar model year; S = total units sold of the model year; Y = years since the debut of the model year (the age of the vehicle).
The results are shown in Table 3.
Another way to measure the reliability across the model years of the Mercury Cougar is to use the total number of problems reported during the vehicle's first year in service, as shown in the Table 4.
| Model Year | Problems Reported |
|---|---|
| 2002 Cougar | |
| 2001 Cougar | |
| 2000 Cougar | |
| 1999 Cougar | |
| 1998 Cougar | |
| 1997 Cougar | |
| 1996 Cougar |
| ✿ Fuel Economy of Cougar Vehicles |
| ☘ Cougar Service Bulletins |
| ⚑ Cougar Safety Recalls |
| ☤ Cougar Defect Investigations |
| Compare Reliability: |