Automatic Transmission problems of the 2002 Mercury Cougar

Vehicle has been well maintained. Transmission was shifting poorly and suddenly same day, reverse will not engage, also no 1st or 2nd gear working.

I purchased this 2002 Mercury Cougar 9 days ago and the transmission started hesitating in overdrive, so I turned o/d off and it was fine. When I got home I tried to put it in reverse and it wouldn't move. I tried to put it in neutral and it moved forward. I recently discovered that I was not the only one, I have seen repeated accounts of this same a/t failure on this same year & model on the internet including this same complaint forum. I also discovered this was a result of Mercury's poor engineering in the overdrive gear, and the plastic valve box (used for gear selection) inside the trans axle. I would appreciate Mercury motor company paying for the repairs. I would not have purchased a vehicle to expect costly repairs due to engineering mistake or poor design.

My 2002 Mercury Cougar, started grinding in the third gear. I took it to my dealer and they quoted me 1500. 00-2500. 00 as an estimate repair. I was unable to afford the cost, so I had to drive skipping the third gear position. The saftey issue involved is that it is hard to get on the California ramps at a good speed to keep from causing a wreck. Come to find out, Mercury made third gear wrong when it was built in the factory. Supposedly, a lot of Mercury Cougars are coming back with the same problems in third gear. I feel that it is Mercury's duty to recall this issue with the transmissions. It was their fault in the first place, and they should fix the problem. Thank the lord that nothing has happened to me or someone else with this issue (as far as a wreck). But there are other Cougars out there.

We were driving our vehicle on the interstate and the car started to hesitate then accelerate fast it did this 6 times. We stopped at a store and pulled in forward when we came back out and started the car the car would not go into the reverse position. The car some how was frozen into drive even if you put the car into neutral. Now our car is at another dealership with no explanation why or how this could have happened.