general problems of the 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid

Just after starting my car and driving down my street at ~5mph, there was a warning symbol (red triangle) and then message saying "stop safely now. " the vehicle then lost power steering, and power to the engine. I restarted the car and made it ~100ft and the same thing happened again. This also happened several times previously on the highway traveling ~65mph and with the same message "stop safely now" message appeared and immediately lost all power to steering and the engine. I went to the Ford dealership and was told to replace the hybrid coolant pump and blend doors and this fixed the problem for several months until today. I had also just taken the vehicle into the dealership for a recall on the power steering. This loss of power and ability to steer is extremely dangerous! this needs to be recalled!.

Had the throttle body fixed once two months ago because I was going 45, my SUV. Hazard light came on and it said to slow down and pull over safely. Then it has happened three more times since I got it fixed, my SUV is in the shop again, I paid 845 last time and I still have $15,000 left to pay on my car. I can't afford to keep paying to get this fixed, let alone the safety issue. The lady two times it happened I had my baby in the car on the freeway and I was in the middle lane and it was raining. . . It was frightening.

Pcm, "stop safely now" & shut-down problem and I have a red triangle illuminated on the cluster accompanied by an audible chime. In addition, the message center will indicate "stop safely now" and the powertrain control module will command the vehicle to shut down. This is where ever you are and it happens really quickly it is for sure a safety hazard. . . . I don't understand why this has not been recalled, since so many have reported the same problems throughout the years.

Traveling down the interstate, left lane @ 70 mph. I had 1 vehicle behind me and a semi truck / trailer to the right and one behind him. Without warning the engine died and I began coasting in traffic. I hit my flashers and thankfully the vehicle behind me was alert and noticed my instant loss of speed and flashers. They slowed long enough for both big trucks to pass on my right and for me to get over to the shoulder on I-70. Quick research turns up possible issues with a mechanical / electrical pump or maybe the throttle body. I called the Ford dealership and talked to the service manager who didn't have a clue what would cause the issue and was surprised that I found several postings on the internet where people had the same issue in the same model vehicle. I visited the Ford dealership and spoke with the parts department (2 individuals) who couldn't decide which was the correct part number for the mechanical / electrical pump. It is just a matter of time before someone experiences this issue and can't get out of traffic and is involved in a serious or fatal accident as a result. It is a known issue and I also noticed there is a class action lawsuit filing because so many have experienced this same issue. I'd be interested to know what criteria needs to be met before the NHTSA takes action against Ford / Mercury.

On the freeway with cruise control on at 70 mph in the fast lane the motor unexpectedly stops and the "pull over safely light" came on. This caused a very dangerous situation causing me to move over four lanes to the shoulder of the road. After the vehicle was completely stopped and put in park the motor restarted. Over the last three months this has happened three times.

Driving in fast lane of freeway when "stop safely now" message with red alert came on. The engine stopped running. No warning, no ability to drive to the side of the road. This is a known fault in this vehicle. I cannot conceive of a problem that would require the engine to stop immediately. It is just luck that we got to the side of the road without incident as there was a lot of traffic, and without power, it was just plain luck that we managed to get to the side of the road. Doing internet research: this is a known fault, but without a solution or a fix. What ever the problem, it seems ridiculous that Ford has a major problem like this that has the engine simply stop. We got to the side of the road. I simply turned off the ignition and re-started the engine, without further problem. There must be some way to at least have some warning time, or a means of propulsion sufficient to get safely to the roadside. Even five minutes worth of power would be sufficient.

This would be the second un-warned total loss of power on a freeway. Having coasted out of traffic on the first unwarned engine / propulsion system shut-down in fast-moving freeway traffic, managed to find wide-enough section of outside shoulder to come to a stop. But being stuck in 10pm darkness on a narrow shoulder was too dangerous to consider remaining there. Once stopped, I shifted the transmission to park, cycled ignition off then to start ? engine restarted, dash warning lamps came on- then cycled off normally, engine ran smoothly. Note: the only way to attempt to restart the hybrid drivetrain is to shift the transmission into park . . It doesn't work in neutral . . And there was no way I was going to try to put the trans in park in 72-75 mph freeway traffic in 10pm darkness. Accelerated moderately into merging lane, entering gap in n/b traffic to re-enter I-5 traffic ? hoping to get past sr-2 to more-familiar exit ? within 2 minutes, and at speed ~ 55 mph ? drive train died again (same warning tone and light. . . And same "too little too late" stop now warning text). Again had to hunt for a wide-enough section of outside shoulder to stop and take stock of dangerous situation. Shut off engine, moved trans into park tried restart - again, engine started and settled to normal operation - no warning lights remained on. Able to re-enter traffic and transition off I-5 fwy . . But only escape was to another freeway (sr-2). Kept speed below 45mph on that freeway until able to exit freeway. This was the second un-warned total loss of power on a freeway.

This would be the third total engine power shut-down at freeway speeds with no limp-away option after exiting the freeway, realized that we were in an unsafe neighborhood [so not a good option to stop and call for tow], tried mapping surface street route to safer area, but nav system showed the only surface street route to take us back home put us on a steep, narrow winding section of laurel canyon - no safe exit if another shut-down. Also realized we couldn't use riverside thru griffith park which is locked after dark . . So zig-zagged north and west about 5 miles below 40 mph keeping to lighted streets hoping for safe place or unremembered route. Engine remained stable once more, drove towards I-5 again on los feliz (past the griffin bar 㢠and a topless club) . . Remembered los feliz ahead had a long, separate entrance ramp to n/b I-5 . The drivetrain accelerated smoothly to ~50 mph, then warnings / drive train died again at the bottom of the on-ramp . . Hazards � again . . But with less momentum, harder to find a wide-enough spot on the n/b outer shoulder across from s/end griffith park golf course. When minimal spot found stopped / parked / shut down and restarted again, engine started and idled smoothly, no warning lights remained on. Now about 10:15pm. With hazards on, rolled below fwy speeds along shoulder until it ran out just as adequate opening appeared in outside lane. Accelerated cautiously to below 50 mph, limped off at odd freeway appendix which leads east - merged right onto san fernando, turned left (north) at next signal and started working way about 12 miles back west on surface streets from the moorpark area never exceeding 45 mph. No additional drivetrain issues before we reached studio city home ~ 11:10pm. This was the third total engine power shut-down at freeway speeds with no `limp away' option.

At ~ 10:10pm traveling at 68-70 mph in fast, moderate freeway traffic in the #3 n/b lane of I-5 in silverlake area, ~ ¾-mi south of the interchange with the sr-2 freeway (~ @ riverside dr. Over-crossing) . Suddenly / with no warming, engine lost all power & shut down and I heard a `screeching' warning tone, saw the red triangle of doom warning symbol appear in the upper/right of the instrument panel, the tachometer dropped to `zero'? and the `too-little-too-late' warning text stop now? text appeared at the bottom of the instrument panel (how was I supposed to do this in the middle of a fast-moving freeway?). Only thing that saves us was that we had significant speed to coast out of traffic - other drivers thankfully gave-way to let us do so. First of three such complete losses of power in traffic, attempting to reach safety.

At 70 mph on freeway, "stop when safe" message came up, engine stopped, had to coast to a stop on shoulder. Lucky it was 1am so not much traffic. Restarted vehicle, made another 5 miles, happened again. Restarted, made it off freeway, able to get home, keeping under 40mph (assumption was some sort of overheating problem with hybrid systems). Currently in dealership for repair, my internet research indicates there are quite a few others having this issue. Very frightening and dangerous to lose power at freeway speeds and have to make way to the shoulder and stop.

A "stop safely now" warning message came on when I was driving on the freeway at 60 miles per hour. The car immediately lost power and became difficult to steer. I pulled over to the right shoulder as safely and quickly as possible. This has occurred multiple times.

This has occurred twice. The first time, (9-6-2010), driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway- the light, "stop safely now" comes on and you cannot use the gas pedal and you have to try to get to the shoulder safely as the car has no power. I waited for half an hour and restarted the car and was able to get to where I had to go. Took it to dealer and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. The 2nd occurrence (March 31, 2012), same thing happened except I was on the freeway with everyone going at least 65 miles per hour and had to get to the shoulder without any power. Took it to dealer and they said it was a coolant pump problem. I went online and there are hundreds of complaints about this problem. This should be a recall issue and I shouldn't have had to pay for this. Extremely dangerous. Could so easily have been hit by oncoming traffic. Scary experiences.

On Thursday, August 11, 2011 our 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid shutdown while traveling 67-70mph on I-39 in the passing lane next to a semi. Had to cut across the interstate onto loose gravel, creating a dangerous situation for multiple drivers. Had just had this 'fixed' by dealership two weeks before. I was told by the dealership at that time that it needed a chip upgrade, which was done. Unfortunately, this was not the needed 'fix' obviously. I was able to restart it like I had before, but could not drive above 60-62 mph in order to keep vehicle running. Just took it into dealership again today, and they had not heard of this problem on any other hybrids.

We purchased a Ford certified 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid less than two years ago. According to Ford, a Ford certified� vehicle has been passed a 172 point inspection. We have been driving this vehicle on the highway and have experience a stop safely now� warning on the dash, accompanied by the engine shutting off, and this seems to happen at speeds of 50+ mph. I was driving 70 mph in the middle of a congested 4 lane highway traffic while this happened to me recently. My car ceased to accelerate, and I had to weave out of the center lanes, swerving to an exit, going up on an exit ramp, without the ability to accelerate. We have contacted Ford through their website customer service number, and the representatives just tell us to take it to a Ford dealership. After fixing the problem that their technician at our local dealership told us to fix, our vehicle did the very same thing a month later. We were told that we needed to replace the fuel throttle body. We've also replaced the hybrid battery filter� as per the company's recommendation. We want some attention brought to this matter. I feel I no longer trust that the technicians at the Ford have the knowledge to deal with this issue. After some searches online, I've found we're not the only ones with this problem. I don't know how Ford can just pretend this isn't a serious issue. What will it take to get their attention? the fact that they're endangering the lives of people by not recalling this vehicle, and the lack of accountability is shocking. How can Ford can get away with releasing these unsafe vehicles and exposing many lives which could result in deaths. After many calls to Ford customer service, and speaking with the local Ford techs, my frustration lies at not having a clear answer and no direction. This is clearly unsafe for anyone to drive and something needs to be done.