Exterior Lighting Problems of Mercury Montego

I own a 2005 Mercury Montego. While driving various speeds, all of the instrument panel gauges would illuminate and drop to zero and the seat belt indicators would illuminate and chime. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The approximate failure mileage was 135,000.

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While driving at night, suddenly the instrument cluster gauges stopped working and when to zero value. They flickered monetarily and continued this for about 1 minute while driving. The appeared to have reset themselves. However, two days after the initial incident the gauges stopped working again, and have continued to not function properly. The major safety issue (I almost got into an accident) is that when the gauges don't work, the reverse lights come on. This makes other drivers think I am reversing when I am not. I have done additional online research and found a service bulletin published by Ford indicating this is an issue with these models.

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As I backed out of a parking space, the car surged & I hit another parked car behind me. Even though I had my foot on the brake, the car accelerated for a few seconds. I then placed the other foot on top of the right foot & put the gear into park & the car stopped.