Body problems of the 1998 Mercury Mountaineer

At this point all 4 door locks/latches are messed up. Both driver &passenger back doors won't open from outside or inside. Driver &passenger front doors won't open from outside unless open from inside first. Key won't unlock doors. Back glass on hatch door won't open. Back wiper broken. Back hatch wouldn't open untill I paid to have it fixed. I contacted the manufacturer they said my truck not on recall list & wanted me to pay to fix it. My truck has same issues as the ones being recalled. How do they determine which ones to recall?.

Moved my truck to let another car out of the drive way. Pulled back in turned the truck off came in the house and heard a loud boom. Looked out the window and fire was shooting up by the wheel.

The floorboard got so hot in a six mile drive that the passenger could not sit with feet on the floor. I my warranty was almost up and I had no sucess with the service department at les jacobs Ford in fixing this in their over 10 attempts. I then traded the vehicle off to another dealer who informed me that according to the carfax report it was wrecked in 3/22/98. I was not informed of this at the time of the purchase of this auto. I have filed a report with the missouri attorney general's office and I have notified les jacobs Ford & Mercury. I handed a copy of the carfax report to the former service manager now general manager, darrin jacobs. Notice the name is the same as the dealership. He is the son of the owner. I have also talked to two 98 explorer owners who are having the same problem and I have encouraged them to also file with you.

The front floorboard overheated. The front seats became warm as if a seat heater was turned on. The vehicle has none. The front tires began making a whomping sound as if flat. I pulled over checked the tire pressure. It was normal. I continued to my destination. The abs light and airbag light then began to flash. I continued to drive. Upon reaching my destination, I reached under the passenger side seat to get the keys I dropped. I accidently bumped the seat bracket with my left tall finger blistering it.

On warm days, especially when airconditioner is used the floorboard and seat brackets get hot. I have melted plastic game pieces, crayons, and heated food items by laying them on the floor board next to the brackets. I bumped the seat bracket when I picked up my keys and blistered my hand. I contacted the customer realtions departement for Mercury who took a report and promised to follow up. I have heard nothing from them or my dealer. I only have 10,000 miles left on my warranty. This will only be three months for me. The local service mananger and the mechanics have tried to convince me that this is normal for an SUV. If this is the case, why are they on the road? my fear is that this auto will burst into flames and I won't be able to get my kids out. The fumes when this auto gets hot also cause my daughter to have asthma attacks. I can not trade the auto because I owe to much on it. This is what the local service manager suggested. I feel that I have a responsibility to other motorists to continue to work on the issue of this auto being a safty hazard to mystelf and others.

Mountaineer's front floor board and seat mounting brakets, especially the passenger side, get hot enough to blister the skin. When the floor board is hot the abs light comes on and it is hard to steer. The Mountaineer also has excessive tire wear on the front which had lead to two sets of tires needing to be replaced. In 3000 miles the tires are worn enough that the Mercury makes a whomping sound much like a flat is hard to turn and is difficult to stop until I have the tires rotated. The whole process then has to be done again in another 3000 miles which according to Ford "should be done every other oil change and this is normal for an SUV. ".