Five problems related to hatchback/liftgate support device have been reported for the 2002 Mercury Mountaineer. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2002 Mercury Mountaineer based on all problems reported for the 2002 Mountaineer.
Tl- the contact owns a 2002 Mercury Mountaineer. The contact stated that upon purchasing the vehicle, the rear liftgate would not latch and the failure would occur intermittently. One day while driving, a warning light signaled that a door was ajar. When the contact's son went to close the liftgate, the rear glass completely shattered. The contact hired a glass repairmen to fix the window for $250. 00. The dealer nor the manufacturer had been notified of the failure. Upon investigation, the contact associated NHTSA campaign number: 01i010000 (visibility) with her failure. The failure mileage was unknown. Jo.
Rear liftgate glass shattered on 2002 Mercury Mountaineer. Hinge came off and the entire glass window exploded filling entire vehicle with flying glass.
On cold mornings, the front windshield fogs/frosts up. Turning heat on and selecting defrost provides little to no air to windshield. Dealership identified it as a broken vent select door, requiring dashboard to be removed and part replaced, $1100 fix. In doing research on the vent select door - cars are designed that if the selector breaks that the air should default to the front defrost so that windshield would not fog/frost and cause a life threatening situation. Multiple times this has occurred while driving, all along believing that the fogging up was due to snow build up on outside vents. The fact that the vent broke and did not push air to the windshield is why I'm logging this complaint as it could have resulted in a life threatening situation. In reading the other entries, noting that I've had to have the rear coil springs replaced and had back liftgate replaced after cracking.
When approaching my vehicle (2002 Mercury Mountaineer) from behind, I noticed a crack in the center of the liftgate panel, beginning at the bottom of the window and extending to the handle. I researched this on the internet and found that it is a problem which has occurred in Ford-manufactured suvs, including the Mountaineer and explorer. I called the service manager of the dealership where I purchased the vehicle. He was familiar with the problem and stated that the panel will need to be replaced. Since there is no recall issued, there was nothing he could do. I then called Ford customer service and spoke to a person who told me that Ford could not provide assistance since my vehicle was out of warranty. Since this is an obvious defect in the product, I believe that Ford should issue a recall and cover the repair cost. Ford should stand behind the quality of its vehicles and if there is a problem, then it should provide the customer with a satisfactory remedy.
- the contact stated while vehicle was parked and when she was closing her liftgate cylinder detached. Weather condition at the time of the incident was a rainy day and temperature around 50 degrees.