Dash Wiring Problems of Mercury Mountaineer

October 18, 2005 u. S. Department of transportation national highway traffic safety administration office of defects investigation nvs-210, 400 7th street sw washington, DC 20590 dear department of transportation: I am writing because of a safety concern with Mercury 2000 Mountaineer. My Mountaineer, VIN # 4m2du86p6yuj37466, has a problem with the airbag safety system. I believe this problem is caused by a design deficiency. The airbag warning light on my instrument panel flashes several times and then comes on steady. I took it in for repair and the service representative at the Ford dealer told me the wiring harness was bad. They said that tests showed that the harness was corroded. Since the harness runs under the carpet on the floor, water and salt had probably entered the harness and corroded it. They said that my airbag system was unreliable. I believe it is unreasonable and dangerous to install a critical safety system component in a known location of corrosives and moisture, unless that component is designed to protect against those hazards. It appears that the airbag wiring harness is not so designed. As these vehicles age, this could become more and more of a problem. The repair is expensive, I was quoted $970. The trade in value of my vehicle is about $8600. As these vehicles age they will have less and less value and the cost of repair will become a larger and larger percentage of vehicle value. I believe you should query Ford motor company and find out how prevalent this problem is and see if the frequency of the problem is increasing. It should continue to be monitored as these vehicles age. Perhaps Mercury should act to replace these harnesses before they become inoperative. J. Donald thornton.

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Abs light is on and had test done and comes up as rear speed control sensor. Have replaced numerous times and still no change. Have taken to Ford dealerships, Mercury dealerships, and other well known maintenance shops and no one knows what is wrong. Since the light has come on the front brakes feel like they are dragging. Also the display on the premium radio works when it wants to.

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Smoke came out of center part of dashboard while driving. Turned off vehicle, cleared smoke. When turned vehicle back on, display on radio was out. Checked fuses, went to dealer. Dealer said vehicle out of warranty, recommended factory authorized repair facility. *jbsaid repair facility removed radio, checked for problem. Found burned component on circuit board that powers high current display. Circuit board wad burned beyond repair. Repair facility said they have seen this numerous times before and advised that it is fire hazard.

May 5,1998 car died when it was going up an incline getting on the freeway. June 3,1998 the door locks would not work,plus the stereo when we stopped let out a high pitched noise and then stopped working about an hour later it was ok again. Later that evening the car tried to die again the lights went dim. June 9,1998 we were driving on the freeway and the lights on the dash (50 thru 80mph)went out. June 19,1998 problems again car not wanting to start all the time-dealership installed flight data recorder until June 26,1998 when stereo started again and data recorder went out. July 14,1999 car making loud noise brought back to dealership they had to replace altenator/tensiioner/belt. July 26,1999 car overheats after driving less than a mile away towed to dealership they replace thermostat/thermostat housing/gasket . Pick car up on July 29,1999 from dealership drive 3. 3 miles from dealership and the car catches on fire on drivers side under around were the fuses are. Car gets repaired then on sept. 22,1999 had to bring back after driving car the headlights start to flash on & off. Well are rearveiw mirror has the auto diming headlights that have not worked for a while now but I am tired of messing with this lemon. Oh before the fire sometimes when you put the turn signal on it would buzz. This is the problems we brought to the dealership. Many times the lights dimmed but it would be ok after a little while.

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Multi-function switch and gem module failed. Mjs.