Two problems related to ignition have been reported for the 2001 Mercury Sable. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2001 Mercury Sable based on all problems reported for the 2001 Sable.
My 2001 Mercury Sable has now failed on me at least 6 times since I purchased it on Nov. 15,2002. Without warning, I would turn my car off, come back to it and it wouldn't start. Nothing, completely dead. The only thing that did work was the theft light would flash. At first, you could wait for 15 to 30 minutes and it would suddenly start again. This last time, that was not the case. I had it at the Ford dealership three times for this problem and they could never diagnose the problem because it wouldn't do it to them. After my third time of being stranded I told them to keep the car until it was fixed. After three days, they decided they would go ahead and make new keys and replace the theft system although they still had not diagnosed this to be the problem. It worked for a couple of months and guess what, here I am again without a car. Keep in mind, the three times I had the car in for this problem it was still covered under warranty; it no longer is, it has exceeded the mileage.
Consumer states he is having trouble turning the key in the ignition, which also resulted in the steering wheel not turning.