general problems of the 2003 Mercury Sable

The contact owns a 2003 Mercury Sable. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. The vehicle coasted to the side of the road and was towed to the residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 83,000.

The contact owns a 2003 Mercury Sable. The contact stated while driving 30 mph, the vehicle decelerated independently. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact parked on the side of the road. The vehicle was not drivable. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic and the contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.

Throttle cable stuck, engine at 1800 tpm, engine reved to 2600 rpm, inability to slow vehicle, surging. Required hard breaking. Once car stopped, idle dropped to 900 rpm after 15-30 seconds. Happens with increasing frequency. Engine surges at start, revs to 2100 then to 2600. Inspected cable, throttle and cruise control cable point of entry to supporting bracket plastic shattered. Cable emits sound from binding. Took to Ford dealer, they indicated my vehicle was not part of the recall although the problem has been clearly documented with the same make, model, year and engine.

Vehicle accelerates on it's own. Have had multiple problems where I go to stop and car accelerates at a stop sign or light. I have almost rear ended multiple cars because of this. While going from a red to green light on a hill my Sable stalled and began to roll backwards, almost crashing into the car behind me, if it hadn't been for my quick reaction. Vehicle will idle very high, 2. 5rpms at the lowest, while sitting in park after startup. After a 5 minutes it will sometimes drop down to 750-1000rpms, other times it will continue to idle high. During drive it will continually accelerate to around 40 mph on it's own. When I brake it will idle high and lurch forward, until I'm forced to push the brake all the way to the floor. Then car will either continue to idle high or drop so low that it stalls. Usually I drive with two feet at lights or signs to be able to rev engine from stalking. Engine light came on, code read idle air control valve, so it was replaced. Problem continued. Took to garage and it looks like the intake manifold gasket. All vacuum lines were replaced as well. Am going to fix the gasket and sell. Car scares me too much to drive. Multiple panic and anxiety attacks. Please recall this, extremely unsafe.

I was driving north on us31 just north of muskegon, michigan. I was going 70 mph when with no warning the car (2003 Mercury Sable) lost drive train power and was suddenly only coasting. I had to pull of onto the shoulder of the highway in heavy traffic. Also I had my three adult autistic children with me, and they all got extremely nervous sitting at the side of the highway as the passing cars were making our vehicle move from the air currents. I was very concerned one of them might try and jump from the car from panic. As for the car itself, I thought maybe the serpentine belt has broke but when I checked it was okay. I restarted the car and put the transmission in gear and nothing. . . No forward or reverse, no movement at all. So I called my father who was fortunately there within half an hour (or with my kids it could have been a really bad situation) and he rescued us and I had a wrecker tow the car home. I called several transmission shops who all told me it is a very common transmission problem with this vehicle as well as the Ford taurus. They pretty much all told me it should be rebuilt as the new parts are better than the original because the new parts are replacing parts Ford knows they have a problem with. Even a mechanic at the Ford dealership told me these vehicles have tranny troubles. My car has 157,000 miles so I guess I should feel lucky after reading internet posts of many of these cars doing to same thing with under 50,000 miles. I think it is a problem that should be recalled before someone gets killed with the tranny just quitting like that if someone hasn't already. Cant imagine being on a road with no shoulder in extreme heavy traffic and I sure don't have the $1200 to $3200 to get it repaired. . Ford should be required to fix this obvious bad transmission.

The contact owns a 2003 Mercury Sable. The contact stated that the vehicle began to loose power while attempting to enter the highway. The contact was able to exit the highway without incident and while stopped at a traffic light, the rpms began to increase tremendously. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but denied any assistance with repairs to the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 101,000.

The contact owns a 2003 Mercury Sable. The contact stopped into a service station and turned off the vehicle. He restarted the vehicle and attempted to shift into gear; however, it would not shift until approximately 20 minutes later. The contact drove home and noticed that the rear brake lights were not illuminating. Through online research, the contact discovered NHTSA campaign id number 04v106000 (exterior lighting:brake lights:switch); however, his VIN was not included in the recall. The vehicle has not been repaired. The failure and current mileages were 101,000.