One problem related to steering tie rod assembly has been reported for the 1996 Mercury Villager. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Left front tie rod had to be replaced. It probably had been bad for some time, but was not discovered until vehicle was out of warranty. Left front ball joint was replaced under waranty when vehicle only had mileage in the upper 20,000s. This is very low milage for such front end components to go bad. Contacted dealer service department. They said Villagers are not known for wearing out of front end parts at low mielage, so these must have been defective parts from the factory. They would not do anything for me though on the tie rod because the vehicle was just out of warranty. Had to replace at my own expense.