1998 Mercury Mountaineer Suspension Problems

“Traveling at 65 MPH on I-71 near lodi, oh I drifted on to the grassy median and when I tried to pull it back to the pavement witnesses said that the vehilce flipped first landing on the rear end the continue until it landed on its wheels. Although I was driving, I don't rember anything after turning the wheel until the state trooper spoke to as the rescue squad was removing me from the car. (DOT number: n/a tiresize: standard)”

“The contact owns a 1998 Mercury Mountaineer. The contact stated that while driving at 45 MPH, the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The failure occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the tire rods, wheel bearings, and the tires needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 210,000.”

“We were going from houston to maryland. In normal driving conditions, the truck began to vibrate violently, before we could pull it off to the side of the road, the tire blew off the truck, and my wife and myself found ourselves wrapped around a tree. We had our two dogs and two cats with us, in their crates in the back of the truck. We lost one cat, and our german shepherd had his spinal cord crushed, and subsequently had to be put to sleep. Now we hear that ford knew about this problem, and it has been happening to more people. I do not understand how they could be so neglegent. …”

“Consumer had just turned off the highway and was traveling on a dirt road when vehicle jerked to right and then rolled over. Consumer and her daughter were thrown out from vehicle. Consumer was knocked unconscious, and daughter was killed upon impact. Also vehicle exploded into flames.”

“Front end always out of alignment when checked every 3,000 miles. Had to repalce tires because of uneven tread wear 2 times. First time replacement vehicle had only 12,000 miles. Second time we replaced tires was at 29,680 miles. Metal-on-metal sound often comes from front end as well. Vehicle lost control without any driver provocation and cashed into road side rail. Rear-end spunout and vehicle did a 360. No other vehicles present and brakes not applied leading to spin-out. Light snow was falling. …”