1999 Mercury Sable Body and structure Problems

“After rains the car got a wet floor on the passenger side ,no wet spots on roof or windows. It was leaking water from the dash board compartment bottom.while driving ,the heater was on and it started smoking from under the dashboard compartment by passenger side I turned everything off . I took it for repair and now, on may it rained heavy again and it has a puddle in the passenger side again ,same situation as before, water came from inside.is this a safety hazard? …”

“Rear subframe connection passenger side rusted through due to factory put air conditioner condensate line so that it constantly dumps condensate on this area instead of draining condensate beyond and to the ground. The result is a rusted out severed connection thereby causing the engine and transmission to be held by only three of the four connections needed to safely hold engine and transmission as designed from the factory.”

“Sub frame rusted through around front lower control arm bolts causing excessive play in steering and possible separation of control arm from sub frame. Front mount bolt is recessed 1/2 inch in to the sub frame where water/salt can collect and has no where to drain.”

“Subframe of vehicle is severely rusted to the point where it is structurally unsound. Most of the body rot is covered by the plastic molding under the doors, and is not visible until the molding is removed. It seems that water and road salt must get trapped between the molding and metal leading to the extensive rust. The frame breaking while driving at highway speeds would lead to a catastrophic failure which could cause a potentially fatal accident.”

“Originally the problem began as a small leak into the passenger compartment during rainfall. Now is a major leak during smallest rainfall. Cooling/heating ducts began to emit strong musty odor. Now air will not pass through any ducts other than floor or defrost (A/C only passes through defrost outlet). Leak does not occur going through car wash which may be reason dealer was unable to duplicate problem. They told me there is no leak, you must be bringing the water into the car some other way. The amount of water entering is significant!”