1997 Mercury Villager Latches, locks and linkages Problems

“Consumer complained about automatic door lock problem. The doors locked without notice. Currently, hatchback will not open. Also, driver's side seat belt did not retract.”

“Our doors lock by themselves intermittently. Mostly happens when vehicle is shut off and doors are unlocked, as the passenger side door is opened the doors (all) lock again. It has happened a few times when the doors are shut, the vehicle will lock by itself. It once did it with a child inside and we had to get the other set of keys to unlock it. This could have been more of a problem if the other keys were not in close poroximity.”

“The saftey issue with my Mercury Villager started on 2/18/99. The door locks will lock by themselves on many occasions. The doors will lock when the keys are in the ignition and a door is shut, when the keys are out of the ignition, when driving over any bumps in the road. As of today, my vehicle has been in for service for the door locks 5 times. A couple of weeks ago my 3 year old was locked in the car in his carseat with the keys in the ignition. I live in key west florida and it is beginning to get very hot here. …”

“While opening and locking doors the remote control was inoperable. Consumer had to open the doors and lock the doors manually. Consumer drove the vehicle to the dealer for inspection, and mechanic informed the driver there was not a recall for this vehicle. Consumer told the mechanic that the locks had been replaced numerous times, but problem still exists.”

“There has been an ongoing problem with lock immediately relocking after unlocking is attempted. This has been into the dealership on 8 separate service attempts, include an additional problem that was developed with grinding locks. This is a major safety issue, and the dealer and manufacturer do not feel that this is a major safety/ security issue.”