1997 MERCURY GRAND MARQUIS — Complaint #435978
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS:CONCEALMENT DEVICES filed October 20, 2003
NHTSA complaint #435978 (ODI reference 10044249) concerns a 1997 MERCURY GRAND MARQUIS and was filed on October 20, 2003. The vehicle had 40,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to North Carolina based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as exterior lighting:headlights:concealment devices, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same MERCURY GRAND MARQUIS cohort independently describe similar exterior lighting:headlights:concealment devices failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 1997 MERCURY GRAND MARQUIS shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
THE LENS FOR THE HEADLIGHTS DEVELOPS A CLOUDY APPEARANCE. WHEN THIS OCCURS IT DECREASES THE HEADLIGHTS ILLUMINATION, WHICH RESULTS IN POOR VISIBILITY. CONSUMER FEELS THE CLOUDINESS IS CAUSED BY THE SUNLIGHT DETERIORATING THE LENS. THE DEALERSHIP WILL REPLACE THE LENS.*AK
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 435978 |
| ODI Number | 10044249 |
| Date Filed | October 20, 2003 |
| VIN | 2MELM74W5VX |
Similar EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS:CONCEALMENT DEVICES Complaints for 1997 MERCURY GRAND MARQUIS
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 1997 MERCURY GRAND MARQUIS. THE HEADLIGHTS WERE COVERED WITH SOME TYPE OF FILM. HE HAD TO USE THE HIGHBEAMS TO SEE WHILE DRIVING AT NIGHT. THE VEHICLE HAS NOT BEEN DIAGNOSED BY
COMPOSITE HEADLIGHT LENSES TURNED MILKY TO THE POINT THAT VEHICLE BECAME UNUSABLE FOR NIGHT DRIVING. AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURER UNWILLING TO REPLACE OR ASSIST WITH REPLACEMENT COSTS. DEALERSHIP WANTS
PLASTIC HEADLIGHT COVERS HAVE DEVELOPED A DEEP HAZE, SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCING LIGHT OUTPUT. *JB
WHILE DRIVING, THE HEADLIGHT LENS OVER THE YEARS HAS BECOME CLOUDY. WHICH CAUSED POOR VISIBILITY WHILE DRIVING. *JB CONSUMER WAS CHARGED FOR REPAIRS AND THINKS THEY SHOULD BE A RECALL ISSUE. *TC
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.