1999 MERCURY COUGAR — Complaint #663699
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about EXTERIOR LIGHTING:TURN SIGNAL:FLASHER UNIT filed March 31, 2008
NHTSA complaint #663699 (ODI reference 10222903) concerns a 1999 MERCURY COUGAR and was filed on March 31, 2008. The owner reports the failure occurred on March 15, 2008. The report was geocoded to Minnesota based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as exterior lighting:turn signal:flasher unit, 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 COUGAR cohort independently describe similar exterior lighting:turn signal:flasher unit 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 1999 MERCURY COUGAR shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
I AM THE ORIGINAL OWNER OF A 1999 MERCURY COUGAR AUTOMATIC V6. I HAVE NEVER BEEN IN AN ACCIDENT WITH THE VEHICLE, BUT CONTINUE TO HAVE MECHANICAL PROBLEMS. LIKE OTHER 1999 ' 2000 MERCURY COUGAR OWNERS I WORRY ABOUT THE SAFETY OF DRIVING A VEHICLE WITH MORE PROBLEMS THAN CAN COST EFFECTIVELY BE FIXED. MY LIST OF BROKEN ITEMS INCLUDE THE RADIO, POWER WINDOW REGULATOR, O2 SENSORS, TRANSMISSION AT 59,000 MILES, DASHBOARD LIGHTS (LOW COOLANT AND CHECK ENGINE), DOOR/WINDOW LEAKY SEAL ISSUES, ENGINE MISFIRE (DECREASED ACCELERATION) AND NOW MY CRUISE CONTROL AND TURN SIGNALS DO NOT WORK. UPON RESEARCHING THE RECALL FOR CRUISE CONTROL FIRES DEALING WITH FORD PRODUCTS I FOUND THAT I AM AMONG OTHER DISGRUNTLED COUGAR OWNERS. FORD/MERCURY OR FORD TECHNICIANS HAVE NOT DONE A SATISFACTORY JOB LETTING OWNERS KNOW OF RECALLS THAT NEED ATTENTION. MY LATEST CONCERN IS THAT MY COUGAR MIGHT START ON FIRE, PER MY COMPLAINT WITH FORD; THEY SEE NO THREAT WITH MY CRUISE CONTROL ISSUES AND SUGGESTED
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 663699 |
| ODI Number | 10222903 |
| Date Filed | March 31, 2008 |
| Failure Date | March 15, 2008 |
| VIN | 1ZWFT61L5X5 |
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.