10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 4 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 4 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 30,000 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
On June 11, my mother was involved in a fender bender in traffic. When she pulled out of traffic into a shopping plaza she inadvertently accelerated instead of braking. Her 2003 Mercury Sable wagon spun around and crashed first into a huge cement lampost, then proceeded to run over two shrubs and a tree where the car finally stopped. The passenger side air bag deployed but the driver's side did not, even though the entire front end was totally demolished. Although my mother was wearing a seat belt, the lack of the air bag going off resulted in my mother snapping forward resulting in a spinal cord injury to the neck and paralysis from the chest down- a C6 injury. Since the car was only two years old, it doesn't make sense that the air bag didn't deploy. There must be some defect with that model and I want to make sure that no one else suffers and ends up paralyzed. The auto body shop stated that they'd seen other Ford cars in total collisions that also didn't have the drivers side air bag go off. He thought it might have to do with the sensors. Either way, the product isn't working.
- Everett, MA, USA
While driving at 45 mph the consumer's vehicle was struck by another vehicle, and the passenger air bag deployed, however, the driver's side air bag did not deploy. The vehicle was totaled. The vehicle was sent 10-15 feet into a ditch. The insurance adjuster stated that the engine had broken off all of it's mountings and shifted 3 inches.
- Lansing, MI, USA
My wife swerved to avoid hitting another vehicle encroaching into her lane. She lost control of her 2003 Mercury Sable and slammed head-on into the concrete center divider of the westbound 60 fwy diamondbar ca. The passenger side air bag deployed, but the drivers side bag did not. She suffered a concussion, a fractured mandible, and a molar tooth was broken from the jaw bone which the maxillo-facial surgeon was unable to save. The car was a total loss.
- La Habra, CA, USA
- Bay Village, OH, USA