Recall Register

Mercury Cougar: recalls and complaints by model year

NHTSA lists 48 recall campaigns for the Mercury Cougar, model years 1962 to 2002. NHTSA has 1,781 complaints on file for this model line. 24 of the 36 model years have a page on this register.

Select a model yearNHTSA VIN lookup

Complaint information entered into NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation vehicle owner's complaint database is used with other data sources to identify safety issues that warrant investigation and to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists.

NHTSA publishes these words. Source: NHTSA Datasets and APIs, section Complaints, read on . Complaint file through . Recall file through .

Model years

The number under each year is the number of recall campaigns.

  1. 19620
  2. 19672
  3. 19681
  4. 19694
  5. 19701
  6. 19711
  7. 19721
  8. 19730
  9. 19742
  10. 19752
  11. 19761
  12. 19773
  13. 19781
  14. 19792
  15. 19801
  16. 19823
  17. 19832
  18. 19841
  19. 19851
  20. 19862
  21. 19871
  22. 19881
  23. 19894
  24. 19903
  25. 19913
  26. 19923
  27. 19933
  28. 19940
  29. 19950
  30. 19962
  31. 19970
  32. 19980
  33. 19997
  34. 20003
  35. 20011
  36. 20021
Mercury Cougar: recall campaigns and complaints for each model year, newest first
Model yearRecall campaignsComplaintsShare of the line averageUnits in the campaigns
2002 Mercury Cougar166133%88,600
2001 Mercury Cougar162125%88,600
2000 Mercury Cougar3192388%644,800
1999 Mercury Cougar7430869%1,190,338
1998 Mercury Cougar NHTSA page012%
1997 Mercury Cougar073148%
1996 Mercury Cougar260121%84,100
1995 Mercury Cougar0106214%
1994 Mercury Cougar0136275%
1993 Mercury Cougar3192388%8,189,731
1992 Mercury Cougar389180%8,189,731
1991 Mercury Cougar373148%8,031,800
1990 Mercury Cougar382166%8,025,072
1989 Mercury Cougar481164%8,023,924
1988 Mercury Cougar155111%7,900,000
1987 Mercury Cougar13265%3,600,000
1986 Mercury Cougar21326%3,600,163
1985 Mercury Cougar NHTSA page11020%3,508
1984 Mercury Cougar NHTSA page11734%530,000
1983 Mercury Cougar224%100,835
1982 Mercury Cougar324%3,296
1980 Mercury Cougar NHTSA page124%3,000
1979 Mercury Cougar200%86,000
1978 Mercury Cougar NHTSA page124%110,000
1977 Mercury Cougar300%1,079,100
1976 Mercury Cougar NHTSA page100%410,580
1975 Mercury Cougar200%281,740
1974 Mercury Cougar200%127,570
1973 Mercury Cougar NHTSA page024%
1972 Mercury Cougar NHTSA page100%123,453
1971 Mercury Cougar NHTSA page100%15,548
1970 Mercury Cougar NHTSA page100%3,692
1969 Mercury Cougar400%870,072
1968 Mercury Cougar NHTSA page100%480,000
1967 Mercury Cougar200%94,000
1962 Mercury Cougar NHTSA page012%

The share is the complaints of the model year divided by the average of the line for one model year. A campaign that names 3 model years is in the count of each of the 3.

A model year with fewer than 2 campaigns and fewer than 25 complaints has no page here. The link in its row opens its NHTSA page.

Recall campaign: One recall in the NHTSA recall file, with one campaign number. A campaign can name many makes, models and model years.

Complaint: A report about a possible safety problem that a person sends to NHTSA. This site shows the number of complaints and not their text.

Units: The number of vehicles or products that a recall can include. The manufacturer or the firm reports the number to the agency.

Components in the complaints

2,483 component mentions.

A complaint can name more than one component. Each component that a complaint names is one component mention. The figure per 1,000 component mentions shows how many of each 1,000 mentions name the component.

Mercury Cougar: complaints by component, per 1,000 component mentions
ComponentPer 1,000Mentions
Engine and Engine Cooling172.4428
Electrical System125.3311
Service Brakes, Hydraulic111.6277
Fuel System, Gasoline71.3177
Power Train68.5170
Vehicle Speed Control64159
Visibility54.4135
Seat Belts45.9114
Exterior Lighting45.9114
Structure33.483

Counts by year

Recall campaigns that name the Mercury Cougar, by the year NHTSA received the report. The largest year is 1996, with 3 campaigns.
Complaints about the Mercury Cougar, by the year NHTSA received them. The largest year is 2000, with 258 complaints.

Other model lines of the make

Mercury: all 24 model lines

Official channels

Cite this page

Recall Register. Mercury Cougar: recalls and complaints by model year. https://recallregister.com/vehicle/mercury/cougar/. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, recall, complaint and investigation files. Data through .

Sources

Source
NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Licence
US government work, public domain
Recall file through
29 Sep 2026
Complaint file through
29 Mar 2018
Manufacturer in the recall file
FORD MOTOR COMPANY

The model name is the name in the NHTSA files. NHTSA keeps a variant of a model as a different line. How the register is made. Report an error.

Questions

Which Mercury Cougar model years have the most recall campaigns?
1999 with 7, 1989 with 4, 1969 with 4. A campaign that names 3 model years is in the count of each of the 3.
Which Mercury Cougar model year has the most complaints?
The 1999 model year, with 430 of the 1,781 complaints for the line. A newer model year has had less time to get complaints.
Which components do the complaints about the Mercury Cougar name?
Engine and Engine Cooling: 172.4 per 1,000 component mentions. Electrical System: 125.3 per 1,000 component mentions. Service Brakes, Hydraulic: 111.6 per 1,000 component mentions.
How many NHTSA investigations name the Mercury Cougar?
18 investigations name one or more model years of the line. The page of each model year lists its investigations.