NHTSA Complaint #702019 — 1994 MERCURY COUGAR

TRANSMISSION BEGAN TO FAIL IN THE FALL OF 1996. IT WOULD SHUDDER SHIFTING INTO OVERDRIVE AND ONCE IN OVERDRIVE IT SHIFTED OUT OF GEAR ON IT'S OWN. JANUARY 1997 THE DEALERSHIP SAID THE PROBLEM WAS THE TORQUE CONVERTOR AND THAT THEY WOULD REPLACE AS IT WAS STILL UNDER WARRANTY. 6 MONTHS LATER THE TRANSMISSION STARTED HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM AGAIN. SEPT 1997 I TOOK IT BACK TO THE DEALERSHIP AGAIN. THEY COULD NOT FIND ANY PROBLEM WITH THE TRANSMISSION. NOW JAN 1999, THE CAR IS UNSAFE TO DRIVE AND IS CONVENIENTLY PAST THE 12 MONTH/12000 MILE WARRANTY PERIOD ON THE REPLACEMENT PART. ON THE INTERSTATE LAST WEEK, MY WIFE WAS GOING 70 MPH AND THE CAR SHIFTED INTO NEUTRAL AND WOULD NOT GO BACK INTO OVERDRIVE. A SEMI ALMOST RAN INTO THE REAREND OF THE CAR. BOTH THE DEALERSHIP AND FORD REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE PROBLEM, EVEN THOUGH I BROUGHT THE CAR IN FOR SERVICE SEPT 1997 WHILE IT WAS STILL UNDER WARRANTY. IN 1997 THE DEALERSHIP TOLD ME FORD WAS AWARE OF THE PROBLEM WITH THE 1994 TRANSMISSIONS. LOOKING AT THE NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS ON YOUR WEBSITE, I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH THIS PROBLEM. NOW I'M STUCK WITH AN $1800 REPAIR BILL.