Consumer Complaint Detail

MERCURY / SABLE / 1992

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 000056241 Incident Date: May, 31 2000
Consumer's City: COTTAGE GROVE Consumer's State: MN
Vehicle Transmission Type: Manufacturers Name: Ford Motor Company
Model Name: SABLE Model Year: 1992
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Vehicle speed control
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: 1MELM5844NG Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Oct, 14 2000 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Oct, 31 1998
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 0 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: The problem i was having was the inability to shift the car out of "park" in the normal way - start the car, depress the brake and pull the shift lever down. the only way that i could get the car into gear was to pull down on the shift lever while turning the key and then start the engine while in neutral. i discovered, in a conversation with a ford mechanic, that this is a symptom of a failure somewhere in the "brake light" circuit. something as simple as a blown brake light bulb would cause this problem. there was another symptom that was not discussed with the mechanic, as i didn't realize it was related, but could in itself, cause an accident. the cruise control would not disengage by pressing the brake pedal. apparently the de-activation is controlled by a component wired into the brake light circuit. after i got the brake lights working (dirty contacts on the brake light switch), everything was back to normal. the car shifted as it was suppose to and the cruise control again disengaged when the brake pedal was depressed. in my opinion, the interelationship of these components has good potential to be extremely hazardous. it would be easy to inadvertantly put the car in forward gear while intending to put it in reverse when starting it in neutral. the car could roll when starting it in this manner. the failure of the cruise control to disengage gave me the sensation of flooring the car and putting my foot on the brake at the same time. not usually a very good thing to do. that's it. i hope it helps.