Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mercury mariner hybrid. While driving approximately 70 MPH, the engine stalled and the hybrid warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle operated normally once it was turned off and restarted. The failure occurred on multiple occasions. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 57,000.
2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid engine complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 40 of 40, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Engine shuts off and display says to pull off road. This has been a on going problem. The dealer replaced the throttle body and it still happens. It is very unsafe to lose your vehicle's acceleration and have the engine turn off. I think it may be a computer code glitch because based on what I was told by the dealer the engine shuts off because a fuel mixture issue detect that may even be a false reading. This automated action within the vehicle brain decision puts many at risk as I found out when I was in the furthest left lane about a mile before the 55 freeway turn off while traveling south on the 91 freeway with the car shut off it's engine. I lost power and needed to pull over while a car behind me was flashing their headlights and the car to my right was slowly passing me up. Next came a bigger challenge since there were 2 big rigs on the road and I hit the brakes a little while signalling a lane change with my flashers on I managed to squeeze between the two rigs and almost caused the one behind me to rear end me. The big rig in turn caused the car behind to break and this almost lead to a pile up. That intersection on the freeway where the 55 freeway begins on your left lanes and the 91 freeways continues on the right is a very dangerous place to have to negotiate a pull over. It is compounded with a entry ramp with cars trying to quickly get into the left 2 lanes in order to get onto the 55 freeway. I do not see a reason to have your vehicle turn itself of for any reason other than a fire or a very serious safely issue. Based on what I know the computer of my vehicle puts people in danger over a possible issue with the smog pollution being too excessive for the moment.
While driving the vehicle shuts off with a red triangle and the display says to pull off safely. This has happened about 6 times already. I have taken it back to the ford dealer and they replaced the throttle body because there is a sensor that fails in the unit and they explained the factory calibrates the whole unit with a steep price tag. Lucky I still have 5000 miles till warranty expires. I guess a number of times it was not a big deal to pull over on the shoulder and restart the vehicle and carry on. This last time we had service done to the vehicle I informed the ford service agent that we were going on a long trip and if we should get a rental. He was confident the work they performed would resolve the shut down issue. We left la and went on our way to bishop for a group hiking trip. The mariner ran fine for 3/4 of the way and again while driving on a 2 lane road the mariner shuts off. I negotiated to the right as my speed was declining and a 18 wheeler was passing me up on the right and the car behind me was gaining on my rear. It was a bit scary but we managed to pull over safely. Upon turning off the mariner ignition and restarting we carried on to the destination. It was raining and a road conditions were not the best but we did not want to be stranded on the side of the road. Once again after driving for 10 minutes the mariner shut off and with the loss of power. Not a safe situation to have your engine shut off while driving in a freeway at speed of 65 and to suddenly loss your engine with no ability to accelerate out of a unsafe situation. It could be very dangerous if we were traveling on a windy single lane road without a shoulder as there are a bunch in the higher elevations where we hike. It would not be safe to stop and deal with this situation as cars are coming up a hill and your trying to reset the ignition computer system.
On the freeway with cruise control on at 70 MPH in the fast lane the motor unexpectedly stops and the "pull over safely light" came on. This caused a very dangerous situation causing me to move over four lanes to the shoulder of the road. After the vehicle was completely stopped and put in park the motor restarted. Over the last three months this has happened three times.
Pcm, "stop safely now" & shut-down problem and I have a red triangle illuminated on the cluster accompanied by an audible chime. In addition, the message center will indicate "stop safely now" and the powertrain control module will command the vehicle to shut down. This is where ever you are and it happens really quickly it is for sure a safety hazard.... I don't understand why this has not been recalled, since so many have reported the same problems throughout the years.
The car shuts off without warning on the highway at speed causing fear, danger and a potential for disaster. Still doing this most recent incident was june 25, 2014. Ford refuses to do anything about this recurring problem I have, as do may other owners of ford hybrid vehicles.
Traveling down the interstate, left lane @ 70 MPH. I had 1 vehicle behind me and a semi truck / trailer to the right and one behind him. Without warning the engine died and I began coasting in traffic. I hit my flashers and thankfully the vehicle behind me was alert and noticed my instant loss of speed and flashers. They slowed long enough for both big trucks to pass on my right and for me to get over to the shoulder on I-70. Quick research turns up possible issues with a mechanical / electrical pump or maybe the throttle body. I called the ford dealership and talked to the service manager who didn't have a clue what would cause the issue and was surprised that I found several postings on the internet where people had the same issue in the same model vehicle. I visited the ford dealership and spoke with the parts department (2 individuals) who couldn't decide which was the correct part number for the mechanical / electrical pump. It is just a matter of time before someone experiences this issue and can't get out of traffic and is involved in a serious or fatal accident as a result. It is a known issue and I also noticed there is a class action lawsuit filing because so many have experienced this same issue. I'd be interested to know what criteria needs to be met before the federal safety agency takes action against ford / mercury.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mercury mariner hybrid. The contact stated that while driving approximately 50 MPH, the vehicle suddenly stalled. The contact indicated that after the incident the high temperature sensor light illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the defect. The failure mileage was 41,000. Updated 08/27/14*lj the consumer stated the coolant pump was the cause of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. Updated 09/5/2014
Driving in fast lane of freeway when "stop safely now" message with red alert came on. The engine stopped running. No warning, no ability to drive to the side of the road. This is a known fault in this vehicle. I cannot conceive of a problem that would require the engine to stop immediately. It is just luck that we got to the side of the road without incident as there was a lot of traffic, and without power, it was just plain luck that we managed to get to the side of the road. Doing internet research: this is a known fault, but without a solution or a fix. What ever the problem, it seems ridiculous that ford has a major problem like this that has the engine simply stop. We got to the side of the road. I simply turned off the ignition and re-started the engine, without further problem. There must be some way to at least have some warning time, or a means of propulsion sufficient to get safely to the roadside. Even five minutes worth of power would be sufficient.
While traveling highway at approximately 70mi/hr. The vehicle stalled and "stop vehicle safely" light came on. I needed to pull over turn car off wait and restart engine. This happened again about 25 miles down the highway. After the second incident it did not happen until my return trip the next day repeating the same as above. This did happen to me once before about a yr ago.
While traveling on an interstate highway, car lost power, speed declined to 25 MPH and went into hybrid mode. "pull over safely" light went on. We pulled over and turned off engine. After a few minutes it restarted and we were able to drive the car at normal speed. The outside temperature was high--in the 90s--and the air conditioning was on high when the power failed. We had a similar incident about a month earlier while trying to park the car on a hot day with air conditioning on..speed was minimal because we were parking but car lost power and pull over safely light went on. After second incident we took car to a ford dealer who said the hybrid system cooling pump had failed and needed to be replaced. Cost to replace the pump was $470.
Stalling, total loss of power on freeway, or making a city turn, or accelerating from a stop sign or light, or going up even a slight incline, such as a driveway to a house. Only in the summer. Do not dare use air conditioning, which makes it occur quicker and much more often. 95 degrees outside, 113 degrees in car - cannot and do not use air conditioner, but still happens on trip over 15 minutes long. Totally unsafe. Like other contributors, I would like to know why there has been no recall. Just today, july 10, 2013, 18-wheeler behind me (close) on 45 MPH city street, and I stalled. I stuck my left hand out of my window in a "please stop" gesture, and driver did stop, but I was terrified. Must come to full stop, put car in park to re-start it. But same thing will happen at next light or sign or change of speed, whether in 5 minutes or 30 seconds, city street or freeway. At this point, I would say this has happened approximately 250 times. Yes, that is not a typo. No question ford knows about this.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mercury mariner hybrid. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle stalled on several separate occasions without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnosis but they were unable to duplicate the problem. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 74,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mercury mariner hybrid. The contact stated that while driving 55 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The failure had recurred previously. The vehicle was restarted and operated as designed. The vehicle was taken to a dealer for diagnosis and the contact was informed that the water pump would need to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The failure and current mileage was 62,311.
This would be the third total engine power shut-down at freeway speeds with no limp-away option after exiting the freeway, realized that we were in an unsafe neighborhood [so not a good option to stop and call for tow], tried mapping surface street route to safer area, but nav system showed the only surface street route to take us back home put us on a steep, narrow winding section of laurel canyon - no safe exit if another shut-down. Also realized we couldn't use riverside thru griffith park which is locked after dark .. So zig-zagged north and west about 5 miles below 40 MPH keeping to lighted streets hoping for safe place or unremembered route. Engine remained stable once more, drove towards I-5 again on los feliz (past the griffin bar ' and a topless club) .. Remembered los feliz ahead had a long, separate entrance ramp to n/b I-5 . The drivetrain accelerated smoothly to ~50 MPH, then warnings / drive train died again at the bottom of the on-ramp .. Hazards ' again .. But with less momentum, harder to find a wide-enough spot on the n/b outer shoulder across from s/end griffith park golf course. When minimal spot found stopped / parked / shut down and restarted again, engine started and idled smoothly, no warning lights remained on. Now about 10:15pm. With hazards on, rolled below fwy speeds along shoulder until it ran out just as adequate opening appeared in outside lane. Accelerated cautiously to below 50 MPH, limped off at odd freeway appendix which leads east - merged right onto san fernando, turned left (north) at next signal and started working way about 12 miles back west on surface streets from the moorpark area never exceeding 45 MPH. No additional drivetrain issues before we reached studio city home ~ 11:10pm. This was the third total engine power shut-down at freeway speeds with no `limp away' option.
This would be the second un-warned total loss of power on a freeway. Having coasted out of traffic on the first unwarned engine / propulsion system shut-down in fast-moving freeway traffic, managed to find wide-enough section of outside shoulder to come to a stop. But being stuck in 10pm darkness on a narrow shoulder was too dangerous to consider remaining there. Once stopped, I shifted the transmission to park, cycled ignition off then to start ? Engine restarted, dash warning lamps came on- then cycled off normally, engine ran smoothly. Note: the only way to attempt to restart the hybrid drivetrain is to shift the transmission into park .. It doesn't work in neutral .. And there was no way I was going to try to put the trans in park in 72-75 MPH freeway traffic in 10pm darkness. Accelerated moderately into merging lane, entering gap in n/b traffic to re-enter I-5 traffic ? Hoping to get past sr-2 to more-familiar exit ? Within 2 minutes, and at speed ~ 55 MPH ? Drive train died again (same warning tone and light...and same "too little too late" stop now warning text). Again had to hunt for a wide-enough section of outside shoulder to stop and take stock of dangerous situation. Shut off engine, moved trans into park tried restart - again, engine started and settled to normal operation - no warning lights remained on. Able to re-enter traffic and transition off I-5 fwy .. But only escape was to another freeway (sr-2). Kept speed below 45mph on that freeway until able to exit freeway. This was the second un-warned total loss of power on a freeway.
At ~ 10:10pm traveling at 68-70 MPH in fast, moderate freeway traffic in the #3 n/b lane of I-5 in silverlake area, ~ -mi south of the interchange with the sr-2 freeway (~ @ riverside dr. Over-crossing) . Suddenly / with no warming, engine lost all power & shut down and I heard a `screeching' warning tone, saw the red triangle of doom warning symbol appear in the upper/right of the instrument panel, the tachometer dropped to `zero'? And the `too-little-too-late' warning text stop now? Text appeared at the bottom of the instrument panel (how was I supposed to do this in the middle of a fast-moving freeway?). Only thing that saves us was that we had significant speed to coast out of traffic - other drivers thankfully gave-way to let us do so. First of three such complete losses of power in traffic, attempting to reach safety.
At 70 MPH on freeway, "stop when safe" message came up, engine stopped, had to coast to a stop on shoulder. Lucky it was 1am so not much traffic. Restarted vehicle, made another 5 miles, happened again. Restarted, made it off freeway, able to get home, keeping under 40mph (assumption was some sort of overheating problem with hybrid systems). Currently in dealership for repair, my internet research indicates there are quite a few others having this issue. Very frightening and dangerous to lose power at freeway speeds and have to make way to the shoulder and stop.
Vehicle was in middle lane of interstate 95 with traffic moving at 65-70 MPH when there was (according to ford tech) a failure of the motor electronics cooling pump. This caused the vehicle engine to shut down and could have caused accident/death if wife wasn't able to get to shoulder weaving through lanes of traffic. I see online at http://www.arfc.org/complaints/2008/mercury/mariner_hybrid/engine_and_engine_cooling/problem.aspx that this has been reported as a major complaint for awhile. Why is this not a recall? Someone will sure get killed. Our car has only 57k miles.
This has occurred twice. The first time, (9-6-2010), driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway- the light, "stop safely now" comes on and you cannot use the gas pedal and you have to try to get to the shoulder safely as the car has no power. I waited for half an hour and restarted the car and was able to get to where I had to go. Took it to dealer and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. The 2nd occurrence (march 31, 2012), same thing happened except I was on the freeway with everyone going at least 65 miles per hour and had to get to the shoulder without any power. Took it to dealer and they said it was a coolant pump problem. I went online and there are hundreds of complaints about this problem. This should be a recall issue and I shouldn't have had to pay for this. Extremely dangerous. Could so easily have been hit by oncoming traffic. Scary experiences.
We purchased a ford certified 2008 mercury mariner hybrid less than two years ago. According to ford, a ford certified' vehicle has been passed a 172 point inspection. We have been driving this vehicle on the highway and have experience a stop safely now' warning on the dash, accompanied by the engine shutting off, and this seems to happen at speeds of 50+ MPH. I was driving 70 MPH in the middle of a congested 4 lane highway traffic while this happened to me recently. My car ceased to accelerate, and I had to weave out of the center lanes, swerving to an exit, going up on an exit ramp, without the ability to accelerate. We have contacted ford through their website customer service number, and the representatives just tell us to take it to a ford dealership. After fixing the problem that their technician at our local dealership told us to fix, our vehicle did the very same thing a month later. We were told that we needed to replace the fuel throttle body. We've also replaced the hybrid battery filter' as per the company's recommendation. We want some attention brought to this matter. I feel I no longer trust that the technicians at the ford have the knowledge to deal with this issue. After some searches online, I've found we're not the only ones with this problem. I don't know how ford can just pretend this isn't a serious issue. What will it take to get their attention? The fact that they're endangering the lives of people by not recalling this vehicle, and the lack of accountability is shocking. How can ford can get away with releasing these unsafe vehicles and exposing many lives which could result in deaths. After many calls to ford customer service, and speaking with the local ford techs, my frustration lies at not having a clear answer and no direction. This is clearly unsafe for anyone to drive and something needs to be done.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mercury mariner hybrid. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, the stop safely now warning light and the temperature light illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle then suddenly stalled. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. The failure occurred intermittently and only when driving at highway speeds. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for a diagnostic test. The technicians stated that there may be a failure with the cooling pump, but would inspect the vehicle to verify the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 66,000.
On thursday, august 11, 2011 our 2008 mercury mariner hybrid shutdown while traveling 67-70mph on I-39 in the passing lane next to a semi. Had to cut across the interstate onto loose gravel, creating a dangerous situation for multiple drivers. Had just had this 'fixed' by dealership two weeks before. I was told by the dealership at that time that it needed a chip upgrade, which was done. Unfortunately, this was not the needed 'fix' obviously. I was able to restart it like I had before, but could not drive above 60-62 MPH in order to keep vehicle running. Just took it into dealership again today, and they had not heard of this problem on any other hybrids.
The engine abruptly stopped while I was traveling 65 MPH. The car was towed to a ford dealer who diagnosed the problem as the "motor electronics cooling pump." the part was replaced but was not covered by the warranty. Ford issued a technical service bulletin in november 2008 concerning this problem, so ford has been aware of this danger for years.
Vehicle's gas engine shut off on the freeway at 65 MPH without warning leaving only the electric motor to power it. The reduced the maximum speed to 25 MPH. Dealer said failure of the motor electronics cooling pump caused the loss of power.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 mercury mariner hybrid. While driving approximately 70 MPH the vehicle stalled and a stop safely now message displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was pulled over, turned off and upon restart the contact was able to continue driving normally. The failure continued to recur during the duration of the drive. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer to have the failure diagnosed. The failure and current mileages were 68,000.
Vehicle shut down while driving on the interstate, immediately losing all power. Message on dash read "stop safely now". This is a very dangerous issue. Driving on the interstate at 65 MPH & losing all ability to accelerate or maintain speed is very scary. Making matters worse, this occurred during a pouring rainstorm & in a construction zone. I pulled over and turned off ignition. I was able to restart the vehicle. It then shut down repeatedly every 2 miles. The only way to restart was to pull over and turn off the ignition. I gimped it to the car dealer. Now have a $700 bill to fix the airflow mode door actuator and the motor cooling pump. We were told there was a short that was keeping the cooling pump from working. Thus the engine was overheating and shutting off. Having read similar complaints, I am concerned that this is a common issue with this vehicle.
2008 mariner hybrid / 67000miles. Engine failure. Was able to limp off highway. After waiting several minutes car restarted and was able to drive approx. 5 miles before it shut off again. Drove to dealer with several shutdowns. Dealer states car needs electronic cooling pump and cht sensor at a cost of $1275.00. Car is still sitting in dealership waiting for my decision to repair or not. Car was not abused. Mostly only one passenger. Car was serviced regularly as per specs at dealership.
Second unwarned total shut-down of all power on roadway - this one just 17 days after repairs and reprogramming by ford dealership following first instance, which cut gas engine and electric motor power while traveling on los angeles freeway. This power shut-down occurred while trying to pull from parallel park spot onto busy blvd - lost all power 2 feet into traffic, able to roll back into curb before traffic reached me around semi-blind curve. After the first in-use failure on 5-17-10, I simultaneously reported the malfunction to ford customer relations (case# 1432331380), and presented the vehicle for repair to cerritos [the following quotes from text of service record]; tech performed `eec test, revealing fault-codes: b1239, p1a0c and p0562. The tech also "found tsb (tech service bulletin) 07-25-12 with concern resolution" & he "contact[ed] ford technical service hotline with concern." the tech "replaced the auxiliary airflow mode door actuator and reprogrammed the traction battery control module to latest calibration 8m64-10b687-ag. Final eec test passed." I was also informed that the part number for the replacement `airflow mode door actuator' differed from original, so the component has apparently been re-designed - but neither my wife nor I have received warnings from ford that updates/repairs were recommended on either of our 2008 mariner hybrids. This originally smelled like a `silent recall' to me...but this doesn't even rate as a `recall', because the work performed did not prevent the second occurrence of the equivalent malfunction just 17 days later. This is a totally unacceptable failure mode for any consumer transportation vehicle, because it occurs without warning, and leaves the driver completely defenseless, and with severely-reduced response options.
On-freeway gas engine/electric motor shut-down. Driving in morning rush-hour traffic approximately 15 minutes after cold start in 60-degree weather, both the gasoline engine and the electric motor propulsion systems shut-down together without prior warning while the vehicle was in motion - "stop safely now" was the `too-little-too-late' info on the instrument panel. Neither power mode would restart with trans in neutral (I refused to try cycling ignition key to off, and risk steering lock). Fortunate to coast onto shoulder, where I had to move gear selector to park, turn ignition key full-off and then back to start, at which time normal operation resumed. Total loss of both power sources while in-use on a freeway ' and unable to re-activate without shifting transmission into park is absolutely inexcusable and unacceptable!
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