2003 Mercury Sable transmission problems

Filed Mar 13, 2023 · Transmission · 83,000 miles · FL

The contact owns a 2003 Mercury Sable. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. The vehicle coasted to the side of the road and was towed to the residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 83,000.

Filed Jan 13, 2021 · Transmission · 30,000 miles · NY

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mercury sable. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the vehicle decelerated independently. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact parked on the side of the road. The vehicle was not drivable. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic and the contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.

Filed Jun 10, 2020 · Transmission · 33,277 miles · FL

Idriving under normal conditions on a city street in 2003 merc sable with 33k miles. While in motion, the transmission fails with no forward or reverse working or any other mechanical warnings.( no transmission codes on obdii. I was immediately able to coast into a drugstore parking lot. Car towed to local ford dealer. Dealer informed that the torque converter splines have failed and torque converter needs to replaced for $ 1726.00. Dealer repaired vehicle, replaced with ford re-manuafactured torque converter. Searched intern net and found same numerous complaints of ford torque converters spline failures. Based on the type and number of complaints this appears to warrant an audit of this safety problem. There are other reported complaints that vehicles were traveling on highways and suffered transmission failures while in motion without any warnings.

Filed Sep 12, 2017 · Engine, Transmission · 57,000 miles · NJ

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mercury sable. While the vehicle was operated, it lost engine power without warning. The vehicle was towed to dom's getty service station (308 mercer st, hightstown, nj) where it was diagnosed as a transmission failure. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was contacted and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 57,000.

Filed Sep 7, 2017 · Transmission · 57,000 miles · NJ

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mercury sable. The contact stated that the transmission failed. While driving approximately 60 MPH, the vehicle lost acceleration. The vehicle was towed to dom's getty station (heightstown, nj 08520, phone (609) 448-4146) for diagnostic testing, which located the failure at the transmission input shaft and torque converter. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 57,000.

Filed Jun 2, 2016 · Lights, Transmission · NC

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mercury sable. The contact stated that the gear shifter was stuck and could not move out of the park position. In addition, the brake lights failed to illuminate when the brake pedal was depressed. The contact mentioned that the brake wiring had to be pushed down to override the failure. The failure occurred constantly. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the brake light switch failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the VIN was not included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 04v106000 (exterior lighting). The manufacturer was not notified. The VIN and failure mileage were unknown.

Filed May 31, 2015 · Transmission · 44,000 miles · NY

In 2014,. My power train (transmission) stopped propelling my car. Several years earlier, my friend who owned a mercury sable (the same type car as I am writing to you about), had the same transmission failure while on an interstate highway. He had approximately the same mileage on his car that I had when our transmissions failed. This type of failure is dangerous yet the ford motor co. Advised me there had not been a recall. Please advise.

Filed Sep 2, 2014 · Acceleration, Engine · 118,478 miles · SC

Throttle cable stuck, engine at 1800 tpm, engine revved to 2600 RPM, inability to slow vehicle, surging. Required hard breaking. Once car stopped, idle dropped to 900 RPM after 15-30 seconds. Happens with increasing frequency. Engine surges at start, revs to 2100 then to 2600. Inspected cable, throttle and cruise control cable point of entry to supporting bracket plastic shattered. Cable emits sound from binding. Took to ford dealer, they indicated my vehicle was not part of the recall although the problem has been clearly documented with the same make, model, year and engine.

Filed Aug 21, 2014 · Engine, Transmission · 70,000 miles · NY

Vehicle accelerates on it's own. Have had multiple problems where I go to stop and car accelerates at a stop sign or light. I have almost rear ended multiple cars because of this. While going from a red to green light on a hill my sable stalled and began to roll backwards, almost crashing into the car behind me, if it hadn't been for my quick reaction. Vehicle will idle very high, 2.5rpms at the lowest, while sitting in park after startup. After a 5 minutes it will sometimes drop down to 750-1000rpms, other times it will continue to idle high. During drive it will continually accelerate to around 40 MPH on it's own. When I brake it will idle high and lurch forward, until I'm forced to push the brake all the way to the floor. Then car will either continue to idle high or drop so low that it stalls. Usually I drive with two feet at lights or signs to be able to rev engine from stalking. Engine light came on, code read idle air control valve, so it was replaced. Problem continued. Took to garage and it looks like the intake manifold gasket. All vacuum lines were replaced as well. Am going to fix the gasket and sell. Car scares me too much to drive. Multiple panic and anxiety attacks. Please recall this, extremely unsafe.

Filed Mar 31, 2014 · Transmission · 58,111 miles · PA

I left home for work. All parts of vehicle working fine. I put my blinkers on to make a left turn, which I executed. Half-way down the street, the car began to lose power, but was still running. I tried shifting to another gear - nothing. There was no warning, no sound, just nothing. I attempted to get the car to the side of the one way street with parking on both sides. I could not move the car. Thankfully this did not occur on an interstate, or I would have been killed. Had to call aaa, get the vehicle towed. My garage said it was catastrophic torque converter loss. He has done 5 2003 vehicles just this year. My husband just had major heart surgery; is not working, and now I have to come up with over $2,000 to get a rebuilt transmission. Ford/mercury has known about these catastrophic failures for years now -- and nothing is done. Does it take someone being killed before there is action? This is not fair the american consumers who try to buy american products and get screwed in the end! My next car...just may be from another country.