Approximately 39,000 miles. No rust car. Rubbing noise and all tires with history of losing air. While replacing all tires, wheel tech noticed right rear coil spring was fractured and completely wore off interior tire ridge. Placed doughnut tire on and advised I take to mechanic to have all springs fully checked. Car currentlyat mechanic shop this evening. Right rear coil spring definitely fractured. Seems many reports of same nature on this model. Why no recall on rear coil springs with so many complaints? Rubbing sound from beneath car has been noted and tires constantly needed air. Other issue(s): 1) ignition extremely hard to turn.2) accelerator seems to stick upon attempting to decelerate by letting up foot pressure. I inherited this car from my deceased father. I was always concerned that he accelerated too quickly from a stopped position. Father took down a large concrete planter due to this type of car jerking, yet I thought it was due to his putting too much pressure upon the accelerator. Now that I am driving the car, I note that car does not slow when I let up on the accelerator, leading me to believe that the accident was not due to father's driving. This was never a problem with his former car. 3) driver's door makes loud clunk upon opening and closing. Are these known problems?
Mercury Sable jerking problems
71 of the 4,888 owner complaints about the Mercury Sable describe jerking or lurching, most of them for the 1996 model year.
- owner complaints
- 71
- worst model year
- 1996
- typical repair cost reported
- $1,492
- typical mileage
- 60,000
By model year
Often reported together
Hesitation 6Transmission failure 5Sudden acceleration 3Won't shift 3Stalling 3Shudder 2Overheating 2Headlights 2
What owners say
Tl* the contact owns a 1995 mercury sable. While driving approximately 40 MPH, the transmission jerked severely with extreme hesitation. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing who stated that the rear subframe was completely corroded, which caused damage to the transmission. The VIN was not included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 93v106000 (structure). The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The VIN was invalid. The approximate failure mileage was 103,219.
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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mercury sable. The contact stated that the vehicle jerked while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle was taken to a mechanic where a diagnostic was performed, which located the failure at the continuous variable transmission. The vehicle was repaired and the transmission was rebuilt. The failure and current mileage was 52,850.
Having driven 150 miles or so of highway driving using cruise control, stopping two times to rest, driving approx. 65 - 70 MPH. I arrived at waltham on rt. 128 where the traffic was bumper to bumper. I had to keep my foot on the brake until I was at exit 38 or 39. We travelled 5 - 15 MPH. After I was in the slow traffic for approx. 20 minutes my car started to lurch forward while gassing up and wanting to jump ahead. My foot was on the brake and I needed to brake even harder to hold onto the force that the car was exerting. I was in bumper to bumper traffic and had kept a distance betweeh myself and the car in front so the small jump did not hit that car before I pushed harder on the brake. The same thing happened again within 5 minutes. Once I arrived in danvers I drove to the dealer to report the problem and they gave me an appointment for wednesday8/28/13. This same problem has been hapeening since I purchased the car in 2011. It self accelerated randomly every 3-4 months, it happened when I had my foot on the brake and I was at a traffic light with my mom in the car. I almost went throught the light from a stopped braked position. The other times were after driving with cruise control which I need. It also happened while braking to get into a parking place.
Car started accelerating on its own and had to put the car in neutral and put both brakes to make it stop. The car lurches forward when it is stopped at signals.did some research online and found that this has been an issue that nhs has been investigating and is related to the throttle not closing. Http://autos.yahoo.com/motoramic/probe-1-9-million-fords-sudden-acceleration. Why no recall yet?
I was driving down the road and my car began accelerating on its own. When I came to a stop, it would lurch forward and rev very high. From a complete stop, the car was able to accelerate up to 50+ on its own without ever touching the accelerator. To get it to stop, I either have to shut the car off or "punch" the accelerator.
Beginning about the first of march, 2012, I noticed a problem with my steering feeling stiff, jerky and hard to turn. The first incident involved turning right onto the highway from a side ride and feeling the front of the car jerk slightly to the left. Since then, I've noticed the steering remains stiff.
Car would jerk going interstate speed of 70mph. Felt like it was going into neutral and back in to gear. Did this about four times and I mean it is hard, will scare you to death if your in the car. After it did this about four time over an hour, the traction control and service light came on and stayed on the rest of the trip. This is a used car I just bought, so im not sure if it will continue to do this. But I am afraid to drive it on the interstate now.
Automobile engine inadvertently stopped running while driving at highway speed. Only indication was illumination of alternator system failure warning light and tachometer indication of zero. There was no associated shudder, lurching, or other physical indication that engine had failed. No engine service light or other indication was displayed. Vehicle transmission was placed into neutral, restart attempted, and engine resumed normal operation without further incident. This problem has occurred three times in the last 120 days. I contacted the dealer, where the vehicle was purchased - sentry ford in medford ma., and the service rep on the phone found no apparent reason for the malfunction or to schedule a diagnostic dealer service appointment, since no engine service light came on, based on my testimonial. He also told me that if the engine service light does not come on, no failure codes are stored in the on board vehicle operation history database and the problem can not be diagnosed and the dealer can not provide assistance or guidance for repair.
Related recalls
Power train: automatic transmission: cooling unit and lines
- What is wrong
- Vehicle description: passenger vehicles equpped with the "california" emissions package. An incorrect transmission oil cooler line was installed. The line contacts the anti-lock braking system module support bracket and over time, can wear and develop a leak.
- Risk
- Transmission fluid leakage onto the exhaust manifold or catalytic converter can result in a fire.
- Remedy
- Dealers will install the appropriate transmission oil cooler line.
Recall number 98V288000 · Recall details
Power train: automatic transmission
- What is wrong
- Vehicle description: passenger vehicles equipped with ax4s automatic transaxles. The low/intermediate servo cover can separate from the transaxle while the vehicle is being driven. If this occurs, transmission fluid will leak contacting the catalytic converter.
- Risk
- The catalytic converter temperature may be hot enough to ignite the transmission fluid and cause a vehicle fire.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect the transmission and replace these servo covers.
Recall number 97V097000 · Recall details
Power train: automatic transmission
- What is wrong
- The automatic transmission park pawl shaft may not be free to rotate as intended. If the park pawl shaft does not rotate, it would prevent the park pawl from engaging the park gear when the shift lever is in the park position.
- Risk
- This condition could result in the vehicle rolling as if in neutral with the shift lever in the park position.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect the park pawl shaft rotation and those shafts with restricted rotation will be replaced with a shorter shaft that will not restrict rotation.
Recall number 96V176000 · Recall details
Power train: automatic transmission: gear position indication (PRNDL)
- What is wrong
- The park pawl abutment bracket has a sharp edge which can cause the parking pawl to hang up and not engage the park gear. This would allow the vehicle to move even though the gear shift indicator shows that the vehicle is in park.
- Risk
- Unintended and unexpected vehicle movement can result in personal injury and property damage.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect and, if necessary, replace the park pawl abutment bracket.
Recall number 96V166000 · Recall details
Power train: automatic transmission
- What is wrong
- The park pawl shaft was improperly positioned when the roll pin that retains it was installed during transmission assembly. If the shaft was not properly positioned, the roll pin may not have lined up with the groove in the shaft and have been crushed at assembly. Also, a burr could have been raised on the shaft.
- Risk
- This could result in the park pawl occasionally not engaging when the transmission selector lever is placed in the park position. This could result in the vehicle rolling as if in neutral if the vehicle operator does not apply the parking brake.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect the park pawl shaft roll pin. If the roll pin is damaged, both the roll pin and the park pawl shaft will be replaced. In addition, owners will be reminded to fully apply the parking brake, in addition to placing the transmission in park.
Recall number 96V086000 · Recall details
Questions about the Mercury Sable jerking
Which Mercury Sable years have jerking or lurching problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1996 (14 complaints), 1994 (11 complaints) and 1993 (6 complaints).
How much does it cost to fix jerking or lurching on the Mercury Sable?
Owners who mentioned a price put the repair at about $1,492 (median of 5 complaints that include a dollar amount). Costs vary with mileage, warranty and where the work is done.
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