When stopped at light, upon accelerating when the light turns green, the accelerator is hard to press. It does not depress. You have to either press too hard or pump a few times for it to get going. This is very dangerous when you are taking a left turn on a solid green light without a green arrow. You may stall and then lunge forward into an oncoming car
Mercury Villager sudden acceleration problems
24 of the 1,723 owner complaints about the Mercury Villager describe sudden unintended acceleration, most of them for the 1999 model year.
- owner complaints
- 24
- worst model year
- 1999
- typical mileage
- 68,000
By model year
- 20001
- 199912
- 19981
- 19971
- 19963
- 19954
- 19942
Often reported together
What owners say
Tried to slightly depress the accelerator to move up in traffic but accelerator was stuck and had to apply more force to depress accelerator causing vehicle to lunge forward nearly causing a collision with the vehicle in front of us. Rear passenger side seat belt will not extend to allow it to be put on.
Tl*the contact owns a 1999 mercury villager. While the contact was pulling into a parking space the vehicle suddenly surged forward without warning causing the contact to crash into a pole. The contact previously noticed that the vehicle would surge forward whenever it came to a stop. The vehicle has not been diagnosed by the dealership. There were no prior warnings. The VIN was not available. The current and failure mileages were 140,000.
I sent this letter to the ford motor company. No reply yet. I also have copies of the work that was done to the van. I hope you can help. Thank you very much. On thursday may 3, 2007 we were driving, with my wife being the driver, north on u.s. 441 in florida. As we passed a truck we heard a growling noise. It was our van. I-75 the traffic was stopped up from an accident so we took a parallel road to the north. The van was still growling. When we got to u.s. 27 I told her we had better find a mercury dealer and see what the problem was. We turned back into ocala and stopped at a small independent used auto sales business. We were told the mercury dealership was just down the street, so we got back into the van and proceeded to start out. My wife had to back up a little toward busy u.s. 441. Then she screamed ?I have no brakes!? Quickly she put the van into drive and it screeched and lunged forward. Now we were headed toward a chain-link fence. Still no brakes, so she was smart enough to turn off the key and we stopped two feet from the fence. Needless to say she was my heroine. We got out and she said, ?look at this hub cap.? The plastic connectors that hold it to the wheel were melted and the cap had fallen off. The wheel was too hot to touch. Both front wheels were very hot and now you could smell brake fluid. We called a wrecker and the people that owned the auto sales store gave us a tire store that was suppose to be the best in the area. I called them and they would take us in right away. Apparently the wheel cylinders engaged on the front of the van and the intense heat from friction built up had melted the brake hoses. We are sure glad we had not ventured onto I-75. Is this a manufacturer?s defect that hasn't been found yet?
The throttle sticks in the closed position, requiring an inordinate amount of force on the accelerator pedal to open the throttle. Once sufficient force is applied to overcome the resistance, the vehicle will lunge forward unexpectedly, and has the potential to cause damage or injury. This problem has supposedly been corrected by the dealer cleaning the throttle body assembly, at my expense. However, based on the reports from other complainants, the problem is likely to recur and be a continual hazard.
The accelerator sticks; excess pressure is required when starting from stop, causing vehicle to lunge forward. Dealer said new throttle assembly needed.
While driving the vehicle suddenly accelerated although the driver's foot was not on the accelerator pedal. *nm on a second occasion the vehicle accelerated and the consumer hit a parked vehicle. The vehicle went into reverse and backed into a garage door. *tc
While stopping at a light and attempting to accelerate gas pedal stuck. As a result, vehicle surged forward and the tires spun out. *ak this problem has occurred repeatedly since about 40k miles, currently at 82k miles, this would occur at least one in five times the accelerator pedal was depressed.
Intermittently while driving at any speed accelerator pedal stuck, and vehicle experienced suddenly acceleration.
The vehicle's throttle plate became stuck. As a result, the vehicle jumped forward without warning. *jb pressing hard enough to free the accelerator caused sudden and unexpected acceleration in reverse.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Mercury Villager sudden acceleration
Which Mercury Villager years have sudden unintended acceleration problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1999 (12 complaints), 1995 (4 complaints) and 1996 (3 complaints).
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