AI Damage1999 Mercury Mountaineer: common problems
Owners of the 1999 Mercury Mountaineer filed 151 complaints with NHTSA, most often about tires and visibility. Details by component below, with sources.
Key figures
- Owner complaints
- 151
- involving a crash
- 13
What fails most often
- 1 Tires 34% of all complaints
- 2 Visibility 15% of all complaints
- 3 Air bags 9% of all complaints
- 4 Engine and cooling 8% of all complaints
- 5 Vehicle speed control 7% of all complaints
- 6 Electrical system 7% of all complaints
- 7 Service brakes 6% of all complaints
- 8 Powertrain 5% of all complaints
- Tires: 51 complaints (34% of all), 5 of them with a crash reported by the owner.
- Visibility: 22 complaints (15% of all).
- Air bags: 14 complaints (9% of all), 5 of them with a crash reported by the owner.
- Engine and cooling: 12 complaints (8% of all).
- Vehicle speed control: 11 complaints (7% of all), 3 of them with a crash reported by the owner.
Engines and transmissions
US-market versions per EPA. On the right: how many NHTSA complaints name this engine or transmission type.
- 4 L · petrol · 6 cylnamed in 1 complaints
- 5 L · petrol · 8 cyl
- automatic, 4-speed
- automatic, 5-speed
Drive: RWD, AWD
Symptoms owners describe
How many of the 151 NHTSA complaints mention each symptom (automatic count from complaint text; one complaint can mention several).
Components owners complain about
| Component | Owner complaints | involving a crash | Technical service bulletins (TSB) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tires | 51 | 5 | 0 |
| Visibility | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| Air bags | 14 | 5 | 0 |
| Engine and cooling | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Vehicle speed control | 11 | 3 | 0 |
| Electrical system | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Service brakes | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| Powertrain | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Equipment | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Seats | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Steering | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Structure | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Suspension | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Exterior lighting | 2 | 0 | 0 |
What owners report
Short excerpts of NHTSA complaints in the original wording. These are owner statements not verified by NHTSA; personal data removed.
Exploding airbags filled vehicle with smoke and ash. I received minor burns and abrasions on arms and face, daughter riding in back seat received black eye form flying object and required scan of head to rule out head injury. Was result of accident
The vehicle impacted the guard rail head on, and the frontal airbags failed to deploy. Both parties were secured by the seat belts. A police report and photos were taken of the incident. The vehicle was driven away after the report was taken.
Dt*: the contact stated while driving 40 mph the vehicle hit another vehicle from behind and the frontal airbags failed to deploy. A police report was filed at the scene and the driver sustained minor injuries. After the accident, the air bag light illuminated.
While driving at 65 mph, the rear driver side tire tread separated, which caused the vehicle to spin out of control. The tire remained fully inflated when the tread separated.
As the owner and driver of the vehicle at the time of incident, I feel that the mountaineer had an obvious design flaw which promoted the chance of it rolling. The roll over occurred following braking and steering to avoid a collision.
Just as quickly as the engine surged, it dropped back in revs to normal idle. On my way home from the scene, it occured again, except this time I had my hand on the auto gear change, moved it qiuckly to neutral, and turned off the ignition.
The front and side airbags did not deploy and the left front tire was off the rim laying under the left front door. All tires had been rotated and properly maintained at 26 lbs as recommended on the manufactures sticker on the left front door.
Right rear tire tread had separated from rim, and tire was hitting up against vehicle and it was very hot. Firestone wilderness at, p23575r15, and dot w2hlity488. There were no injuries. She contacted firestone. Manufacturer told her that this tire not on recall. Consumer replaced all four tires with michelin tires.
When owners complained
NHTSA complaints by filing year. The peak shows at what age the problems show up most.
Comparison
By complaint count this model year ranks 2,627 of 36,656 model years in the NHTSA data (top 7% most complained about).
On average one model year of the Mountaineer has 125 complaints (16 years in the data). This year has 151, above average.
What to check before buying
- Tires. Tire age by DOT code, bulges, wear pattern.
- Visibility. Wipers, mirrors, defrosters, cracked glass.
- Air bags. Check the SRS light, stored codes and airbag/curtain status after any impact.
- Engine and cooling. Radiator and fan after a frontal hit, coolant level and condition, overheating.
Other years of this model
- Mountaineer 19963 sources
- Mountaineer 1997328 sources
- Mountaineer 1998236 sources
- Mountaineer 2000123 sources
- Mountaineer 200122 sources
- Mountaineer 2002372 sources
- Mountaineer 2003152 sources
- Mountaineer 2004210 sources
- Mountaineer 200582 sources
- Mountaineer 2006117 sources
- Mountaineer 200781 sources
- Mountaineer 200896 sources
- Mountaineer 20096 sources
- Mountaineer 201013 sources
- Mountaineer 99999 sources
Questions and answers
What are the most common problems with the 1999 Mercury Mountaineer?
Owner complaints to NHTSA most often mention: tires, visibility, air bags. Total complaints: 151. The most frequent symptoms in complaint texts: warning lights, check engine (9%), smoke, burning smell, fire (7%), airbag warning light (6%).
How many service bulletins (TSB) were issued for the 1999 Mercury Mountaineer?
NHTSA lists 0 manufacturer service bulletins for this year. A bulletin tells dealers how to diagnose or fix a known issue; it is not a recall.
Should I buy a 1999 Mercury Mountaineer from a US auction?
Owner complaints describe defects, not crash damage. Before bidding, check the components listed above and review the lot photos: VinWind builds a report of visible and hidden damage by VIN.
Other 1999 models
Read also
Sources: public NHTSA data (USA): service bulletins and owner complaints; YouTube: links to videos credited to their authors. Complaints are owner statements not verified by NHTSA, and describe defects rather than crash damage. Data updated 2026-11-05.