NHTSA — Exterior Lighting Problems

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
72,278 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2005 Mercury Grand Marquis lights problems

lights problem

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2005 Mercury Grand Marquis Owner Comments (Page 8 of 13)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #113

Mar 212013

Grand Marquis

  • 70,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

This is an ongoing problem -- this winter the headlights started turning off on their own, forcing you to hold the brights in position so as to continue driving at night. At first they came back on. Now they come back on rarely. The first time the lights are put on after the car has been parked for a while they may stay on (better than 50/50 chance). But after turning car off during night and restarting, the lights always fail a few minutes or less into your drive. Why hasn't Ford been forced to recall this?

- Northborough, MA, USA

problem #112

Dec 012012

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 103,000 miles
The contact owns a 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis. The contact stated that the headlights would fail intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was contacted and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 103,000. The current mileage was approximately 104,000....updated 04/25/13 the consumer was advised that there is a replacement part but it will also fail in due time. Updated 05/17/2013

- Methuen, MA, USA

problem #111

Feb 282013

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • 43,165 miles
While driving at night, my headlights without warning, extinguished. I turned the 'high beams' on and they also failed to light. I stopped and after a few minutes, the lights came back on. I searched the internet and found that many Ford Crown Victoria / Mercury Grand Marquis (multiple model year) automobiles are suffering from the same problem. It is apparently a failure in the 'lighting control module' (lcm). There are many web sites that offer re-manufactured lcm's but I question why this is not a safety recall? I think that losing your headlights while driving at night would somehow qualify as a safety hazard and this should be the manufacturer's responsibility to fix this problem.

- Chesapeake, VA, USA

problem #110

Mar 082013

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • 55,400 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

We had just left a funeral home and driving back home on a 4 lane road. We turned to avoid getting on the highway immediately and decided to take another route. As we were heading up this 2 lane road that was dark all of a sudden our headlights and instrument panel lights went out and cars coming at us were flashing their lights. I slowed down and was able to pull over to a side street. Sat there trying to determine why the lights were out. Turned the switch from the on position to the automatic position and the lights came back on. We drove all the way home on back roads to avoid getting on the interstate, not knowing if the lights would go out or not. Read the manual to see if we had missed anything and then got on the internet and saw the hundreds of people having the same thing happen to them. I will contact the dealer and see about fixing it but from what I have read, the light control module is bad and so are the replacements. I am hopeful that there is a newer improved model that is now being used. Thank god we were not on the highway or we could have been killed. This is a serious problem.

- Kirkwood , MO, USA

problem #109

Feb 202013

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • 154,980 miles
While driving down the interstate my headlights cut off. My parking lights remained on. The only way to see the road was to hold the high beam switch. This is the fourth time that this has happened in the last 2 weeks. There is no pattern of occurrence. I investigated on the internet and there are multiple reports of this happening throughout the country. The headlight module seems to be the problem.

- Manakin-Sabot, VA, USA

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problem #108

Feb 012013

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • 104,000 miles
This is a very dangerous problem. The lights go out on the Mercury marquis. It is intermittent. Sometimes, they will go back on. I have to hold the high beam to get home. Extremely dangerous! they should have a recall and stop trying to slide over the issue.

- Murphysboro, IL, USA

problem #107

Jan 072013

Grand Marquis

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis. The contact stated that the headlights would fail sporadically. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer and was told that the lighting control module failed. The failure caused the low and high beam headlights to fail. The vehicle was not repaired. The current mileage was 104,000. Updated 3/14/13

- Murphyesboro, IL, USA

problem #106

Feb 092013

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • 71,000 miles
Driving home from lake forest college (lake forest Illinois) to parma Michigan headlights turned off suddenly traveling down highway at 70mph without any warning. Managed to turn emergency flashers on and get safely off highway. Incident occurred around the kalamazoo Michigan area, had been on highway appx.3 hours.

- Parma, MI, USA

problem #105

Jan 022013

Grand Marquis

  • 24,000 miles
The contact owns a 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis. The contact stated that while driving 60 mph, the head lights failed. The contact attempted to turn the lights on but they failed to activate. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection and they stated that the light module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was 24,000.

- East Moriches, NY, USA

problem #104

Jan 102012

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • 119,552 miles
As I was driving the headlights went completely off, switched to manual, worked for a few minutes, then went off again. Tried turning car off and back on, no lights, had to hold dimmer switch forward to get lights. This has happened numerous times since the first one. Now not even holding the dimmer switch forward always works. Today we were stopped because tail lights were out (driver was holding dimmer switch forward). Tail lights also flicker at times when headlight goes out and control panel flickers too. We have gone to local independent repair service and are having difficulty getting control module due to large back order. So what are we to do in the meantime? this is extremely dangerous to those in the car and others on the road. I understand recalls are when there is a dangerous situation, and this definitely qualifies! so we now own a car that we can't drive whenever headlights are needed, which is very limiting. So far I have not been able to get hold of Ford directly to complain about this. We are not the original owners, but that should not matter on such a serious issue! this complaint is about a 2005 Grand Marquis.

- Owensville, MO, USA

problem #103

Dec 202012

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 24,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis. The contact stated that the headlights malfunctioned and flickered on and off then eventually failed completely. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. After diagnosis, the contact was advised that the light module had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and they offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 24,000. Updated 03/01/13

- East Moriches, NY, USA

problem #102

Dec 072012

Grand Marquis

  • 66,000 miles
The contact owns a 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis. The contact stated that while driving 55 mph, the headlights failed without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who advised the contact that they could replace the lighting control module to rectify the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 66,000.

- Harrisburg, PA, USA

problem #101

Dec 102012

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • 70,000 miles
Headlights go out intermittently.

- West Seneca, NY, USA

problem #100

Dec 062012

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • 79,000 miles
While driving on a dark county road all headlights went off. Had to drive nearly a mile with no head lights or street lights before I reached a place I could pull over. After car sat for several minutes lights worked again. Extremely frightening and dangerous! I can not believe this is a known issue and no recall has been issued!

- Ogdensburg, NJ, USA

problem #99

Dec 012010

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 58,000 miles
This is the second time the lcm has, without warning, failed. The first time, while driving along US1 after dark, all lights - headlights, tail lights, and dashboard light - went off!! there were no street lights and cars could not see us from behind and we could not see where we were going! we were terrified. Our lives were at stake as we anxiously and extremely slowly made our way home. The repair was outrageously costly. And, of course, we were restricted to driving only in sunny daylight hours as lights are required when raining. Now, this has happened again. The car has been taken to the local Ford dealer. However, although the part has been ordered for over 10 days, there is no word as to when it will be available and we are about to take a four-day trip! we have contacted the Ford Motor Co. About this problem, both by phone and by email, and all they can say is that it needs to be fixed. Excuse me! this is a life and death issue!!! we could have been killed on the highway due to a faulty lcm! in all our years we have never had this happen with any other car. We have read in several blogs that there are defective modules being used - yes, from Ford Motor Co.! does there need to be a highway death due to this defect before Ford will acknowledge this problem and replace this part at their expense?? updated IVOQ 12/19/12

- Lexington, SC, USA

problem #98

Nov 032012

Grand Marquis

  • Automatic transmission
  • 67,000 miles
Driving at night when head lights went out all other lights were on. We could keep the high beams on by holding dimmer switch up. Lights would come on and them go off again.

- Bethel , MO, USA

problem #97

Nov 132012

Grand Marquis

  • 92,000 miles
The contact owns 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis. The contact stated that while parked the headlights failed to illuminate. The contact powered off and restarted the vehicle and the headlights still failed to illuminate. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for a diagnostic testing. The mechanic stated the light control processor needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The approximate failure and the current mileage was 92,000.

- Woodbridge , VA, USA

problem #96

Oct 132012

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • 80,321 miles
While driving after dark the headlights and dashboard lights went dark. While attempting to restore the lights, they came back on. Within ten miles, this event occurred two more times. I went to my local Mercury dealer who told me that the module that controlled the headlights and dashboard lights was not available. He also told me that his ordering system also showed him that there were almost 600 of these parts were on back-order. He also told me that one of the components of the module was unavailable and that there was no anticipated date when the module might be available. He also told me that 2005 was the only model year that this part would fit and that the 2004 or 2006 similar parts would not work in the 2005 model year. He also told me that if the part were available that it would cost almost $600 dollars not installed. This part also fits the 2005 Ford Crown Victoria but no other makes or models. This leads me to believe that Ford re-engineered this model for the 2005 model and discovered that it was a faulty design and redesigned it for the 2006 model and failed to report the problem to anyone. They have used up all of whatever inventory of these parts they ever manufactured and appear to have no plans to make any more. I have shopped most of Florida's junk yards and have not been able to locate any 2005 Mercury or Ford cars from which to obtain a used part. Before daylight this morning while driving my wife to the doctor, the headlights and dash lights went out once again and came back on after about a mile. This is a serious safety issue. I believe that your Agency should not only require Ford to develop an immediate fix for this problem, but should require Ford to supply this part at no cost to the affected owners since it is pretty clear that they were aware of the problem and tried to hide it from the public and the government.

- Orlando, FL, USA

problem #95

Oct 052012

Grand Marquis

  • 32,000 miles
The contact owns a 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis. The contact stated that while driving 60 mph, all of the lights on the vehicle failed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who advised that the light control module was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 32,000.

- Clear Water , FL, USA

problem #94

Mar 172012

Grand Marquis 8-cyl

  • 78,000 miles
During early morning travel, both headlights stopped working at the same time. After restarting the vehicle the headlights worked fine for a while, then suddenly stop working as you drive. Ford diagnosed to be lighting control module and to repair is almost a thousand dollars. This manufacturers defect is common for this year and model vehicle and is very dangerous!! headlights are a safety necessity and this manufacturer defect is above and beyond routine maintenance!

- Pennsauken, NJ, USA

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