NHTSA — Exterior Lighting Problems

1.5

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
116,160 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.

2001 Mercury Sable lights problems

lights problem

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2001 Mercury Sable Owner Comments

problem #5

Jul 052005

Sable

  • 19,000 miles

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

For over ten (10) years the headlights (but not the side driving lights) have been going off (for about 3 minutes) and then coming back on. This does not occur every time the lights come on and seems to be more frequent in the summer time when it is warm or hot outside. The date below is just approximately when this problem started and is not the only date/'time it has occurred, it has occurred sporadically but continuously since that date.

- Va Beach, VA, USA

problem #4

Sep 232013

Sable

  • 189,000 miles
The contact owns a 2001 Mercury Sable. The contact stated that the alarm system and interior lights would activate independently and recurringly. The vehicle was not taken for diagnosis or inspection. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the incident. The approximate failure mileage was 189,000.

- Memphis, TN, USA

problem #3

Nov 162012

Sable 6-cyl

  • 207,800 miles
There was a recall on my car back in Mar 02 2004 (Ford recall number 04S12) for an exterior lighting:brake lights:switch, which was (according to Ford) done Jan 10 2005. I had failed again on 11/15/2012 leaving me without brake lights and not being able to get it out of park. Had to put it in neutral first before I started my car so I could drive it to get fixed.

- Waupaca, WI, USA

problem #2

Oct 052011

Sable 6-cyl

  • 80,000 miles
The knob to turn on the headlight broke off. It seems to be made of plastic that is not strong enough. Now it's very difficult to turn on the headlights. We read that this is a problem in the 2000 model and Ford had a recall on the 2000 model. We had the exact same problem with the 2001 model. Maybe some of the faulty knobs were installed on some of the 2001 models and those should be included in the recall as well since it's the exact same problem.

- Gilbert, AZ, USA

problem #1

Sep 222009

Sable

  • 85,000 miles
2001 Mercury Sable VIN: (see other part of complaint) I stopped at a business put car in park got out. Upon returning the car would start but not come out of park. I found I had no tail lights. I later found also there was no cruise control. I parked the car a couple days trying to find out what was wrong with it and when I got in the car I found the battery had gone dead. I just got done researching this and found recall 01S08 and NHTSA # 01V078000 saying the recall was on a break switch due to grease compromising the switch. The description of the malfunction matches my problem exactly! upon calling the dealer that sold the vehicle they said they couldn't find a recall of this based on my VIN. Ford customer service also stated they couldn't find a recall of this based on my VIN. Well obviously the recall should have included my VIN as the same thing has happened to my car. Now with the problem of not being able to shift the vehicle properly the transmission is giving an error dash light saying that the vehicle is trying to shift and is in the wrong gear?? at 70mph there is only one gear that will run the car under 3K on the tach so it has to be in the right gear.. maybe its trying to shift out.. not sure have to look into this more.

- Wichita , KS, USA

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