Sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2001 Mercury Cougar
Only 5 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When sunroof failure or glass breakage gets reported
There are 6 reports of sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2001 Mercury Cougar, 5 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 78,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 55,000 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $700–$4,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 3 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2001, at a median of 55,000 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 80,000 miles.
By volume the 1999 carries the most reports, with 33; the 2001 has 6. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
The metal sunroof on my 2001 mercury cougar broke free on the passenger side while driving. Ford apparently used plastic parts in the assembly which holds the metal sunroof to the car. These parts failed after only 26,500 miles. If the driver side assembly had also broken, the metal roof could have flown off the car and hit another vehicle. A complaint website (www.cougarsunroof.com) contains approximately 800 complaints of 1999-02 cougar metal sunroof's failing in a similar fashion. Several of these complaints note that the metal sunroof actually flew off the car on the highway. Ford customer representatives have been notified of this potentially hazardous defect, but no recall or service bulletin has been issued. Does someone have to be injured or die in an accident caused by these defective metal sunroof's before a recall is issued? *jb
The metal sunroof on my 2001 mercury cougar broke free on the passenger side while driving. Ford apparently used plastic parts in the assembly which holds the metal sunroof to the car. These parts failed after only 26,500 miles. If the driver side assembly had also broken, the metal roof could have flown off the car and hit another vehicle. A complaint website (www.cougarsunroof.com) contains approximately 800 complaints of 1999-02 cougar metal sunroof's failing in a similar fashion. Several of these complaints note that the metal sunroof actually flew off the car on the highway. Ford customer representatives have been notified of this potentially hazardous defect, but no recall or service bulletin has been issued. Does someone have to be injured or die in an accident caused by these defective metal sunroof's before a recall is issued? *jb
I opened my moonroof one day and it made a noise so I looked at it and it looked to be off track on the drivers side so we tried to shut it and it would not shut all the way so when it rained, it rained in my car. Finally took it to a repair shop and they said that the plastic clip was broke and had to force it closed so now when I go down the road it opens some and could eventually fly off, it is a distraction when I am driving because it makes noise and right now it is cold out and it rains in it. The repair guy told me that several other people have came in for the same reasons this could cause a problem and needs to be taken care of. These company's now days make their parts so cheap and then sale them for a lot of money, they need to re-think what they are doing before they loose all of their customers, no wonder there are several places having to close. The repair guy also told me that if I do get it repaired then I will eventually have to get it replaced again because they are made so cheap. *jb
Also reported on the 2001 Mercury Cougar
Fuel pump failure
Other engine problem
Other fuel system problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 6 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 6 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does sunroof failure or glass breakage happen on the 2001 Mercury Cougar?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2001 Mercury Cougar?
6 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed