Other wheel or tire problem on the 2002 Mercury Cougar
Only 3 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 other wheel or tire problem gets reported
There are 3 reports of other wheel or tire problem on the 2002 Mercury Cougar, 3 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 60,000 miles. It is the 12th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 12,000 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 $200–$1,500 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 2002, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 1999 carries the most reports, with 30; the 2002 has 3. 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.
Since the car was purchased new in september 2003, the tires have been a constant battle. Now as the car has reached 16,000 miles, one tire has failed completely, while two others are not in great condition.*ak 3 tires have been punctured by small round pebbles found close to my home. One tire the steel belt actually snapped on the freeway, causing minor tread seperation and instant pressure loss. The incident was controllable and traffic was light, resulting in no accident. I have contacted bf goodrich about the problems with tires and they only offer to replace one at a time when they completely fail. Then they will only give 50% off on one new tire. The tires are oem on 2002 mercury cougar. Bfgoodrich comp/ta p215/50r16 89v I really feel if one has already had a complete failure at 16,000 miles and the others have there own problems, that a second failure is possible. Maybe with worse results.
I have firestone fire hawk tires on my 2002 mercury couger xr. The tire model number is 215-50-17. My car has 44,000 miles on it. I bought it new and I have had 5 flat tires on the front two tires of my car. The rear tires have 44,000 miles on them. Each time I get a flat tire, the tire is shredded in the inside and I have been lucky that I was driving in the city not going very fast. I have been told every time that my tire pressure must be low and therefore caused a flat. I got my 5th flat tire in 4 yrs on 11/22/07 (thanksgiving). My tires had just been check when I got my oil change two weeks before, but I still got a flat tire. I had just been driving on a hwy going 65mph and I am thankful it didn't happen then, I am disabled and the road I had been driving on was in the middle of no where. Soon after I return to town I got a flat tire. My husband was then in the car with me. I took the tire in to pomps tires the same place I have always taken them, and the tire was again shredded. I am not sure if anyone else has had this problem but I truly think these tires are defective and dangerous. *tr
I have firestone fire hawk tires on my 2002 mercury couger xr. The tire model number is 215-50-17. My car has 44,000 miles on it. I bought it new and I have had 5 flat tires on the front two tires of my car. The rear tires have 44,000 miles on them. Each time I get a flat tire, the tire is shredded in the inside and I have been lucky that I was driving in the city not going very fast. I have been told every time that my tire pressure must be low and therefore caused a flat. I got my 5th flat tire in 4 yrs on 11/22/07 (thanksgiving). My tires had just been check when I got my oil change two weeks before, but I still got a flat tire. I had just been driving on a hwy going 65mph and I am thankful it didn't happen then, I am disabled and the road I had been driving on was in the middle of no where. Soon after I return to town I got a flat tire. My husband was then in the car with me. I took the tire in to pomps tires the same place I have always taken them, and the tire was again shredded. I am not sure if anyone else has had this problem but I truly think these tires are defective and dangerous. *tr
Also reported on the 2002 Mercury Cougar
Fuel pump failure
Other fuel system problem
Other engine problem
Alternator or charging system failure
Other powertrain problem
Airbag failed to deploy in a crash
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 3 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 3 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 other wheel or tire problem happen on the 2002 Mercury Cougar?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 10,000 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 other wheel or tire problem on the 2002 Mercury Cougar?
3 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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