Complete transmission failure on the 2005 Mercury Montego
When complete transmission failure gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Mercury Montego report complete transmission failure at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles, from 14 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 2,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 80,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 77,100 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
21% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,000 miles | 51,319 miles | 63,125 miles | 74,813 miles | 79,100 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 $2,800–$8,000 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure, every year of the Mercury Montego
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.
My 2005 mercury nontego has 62550 mi on car heard noise in transmission and took to dealership and it needs a new transmission after looking on line numerous poeple have had problems between 54,000 mi and 67000, mi , the transmission needed to be replaced I called ford corporation and they stated because there is no extended warranty on the vechile they can not do anything for me . Speaking with numerous mechanics there is no way a transmission sould go with that kind of milage. Ford corporation said they it is against company policy to give any type of credit for this problem. With so many people having the same problem I would think that ford would step up to the plate. I really think that ford should initiatte a call back on these transmissions, but they said they will not initiate anything unless national higway traffic safetiy and administration itnitalizes the call back. So I am writing in response to their respnse. You would think a corporation like ford would initiate their own call backs with the noted problems, just to save reputations
I own a 2005 mercury montego that has been a constant downward spiral.approx. 3 months ago, I had to replace the vehicles transmission,because I was told by ford that they do not sell the tools or parts to replace anything in it, the whole transmission had to be replaced.approx. 1 week ago, I was sitting at a traffic light and my car revved up to approx. 3500 RPM and pushed my car forward into traffic. I then traveled about a mile down the road and the car started bucking and engine fail safe mode was activated on the dash, along with a small wrench symbol on the message board.I then checked the owners manual where it said it was for the throttle control, and transmission. I immediately called the shop where the transmission was put in, and was told to bring the car there immediately. While on my way to the shop the same day, numerous times I would push the accelerator and the car would do nothing, it would not go at all and then would accelerate after approx. 5 seconds. I eventually made it to the shop where the car was placed on a computer that said there were no codes coming up for the warning that came on. After already…
I own a 2005 mercury montego that has been a constant downward spiral.approx. 3 months ago, I had to replace the vehicles transmission,because I was told by ford that they do not sell the tools or parts to replace anything in it, the whole transmission had to be replaced.approx. 1 week ago, I was sitting at a traffic light and my car revved up to approx. 3500 RPM and pushed my car forward into traffic. I then traveled about a mile down the road and the car started bucking and engine fail safe mode was activated on the dash, along with a small wrench symbol on the message board.I then checked the owners manual where it said it was for the throttle control, and transmission. I immediately called the shop where the transmission was put in, and was told to bring the car there immediately. While on my way to the shop the same day, numerous times I would push the accelerator and the car would do nothing, it would not go at all and then would accelerate after approx. 5 seconds. I eventually made it to the shop where the car was placed on a computer that said there were no codes coming up for the warning that came on. After already…
Also reported on the 2005 Mercury Montego
Other powertrain problem
Other speed control problem
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 14 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 complete transmission failure happen on the 2005 Mercury Montego?
Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is complete transmission failure on the 2005 Mercury Montego?
14 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