Complete transmission failure on the 2002 Mercury Mountaineer
When complete transmission failure gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Mercury Mountaineer report complete transmission failure at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles, from 14 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 65,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 145,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 80,400 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.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66,600 miles | 69,250 miles | 82,961 miles | 115,666 miles | 147,000 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 $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 on other years
The same failure is reported on 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2000, at a median of 50,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 85,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
2002 mercury mountaineer - transmission failed several times on way to work this morning while pulling onto highways. Car taken to transmission shop and we have been told that the transmission is gone and will cost $2,400 to repair. Mechanic also stated that this is a known problem in mountaineers but has not been recalled as it is not deemed a safety hazard. Apparently the car maker has not been in such a car when this happens on a busy freeway! We also had no indications of a problem prior to this happening. *nm
My wife was driving the mountaineer and the check transmission light came on and the o/d light started flashing. We took it to the local mechanic and they said we probably needed a new transmission. We then took it to a transmission specialists and they confirmed we needed to rebuild the transmission. They replaced all seals and valves, torque converter, solenoid pack, transfer case, prndl switch, at a cost of $2500. After reading about several transmission complaints for this model year of mountaineer, I felt I should report this complaint. *tr
On my 2002 mercury mountaineer, the transmission failed and has to be rebuilt at 70,000 miles. After reading several websites, it is apparent that this has been a very common and ongoing problem that should qualify it for a recall. *tr
Also reported on the 2002 Mercury Mountaineer
Other powertrain problem
Liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure
Other body or interior problem
Differential or transfer case failure
Wheel bearing or hub failure
Other suspension problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 18 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 2002 Mercury Mountaineer?
Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 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 2002 Mercury Mountaineer?
18 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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