Other brake problem on the 2002 Mercury Sable
3 crashes 1 injury 4 of the 13 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other brake problem gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Mercury Sable report other brake problem at a median of 30,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 45,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 100,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 86,025 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.
56% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16,023 miles | 31,900 miles | 31,900 miles | 43,000 miles | 102,048 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
Of these reports, 3 a crash and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$1,800 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 11 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2008, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 1996 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 26; the 2002 has 13. 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.
While driving brakes proceeded to the floor and the vehicle surged forward. As a result, driver had to put the vehicle into neutral. Dealer stated theat battery voltage was low. *ak
Dt: the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable ls. The vehicle had less than 31,900 miles on it. On 5/6/05 front brakes were replaced. Front brake pads cut the front rotors. Resurfaced the rotors, replaced and machined them which cost $250-275. . Then on 7/25/05 had the rear brakes replaced/machined rear drums/replaced shoes/ flushed the brake system, and replaced brake cylinder. Which cost consume r around $425. The vehicle now only has 33,544. The dealership has been very good about doing work on this vehicle. Consumer contacted the manufacturer, and they told him the problem was with the vehicle. They said they would call the dealership. All they did was contact the dealership, and they gave consumer $50 off. That was all the manufacturer did, and they never contacted him back. He dealt with the manufacturer before, and they did nothing for him then. Consumer did not like the way customer service handled his concerns. Brakes went out after three years. Also contacted consumer reports, and they informed him that they were going to do a report on car brakes. *ak
Dt: the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable ls. The vehicle had less than 31,900 miles on it. On 5/6/05 front brakes were replaced. Front brake pads cut the front rotors. Resurfaced the rotors, replaced and machined them which cost $250-275. . Then on 7/25/05 had the rear brakes replaced/machined rear drums/replaced shoes/ flushed the brake system, and replaced brake cylinder. Which cost consume r around $425. The vehicle now only has 33,544. The dealership has been very good about doing work on this vehicle. Consumer contacted the manufacturer, and they told him the problem was with the vehicle. They said they would call the dealership. All they did was contact the dealership, and they gave consumer $50 off. That was all the manufacturer did, and they never contacted him back. He dealt with the manufacturer before, and they did nothing for him then. Consumer did not like the way customer service handled his concerns. Brakes went out after three years. Also contacted consumer reports, and they informed him that they were going to do a report on car brakes. *ak
Also reported on the 2002 Mercury Sable
Strut, shock or spring failure
Other suspension problem
Other speed control problem
Other engine problem
Other body or interior problem
Cruise control failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 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 brake problem happen on the 2002 Mercury Sable?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 30,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 45,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other brake problem on the 2002 Mercury Sable?
13 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