Tire blowout or tread separation on the 2002 Mercury Sable
Only 6 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 tire blowout or tread separation gets reported
There are 6 reports of tire blowout or tread separation on the 2002 Mercury Sable, 6 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 38,000 miles. It is the 19th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 69,914 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.
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 65,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 145,000 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.
Dt: consumer stated the windshield leaked, which, in turn, blew out air conditioner blower motor. The leak started at approximately 45,000 miles. Ford sent the department of transportation a letter stating that this would happen , and the dealers should contact the consumer, she found that information online. Vehicle was purchased used, and the dealer never disclosed this information. When the leak started she did contact the dealership and manufacturer, and they told her there was nothing they could do. The windshield leaked whenever it rained. The problem was the mounting brackets according to the letter online. Consumer still had the blower motor to show the water damage.*ak
Dt*: the contact stated while pulling out there was a loud noise that came from the front end of the vehicle. The front end dropped and the left front tire blew out. The vehicle was towed to the dealership for inspection. They replaced the left and right front coil springs, left front tire and struts. The manufacturer was contacted. Left front spring fractured while pulling out of driveway. If this type of failure would have occurred on a 2002 vehicle at speed it would have LED to a serious injury or fatality. *ak
I drove from my home to oxon hill, md, a distance of approximately 30 miles and the steering was bumpy. When I reached my destination, I did a visual inspection of the tires and nothing appeared unusual. After approximately 45 minutes, I resumed driving. About 11 miles later at exit 15 (214/central avenue east) on 95/495 northbound, the sidewall of the right front tire blew out. I was traveling at a speed of about 65 MPH. I pulled off the interstate and looked at the tire. The tread had separated from the sidewall and was approximately 3/4 detached. I got off at the 214/central avenue east ramp and pulled to the side of the road. By this time, the tread had separated completely from the sidewall. The tire had 20,000 miles on it and was a starfire flite-line iv p21560r16. We will go back to the retailer who sold us the four tires and plan to get all four tires replaced. *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
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 tire blowout or tread separation happen on the 2002 Mercury Sable?
Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 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 tire blowout or tread separation on the 2002 Mercury Sable?
6 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