2009 Mercury Sable: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2009 Mercury Sable
On the 2009 Mercury Sable, the failure owners report most often is cruise control failure, with 4 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 35,000 miles. Overall it scores 65 out of 100, high risk for a 2009.
High risk for a 2009 — 238th riskiest of the 295 2009 vehicles we can rate. 27 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model.
The failures owners actually file about
Owners have reported 12 named failure modes on the 2009 Mercury Sable, and the three most-reported carry 41% of everything filed.
Cruise control failure leads with 4 reports and about 0.0 per 1,000 vehicles.
Other suspension problem follows with 4 reports, median 35,000 miles.
Other engine problem follows with 3 reports, median 40,000 miles.
By system, the reports fall mostly into adas (7), suspension (5) and engine (3).
The mileage the reports cluster at
26 of the reports on the 2009 Mercury Sable came with an odometer reading, and half of those were filed before 35,000 miles.
Cumulatively, 69% by 50,000 miles and 96% by 100,000 miles of the dated reports had been filed.
The busiest stretch is between 20,000 and 30,000 miles, which alone holds 23% of the dated reports.
58% of the dated reports were filed below 36,000 miles, which is early enough that a fair number of these cars were still under a factory warranty when the owner complained.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the median reported mileage
How bad it is when it goes
Across the named modes, 2 mention a crash and 2 an injury. Those are the words owners used in their own complaints, and NHTSA does not verify them, but they are the closest thing in this data to a measure of what a failure actually did.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 4.70, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: cruise control failure at $200–$1,400, other suspension problem at $350–$2,000, other engine problem at $300–$4,000 and other speed control problem at $250–$2,000. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
11% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cruise control failure | adas | 4 | 4 | — | 49k | — | 0.0 | $200–$1,400 | High |
| Other suspension problem | suspension | 4 | 4 | — | 34k | — | 0.0 | $350–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other engine problem | engine | 3 | 3 | — | 41k | — | 0.0 | $300–$4,000 | High |
| Other speed control problem | adas | 3 | 2 | — | 36k | — | 0.0 | $250–$2,000 | Critical |
| Other body or interior problem | body | 3 | 3 | — | 35k | — | 0.0 | $200–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Alternator or charging system failure | electrical | 2 | 2 | — | 23k | — | 0.0 | $450–$1,600 | High |
| Loss of braking | brakes | 2 | 2 | — | 22k | — | 0.0 | $400–$3,000 | Critical |
| Fuel gauge or level sensor failure | fuel | 1 | 1 | — | 70k | — | 0.0 | $300–$1,200 | Moderate |
| Strut, shock or spring failure | suspension | 1 | 1 | — | 15k | — | 0.0 | $500–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Wiper or washer failure | glass | 1 | 1 | — | 15k | — | 0.0 | $120–$800 | Moderate |
| Other brake problem | brakes | 1 | 1 | — | 23k | — | 0.0 | $300–$1,800 | High |
| Other steering problem | steering | 1 | 1 | — | 6k | — | 0.0 | $350–$2,400 | High |
| Unclassified problem | other | 1 | 1 | — | 65k | — | 0.0 | — | Moderate |
This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2009 Mercury Sable draws about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 73rd percentile of complaint rates among 2009 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model.
The working figure is 113,333 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2009 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.
Cruise control failure
Having driven 150 miles or so of highway driving using cruise control, stopping two times to rest, driving approx. 65 - 70 MPH. I arrived at waltham on rt. 128 where the traffic was bumper to bumper. I had to keep my foot on the brake until I was at exit 38 or 39. We travelled 5 - 15 MPH. After I was in the slow traffic for approx. 20 minutes my car started to lurch forward while gassing up and wanting to jump ahead. My foot was on the brake and I needed to brake even harder to hold onto the force that the car was exerting. I was in bumper to bumper traffic and had kept a distance betweeh myself and the car in front so the small jump did not hit that car before I pushed harder on the brake. The same thing happened again within 5 minutes. Once I arrived in danvers I drove to the dealer to report the problem and they gave me an appointment for wednesday8/28/13. This same problem has been hapeening since I purchased the car in 2011. It self accelerated randomly every 3-4 months, it happened when I had my foot on the brake and I was at a traffic light with my mom in the car. I almost went throught the light from a stopped braked…
Having driven 150 miles or so of highway driving using cruise control, stopping two times to rest, driving approx. 65 - 70 MPH. I arrived at waltham on rt. 128 where the traffic was bumper to bumper. I had to keep my foot on the brake until I was at exit 38 or 39. We travelled 5 - 15 MPH. After I was in the slow traffic for approx. 20 minutes my car started to lurch forward while gassing up and wanting to jump ahead. My foot was on the brake and I needed to brake even harder to hold onto the force that the car was exerting. I was in bumper to bumper traffic and had kept a distance betweeh myself and the car in front so the small jump did not hit that car before I pushed harder on the brake. The same thing happened again within 5 minutes. Once I arrived in danvers I drove to the dealer to report the problem and they gave me an appointment for wednesday8/28/13. This same problem has been hapeening since I purchased the car in 2011. It self accelerated randomly every 3-4 months, it happened when I had my foot on the brake and I was at a traffic light with my mom in the car. I almost went throught the light from a stopped braked…
Other suspension problem
I have a 2009 merc sable premiere, when I go over bumps in the road the struts bottom out, and the car like slides side ways. I took it to the dealer where I bought it and they looked on the internet and found that ford says when driving over bumps the car will bottom out and this is normal. I told the service man that this was [xxx] and he said he could not replace the struts until they recall them. I asked how much it would cost to replace them myself and he said it would run $1000. To have all 4 replaced. Do people have to get killed before they will cover this? I still have warranty left on my car and I want it fixed. Thank you very much for your time. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr
I have a 2009 merc sable premiere, when I go over bumps in the road the struts bottom out, and the car like slides side ways. I took it to the dealer where I bought it and they looked on the internet and found that ford says when driving over bumps the car will bottom out and this is normal. I told the service man that this was [xxx] and he said he could not replace the struts until they recall them. I asked how much it would cost to replace them myself and he said it would run $1000. To have all 4 replaced. Do people have to get killed before they will cover this? I still have warranty left on my car and I want it fixed. Thank you very much for your time. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr
Other engine problem
Driving down highway at 55 car goes totally dead. Was able to put in park and restart. After this happened on 3 other occasions the next 4 months took to a local, they couldn't find anything wrong and said to bring it back if it happened again. About 3-4 wks later it happened again so I was taking it back to the dealer that I brought it from 60 miles away, on way to dealership it died on me to more times once going 55 and then on the interstate doing 75. The mechanic there said it needed to have its computer updated. He did and I have not had anymore problem with it now the past 2 1/2 years. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 mercury sable. When the contact turned the steering wheel while driving 15 MPH, the vehicle felt as if it would stall and an abnormal noise was heard. The traction control warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, but could not be diagnosed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 65,000.
How it ranks in the 2009 field
The score at the top of the page, placed among its peers. The zones are the same thresholds the scorer applies, read out of the scorer itself, so the picture and the band word cannot disagree.
Scores are ranked within the model year, never across years, because an older car has had longer to accumulate reports.
- Left fewer and less serious reports
- Right more, or worse
- Marker this vehicle
Where 2009 sits in the model line
High risk for a 2009 — 238th riskiest of the 295 2009 vehicles we can rate. Every score on this site is a rank inside its own model year, which is what makes a 2004 and a 2019 comparable at all.
Across the 12 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2002 comes out best at 59 and 2008 worst at 74, with 2009 itself at 65.
If the model year is negotiable, 2002, 2003 and 1999 score lower than 2009 by a margin worth acting on. Same body, same engines, different luck — usually a supplier change or a mid-cycle fix, which the complaint data can show but never explain.
Within the 2008–2009 generation specifically, 2009 is the strongest year at 65 and 2008 the weakest at 74.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Within the 2008-2009 generation, 2009 Mercury Sable scores best at 65 and 2008 Mercury Sable worst at 74.
Where these figures stop being useful
27 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 27 reports, 26 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 96% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
The failure modes are assigned by software reading the owner's own words, which is accurate in bulk and wrong in individual cases. A mode with a handful of reports may contain a misfiled one.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2009 Mercury Sable?
The most-reported failures are cruise control failure (4 reports, median 50,000 miles), other suspension problem (4 reports, median 35,000 miles) and other engine problem (3 reports, median 40,000 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
Is the 2009 Mercury Sable reliable?
It scores 65 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 238th riskiest of the 295 2009 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2009 vehicles, not a prediction about any individual car, and it is built from complaint rates, severity and how early failures appear.
Which year of the Mercury Sable is best?
Within the 2008–2009 generation, 2009 scores best at 65 out of 100 and 2008 worst at 74. Same body, same engines, different luck.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
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