1999 Mercury Tracer: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 1999 Mercury Tracer
On the 1999 Mercury Tracer, the failure owners report most often is steering column or shaft failure, with 5 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 70,000 miles. Overall it scores 70 out of 100, high risk for a 1999.
High risk for a 1999 — 67th riskiest of the 303 1999 vehicles we can rate. 32 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork.
What breaks on the 1999 Mercury Tracer
Owners have reported 23 named failure modes on the 1999 Mercury Tracer, and the three most-reported carry 31% of everything filed, which is an unusually even spread for one model year.
Steering column or shaft failure leads with 5 reports and about 185 per 1,000 vehicles.
Headlight failure or clouding follows with 3 reports, median 70,000 miles.
Parking brake failure follows with 2 reports.
By system, the reports fall mostly into steering (6), brakes (6) and electrical (5).
When these failures get reported
Too few of the reports on this year carry an odometer reading to describe the timing: 3 of them do. The mileages quoted elsewhere on this page come from the modes that have enough of them.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
Showing the 12 most-reported failure modes of 23. The full list is in the table below.
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
Severity, and what it costs
Across the named modes, 7 mention a crash, 2 a fire and 3 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 6.25, 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: steering column or shaft failure at $600–$2,500, headlight failure or clouding at $150–$1,800, parking brake failure at $250–$1,300 and other electrical 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.
9% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steering column or shaft failure | steering | 5 | 0 | — | — | — | 185.2 | $600–$2,500 | Critical |
| Headlight failure or clouding | lighting | 3 | 2 | — | 69k | — | 111.1 | $150–$1,800 | Moderate |
| Parking brake failure | brakes | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 74.1 | $250–$1,300 | Moderate |
| Other electrical problem | electrical | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 74.1 | $250–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Stalling while driving | engine | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $300–$2,500 | Critical |
| No-start or intermittent start failure | engine | 1 | 1 | — | 70k | — | 37.0 | $200–$1,800 | Moderate |
| Alternator or charging system failure | electrical | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $450–$1,600 | High |
| Starter failure | electrical | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $350–$1,300 | Moderate |
| Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure | electrical | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $700–$3,000 | High |
| Loss of braking | brakes | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $400–$3,000 | Critical |
| ABS module or sensor failure | brakes | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $500–$2,400 | High |
| Master cylinder or brake booster failure | brakes | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $450–$2,200 | Critical |
| Airbag failed to deploy in a crash | airbag | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $1,000–$5,000 | Critical |
| Seat belt or retractor failure | airbag | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $200–$900 | High |
| Tail light, brake light or signal failure | lighting | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $100–$900 | Moderate |
| Other powertrain problem | transmission | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $400–$4,500 | High |
| Other fuel system problem | fuel | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $300–$2,200 | High |
| Other brake problem | brakes | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $300–$1,800 | High |
| Other steering problem | steering | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $350–$2,400 | High |
| Other suspension problem | suspension | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $350–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other wheel or tire problem | wheels | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $200–$1,500 | High |
| Other speed control problem | adas | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $250–$2,000 | Critical |
| Other visibility problem | glass | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | $150–$1,400 | Moderate |
| Unclassified problem | other | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 37.0 | — | Moderate |
Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound. 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 1999 Mercury Tracer draws about 1,185 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 99th percentile of complaint rates among 1999 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound.
The working figure is 27 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 1999 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.
Headlight failure or clouding
The front plastic headlight lens are deteriorating, conditions are causing poor visibility while driving at night. Both lens was replaced and repaired by a local repair shop. The dealer was not notified. *nm...the two headlight lens became yellow and discolored. They did not provide adequate visibility at night. Replaced headlights at cost of $317.oo, including pennsylvania state tax. *ak
Recalls on the 1999 model year
NHTSA has issued 1 recall campaign covering the 1999 Mercury Tracer, affecting an estimated 27 vehicles. A recall is a different kind of evidence from a complaint: it is the regulator and the manufacturer agreeing that something has to be fixed, and the fix is free for as long as the car exists.
The campaigns cover seat belts:front. Whether the work was actually done on the car in front of you is a question only the VIN can answer, and the manufacturer or NHTSA will answer it free.
Recalls also distort complaint counts. Publicity about a campaign reminds owners that complaining is possible, so reports for a recalled component often spike after the recall rather than before it.
SEAT BELTS:FRONT
388 vehicles 2004-07-12- Defect
- Certain trw driver's side seat belts manufactured on december 6 and 9, 2002, for use as replacement equipment for 1997 ford escort 4-door and station wagon platform vehicles, ford's p/n f7cz54611b09aac. The seat belt assemblies exhibit a no-lock condition which does not comply with federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 209, seat belt assemblies.
- Consequence
- In the event of a crash, the restraint system may not provide adequate protection to the seat occupant, which may increase the risk of personal injury.
- Remedy
- Trw will notify the customers who purchased the replacement seat belt assemblies free of charge. The recall began on august 27, 2004.
Recall work is free at a franchised dealer regardless of the car's age. Check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls before assuming it was done.
How it ranks in the 1999 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
Better and worse years of the same car
High risk for a 1999 — 67th riskiest of the 303 1999 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 4 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 1997 comes out best at 59 and 1996 worst at 70, with 1999 itself at 70.
If the model year is negotiable, 1997 scores lower than 1999 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 1996–2003 generation specifically, 1997 is the strongest year at 59 and 1996 the weakest at 70.
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 1996-2003 generation, 1997 Mercury Tracer scores best at 59 and 1996 Mercury Tracer worst at 70.
The limits of complaint data
32 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork. 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 32 reports, 3 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 9% 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".
Named failure modes come from matching phrases in the complaint text, so a badly worded complaint can land in the wrong bucket. The effect washes out across hundreds of reports and does not wash out across five.
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 1999 Mercury Tracer?
The most-reported failures are steering column or shaft failure (5 reports), headlight failure or clouding (3 reports, median 70,000 miles) and parking brake failure (2 reports). 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 1999 Mercury Tracer reliable?
It scores 70 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 67th riskiest of the 303 1999 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 1999 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 Tracer is best?
Within the 1996–2003 generation, 1997 scores best at 59 out of 100 and 1996 worst at 70. 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