Ford F-550 SD vs Mercury Mystique

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Ford F-550 SD	Mercury Mystique
Complaints on file	613	1,510
Model years covered	1997–2026	1994–2002
Worst model year	1999	1995
Best model year	2005	1997
Crashes reported	16	76
Fires reported	45	61
Injuries reported	21	69
Deaths reported	1	1
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	13.5%	13.7%

Ford F-550 SD by year

2 92 85 35 31 40 67 41 55 25 31 1 2 4 8 3 10 18 4 5 4 7 16 15 1 5 3 3

97 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Fuel & Propulsion 185 30.2%

Engine & Cooling 107 17.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 64 10.4%

Tires 63 10.3%

Electrical System 36 5.9%

Brakes 31 5.1%

Wheels 26 4.2%

Suspension 20 3.3%

Mercury Mystique by year

2 524 303 100 326 169 81 2 3

94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 250 16.6%

Electrical System 204 13.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 151 10.0%

Suspension 128 8.5%

Brakes 125 8.3%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 92 6.1%

Body & Structure 76 5.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 76 5.0%