Lincoln MKZ vs Mercury Grand Marquis

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	Lincoln MKZ	Mercury Grand Marquis
Complaints on file	2,025	4,953
Model years covered	2007–2020	1977–2011
Worst model year	2017	2003
Best model year	2018	2011
Crashes reported	165	395
Fires reported	30	277
Injuries reported	71	239
Deaths reported	1	15
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Lights
Share of complaints involving harm	13.2%	18.7%

Lincoln MKZ by year

305 328 129 197 181 176 146 130 107 78 184 40 22 2

07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

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

What breaks

Airbags 674 33.3%

Brakes 292 14.4%

Engine & Cooling 178 8.8%

Electrical System 122 6.0%

Steering 114 5.6%

Other & Unspecified 101 5.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 94 4.6%

Wheels 84 4.1%

Mercury Grand Marquis by year

1 1 2 8 14 24 29 22 57 98 69 63 106 330 178 197 222 282 370 168 202 216 207 101 449 422 634 188 111 101 35 35 11

77 78 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11

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

What breaks

Lights 950 19.2%

Electrical System 556 11.2%

Engine & Cooling 535 10.8%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 459 9.3%

Brakes 369 7.5%

Steering 365 7.4%

Airbags 248 5.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 238 4.8%