Mercury Monterey vs Lincoln LS

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	Mercury Monterey	Lincoln LS
Complaints on file	550	1,366
Model years covered	1968–2007	2000–2006
Worst model year	2004	2000
Best model year	2007	2003
Crashes reported	4	111
Fires reported	10	6
Injuries reported	8	64
Deaths reported	0	4
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Suspension
Share of complaints involving harm	4%	13.5%

Mercury Monterey by year

2 346 136 54 12

68 04 05 06 07

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 350 63.6%

Body & Structure 28 5.1%

Engine & Cooling 26 4.7%

Electrical System 23 4.2%

Seats 20 3.6%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 17 3.1%

Brakes 15 2.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 13 2.4%

Lincoln LS by year

458 319 179 113 140 132 25

00 01 02 03 04 05 06

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

What breaks

Suspension 289 21.2%

Engine & Cooling 181 13.3%

Airbags 140 10.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 127 9.3%

Electrical System 104 7.6%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 80 5.9%

Brakes 79 5.8%

Steering 52 3.8%