Mercury Mariner

Which Mercury Mariner years should you avoid?

Going by 1,296 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Mercury Mariner years to avoid are 2008, 2009 and 2010.

• 2008461 complaints, 5.3× a typical Mariner year, most often about the steering.
• 2009315 complaints, 3.6× a typical Mariner year, most often about the steering.
• 2010270 complaints, 3.1× a typical Mariner year, most often about the steering.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →