Car engine sudden went dead in the middle of highway and message appeared that pull over now for safety. No power to wheels ect. Barely found safe place to pull over. Dealership said it was caused by leaky water pump. Vehicle was repaired at folsom lake Ford. No note was on the display saying water pump, just the above message. Had to wait and restart engine. This could have caused a serious accident in high speed traffic on a freeway, ect.

- Sutter Creek, CA, USA

I own a 2007 Mercury Mariner hybrid and I was traveling from Virginia where I previously lived to New York for a job interview. While traveling on the New Jersey turnpike at a speed of around 73 miles per hour a light came on in my vehicle that stated "stop vehicle safely." I was traveling in the furthest left hand lane of 4 at the time and within about 2 or 3 seconds of this light coming on I lost gas engine power to my vehicle. I was honestly scared for my life because the only portion of my vehicle that was working is the electric engine that allows the vehicle to go around 25 miles per hour. I was able to safely pull my vehicle off of the road while nearly getting hit by 3 or 4 cars/tractor trailers. I contacted Ford/Mercury roadside assistance and they were going to come out, but them the vehicle ran fine. On my return trip the vehicle did this another 3 or 4 times. Immediately when I got back to Virginia I took it to beach Ford and they found that the coolant pump for the hybrid system had gone bad and needed to be replaced. I questioned why the gas engine would shut done and beach Ford and Ford corporate both told me the same thing, this was a safety precaution set into the vehicles computer. I explained that this is not safe at all and losing power at highway speeds and causing accidents is not a safety precaution at all it is dangerous. I did not receive any further explainations from Ford except for the same thing over and over again. I have a 15 month old son and this is not safe, I am very concerned about this happening again with him in the vehicle. I am very surprised this safety precaution would pass government standards. I am looking for you to look into this and get back to me because Ford should not be producing vehicles that can cause accidents because of a coolant pump going bad.

- Colonie, NY, USA

The contact owns a 2007 Mercury Mariner hybrid. The contact was driving 65 mph when a warning light illuminated, advising the contact to "stop safely now." The contact stated that the failure was recurring and when the warning light was illuminated, the vehicle would immediately stall. The contact took the vehicle to a dealer for diagnostic testing which determined that the engine fan was defective. The engine fan was not replaced. The failure mileage was 50,000. Updated 01/10/12

- Chicago, IL, USA

While I was driving my 2007 Mercury Mariner hybrid at 65 mph on a highway, the red triangle came on and the message "stop safely now." The car completely and suddenly lost all power. I tried to give it some gas but to no avail. I pulled over, shut it off for a few minutes, and then was able to restart it and make it home. I have 64,000 miles on the car. I see that there are service bulletins describing this problem, but am upset that I was not informed about it, especially since the warranty goes to 60,000 miles.

- Westbotough, MA, USA

Engine shuts off without any forewarning while vehicle is in motion. Dealer has attempted to repair the problem 2 times--problem persists. They say it is a problem with the cooling system for the hybrid batteries. They have replaced a wiring harness and the motor of the cooling fan.

- Hendersonville, NC, USA