The contact owns a 2005 Mercury Montego. The contact stated that there was a voluntary recall for the brake pads. Moisture would enter into the brake pads and the manufacturer installed new rotors in the brake assembly. Four weeks later, the aftermarket brake rotors were rusted excessively. The manufacturer stated that the feature was cosmetic and provided no further assistance. The failure mileage was 32,000 and current mileage was 33,000.

- Malden, MA, USA

Premature brake pad depleted totally by 18750 miles resulting in no rear braking action.

- Lake Worth, FL, USA

The contact owns a 2005 Mercury Montego. The contact noticed that the vehicle's stopping distance had increased when braking. There were no warning indicators. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for routine maintenance. The dealer stated that the brakes needed immediate attention. The contact did not allow the dealer to inspect any further. The vehicle was taken to another mechanic who stated that the vehicle needed new brake pads. The current mileage is 21,700 and failure mileage was 21,000.

- Overland Park, KS, USA

Excessive rear brake wear. Our 2005 Montego, purchased new in Jan. 2006 experienced excessive rear brake wear with less than 24K miles of normal driving. This required new pads and rotors be replaced. We generally get 50K to 60K miles of wear on the brakes of the other Ford products we have owned over the last 20 years. Ford offered no explanation other than brake wear is not covered by warranty after 12K miles. The service manager at bill utter Ford in denton, tx said he has seen the same excessive wear pattern in as little as 20K miles on similar models. Ford refused to assume any of the cost for replacement. Clearly this is both a design failure and a safety issue that should addressed immediately. Needless to say, if Ford chooses to continue to ignore this safety issue I will not be buying anymore of their products.

- Lakewood Village, TX, USA

Rear bakes wearing out extremely fast. Required replacement at 17K miles and at 12K miles. Brakes wearing out at rates faster than customary may lead to unreasonable expectation of timely repair in time, and brake failure in service. Dealer service is offering to install ceramic brake pads.

- Baton Rouge, LA, USA

Rear brakes dust badly and have excessive wear. Documented this complaint on first trip to dealer after buying car. Since then I have made complaints to another Mercury dealer. Today they tell me Ford has re-engineered the rear brake pads to fix the problem but because the car is more than a year old I would have to pay for the new brake pads. Updated 07/30/08

- Leesburg, FL, USA