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

I have a 2005 Mercury Montego. I was driving, applied my brakes and there was a terrible grinding noise coming from the rear of the vehicle. The car has been taken wilson Ford, fairmont, wv for repairs. One caliper had locked up and destroyed the rotor and the other caliper has badly damaged the other rotor. Also, brake pads will have to be replaced. This is a know problem to Ford/Mercury that the brakes are failing on Ford 500S and Mercury Montegos. I have gone on message boards and found numerous complaints of the brakes, calipers, and rotors failing. I was told by the mechanic that I was lucky to get 33000 miles out of my car. There was no warning that something was wrong. I only heard the grinding noise. There was no feeling that something was going wrong with the car. It is know to Ford/Mercury that these parts are failing at a rapid pace. In fact, I have been told that the calipers needed for my vehicle are on backorder indefinitely. My concern lies in the fact that these braking systems are suddenly going out. This could very easily cause an accident which could result in death. The owners of these vehicles needs to be notified that these parts are failing and that they need to be replaced. Also, the design needs to be investigated as why the rapid failure.

- Fairmont, WV, 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