Owners have filed 2,479 complaints on the Ford Contour, covering 1995–2000. The system named most often is Engine And Engine Cooling (391 reports). Worst years by volume: 1995, 1998, 1996; cleanest: 2000, 1997, 1999. 124 reports describe a crash, 102 a fire, 11 a death. On average the car was 4.2 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Ford Contour
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 2,479 Contour complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Engine And Engine Cooling 391 Read
The contact stated the vehicle caught on fire while in gear. A pop noise was heard and smoke came out from under the hood. The front of the vehicle then caught fire. The insurance company deemed the vehicle a total loss and it was never taken to a service dealer. A fire department report was processed.*ak updated…
While driving vehicle oil light came on. Engine stalled out. Noticed a reflection of flames on the ground. Lifted hood of vehicle & noticed the engine was on fire. Driver put flames out. The alternator was just replaced, twice, prior to fire. Was no warning
The contact owns a 1998 ford contour. While driving 20 mph, the contact noticed smoke and flames rising from under the hood. The fire destroyed the vehicle. A police report was filed. As of september 18, 2007, the dealer had not inspected the vehicle to determine the cause of the fire. The purchase date was unknown.…
Electrical System 345 Read
Consumer was traveling about 55 mph and without warning the heat went off. There was rattling noise coming from underneath the vehicle. Then, vehicle started to lose speed. Consumer was looking out of rearview mirror and noticed black smoke coming from the manifold. Consumer applied emergency lights and veered over to…
The contact owns a 2000 ford contour. While driving 65 mph the starter of the vehicle engaged and the vehicle shut down. A fire was started in the engine compartment. The vehicle was towed to the repair shop; they were unable to determine what caused the vehicle to malfunction. The current and failure mileages were…
The consumer was able to rotate the ignition key to the lock position and remove the key without the shift lever and transmission being in park. *ak on three separate occasions, the vehicle rolled while parked, because the key was removed from the ignition while the gear was still in drive
Power Train 254 Read
Vehicle jumped into reverse inadvertendly while in park, resulting in a collision. Manfuacturer and dealer have been notified
Was on i65 was driving fine hird a loud explosion engine started to rev up a piece of the transmission casing went into my tire causing a blow out, car became out of control and hit gaurdrail
Can't get car into first gear
Suspension 202 Read
Roads were wet and consumer was traveling about 55mph on highway.he felt vibration inside of steering wheel. Without prior warning vehicle flipped twice and landed on top of roof of vehicle. Dealership was aware of problem
Was traveling 60mph & driver lost control of vehicle. Had swerved first left & went off road & then swerved to the right into 30ft ditch. Vehicle towed to mechanic & was informed the left ball joint had broken which caused loss of vehicle control. The vehicle was totaled. Driver/passengers suffered injuries
Driving 60mph. Heard popping noises. Vehicle uncontrollable. Went off road & down 30ft embankment & flipped over twice. Mechanic checked & noticed left front lower ball joint had fallen out. This caused a loss of control. 4 people were injured & everyone was wearing seat belts
Service Brakes 197 Read
Brakes failed causing consumer to rear end another vehicle, causing damage to the front end, air bag did not deploy, the brakes were inspected and said to be ok but another accident happened, consumer believes the pressure reducing valves malfunctioned prior to recall resulting in the two accidents. Nlm
Lost control of the car. Tried to overcorrect the car and turned the wheel too hard, the brakes locked and I lost control of the car and rolled it on its roof. There was sufficient frontal impact that the airbags should have been deployed, but didn't. Also, it was a new car, so the brakes should not have locked
Airbags did not deploy when rear ended. My car was pushed into intersection. Damage to car was bumper, had to replace mud guards and attaching hardware. Contacted ford about my concern they said that the force probably wasn't great enough. Everyone I spoke with asked about the airbags and were suprised when they…
Fuel System 158 Read
A rear end impact with another vehicle, traveling about 50 mph caused the rear end to catch on fire. Please provide further information
The contact owns a 1999 ford contour. While adding fuel to the fuel tank, gasoline began leaking. A technician concluded that the fuel tank seal caused the exhaust system hose to melt. The vehicle was in the process of being repaired . The failure and current mileages were 150,000
While driving driver's seatback broke, causing the seat to fall back, and the driver lost control of vehicle. Also engine cut off system malfunctioned, engine did not shut off at the time of the crash. Please provide further information
Air Bags 130 Read
No summary lisated for above vehicle
2000 ford contour se sport automatic, 64,200 miles. My pregnant wife and I were rear ended by a man in a ford cargo van doing about 40 mph, not paying attention. Conditions were sunny and warm, about 1:15 pm. I was the driver and was at a complete stop, waiting for a ford taurus in front of me to turn left onto a side…
Driver fell asleep at the wheel while driving and hit a house pole then a telephone pole. Upon impact, both air bags failed to deploy. The driver sustained head and back injuries and was transported by ambulance to the hospital. Vehicle was totaled
Steering 129 Read
Total steering loss,on slight curved rd. Total right wheel and everything attached came off. Even the collision repair shop said they never saw anything like that. I am susan canales and have my son's power of attorney he is in the navy and at sea right now thank you
While driving on i75 around atlanta, car steering failed making car feel like it was hydroplaning but it wasn't. Road conditions were wet with light drizzle. Car veered to left and hit concrete median. Bumper was left hanging by a thread. Car wasn't safe to drive and had towed to body shop. Feel this is related to…
Power steering pressure switch failed causing fluid to leak, resulting in engine fire
Contour years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Air Bags | 7 | 1 | |
| 1999 | Air Bags | 22 | 9 | |
| 1998 | Air Bags | 38 | 13 | |
| 1997 | Air Bags | 8 | 8 | |
| 1996 | Air Bags | 24 | 19 | |
| 1995 | Air Bags | 25 | 52 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 663 |
| Average complaints per series | 3.7 |
| Worst single series | 30 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.2 years |
A model average of 3.7 hides a worst series at 30. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
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- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Contour?
By complaint volume, 1995, 1998, 1996 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Contour years are the cleanest?
2000, 1997, 1999 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Ford Contour have?
2,479 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1995–2000. Of those, 124 describe a crash and 102 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.