Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Dash board warpage issue

Hello,

I've just found this website while searching for others who might have been shafted by FoMoCo.

I have a 1999 Mercury Mystique, or Mistake as I like to call it now. I bought it in 2000 from a Ford pre-owned website. It was a previous rental.

Then a year or so later I received a voluntary recall notice from Ford saying that some Contours/Mystiques might have dashboard warpage issues. I didn't pay attention to it because I had no problems. About 8-10 months later I noticed that my dashboard was warping. I called Ford regarding this problem and they told me that the voluntary recall has ended. I then forgot about the problem because the warpage didn't bother me much.

Now it's really bad. The center of my dashboard is up by about 3-4" and it's getting hard to see the hood/road. I have called Ford again about this problem and they told me to go bang on a wall. I enlisted the help of a dealership and they were told the same. Sad thing is that I own two other Ford products, a Lincoln Navigator and a '52 Ford F1 Panel truck.

How can Ford just shaft its loyal customers? Now my vehicle is devalued due to a faulty manufacturer part. I don't expect the paint to fade after a few years. I don't expect the body panels to fall off within a few years. So why would one have to deal with the faulty part issue?

Has anyone else run into this problem? What did you do to solve it? Anyone willing to mount a class-action suit?

Desperate for help,

Ilya S.

Welcome to www.contour.org!


and welcome to the club.


feel free to search all you want.

You're basically S.O.L. if you're trying to deal with a stealership to get this fixed.

Poke around for some home remedys.

Good luck!

Thank the sweet lord my svt had already been fixed when i bought it

they checked my car out and said there was no problem with it, and so far it isn't warped.


you can buy a kit to "fix" the problem, but it's just that, a band aid fix.

ya mine has the same problem i've got a 2000 mercury (mistake) unfortunately, we never new about the recall or warning because we bought it in jan 2004 mine isn't in the center, but right up by the windshield. the black plastic vent piece doesn't fit and the dash it starting to curl back some any fixes?

I had this same problem and could have let the dealer put the ugly fix on the dash but I decided against it. Instead I took the dash out got some 2 part epoxy and glued it back down. I did this early this year and all is still well. If you search you will find my posts. On a scale of 1-10 taking the dash out and fixing it was a 6. It's just like a big puzzle. Total removal time was 1 hour I think, expoy and allow to cure over night, use lots of clamps and scrap wood so as not to ruin the finish on the dash, then reinstall about 1.5-2 hours with the help of one person when putting the steering column back. It is really easy and you would be very surprised how little is holding the dash in place. Most of your time is wasted removing the bits and pieces in order to be able to get the dash in and out of the car. HTH.