The 1993 Mercury Villager has 5 recalls, the most serious being two separate fire risks and a brake failure that can leave the driver with a spongy pedal, higher stopping forces required, and significantly longer stopping distances.
The brake concern involves internal leakage in the master cylinder that causes two of the four wheel brakes to lose hydraulic pressure, so the vehicle takes longer to stop and the pedal travels further before engaging. On the fire side, a fuel filler hose may have been nicked during assembly, allowing raw fuel to leak near the engine. Separately, the fuel vent hose can develop cracks, and if the tank is overfilled and then heats up after a short drive, expanding fuel can push through the cracked vent line and escape the vehicle. There is also an electrical fire risk: the screen covering the blower motor housing for the heating and air conditioning system can allow leaves and debris to collect at the blower motor resistor, where that material can ignite. Rounding out the list, the motorized shoulder belt track, which slides along the door pillar to position the belt automatically, may have one or more mounting bolts that were not fully tightened during assembly, leaving the track with less structural strength than intended and reducing how well the belt can restrain an occupant in a crash.
