2004 Mercury Sable Ls Premium Sedan 4-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Ford recalls over 953,000 vehicles to replace Takata airbag inflators

DETROIT — Ford is recalling more than 953,000 vehicles worldwide to replace Takata passenger airbag inflators that can explode and hurl shrapnel. The move includes over 782,000 vehicles in the U.S. and is part of the largest series of recalls in U.S. history. Included are the 2010 Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX, the 2010 and 2011 Ford Ranger, the 2010 to 2012 Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ, the 2010 and 2011 Mercury Milan, and the 2010 to 2014 Ford Mustang. Some of the recalls may be limited to specific geographic areas of the U.S. Takata used the chemical ammonium nitrate to create an explosion to inflate airbags. But it can deteriorate over time due to heat and humidity and explode with too much force, blowing apart a metal canister designed to contain the explosion. At least 23 people have been killed worldwide and hundreds injured by the inflators. Ford says it doesn't know of any injuries in vehicles included in this recall. Dealers will replace the inflators. Ford will notify owners about the recall starting on Feb. 18, and the company has replacement parts available for dealers to order, said spokeswoman Monique Brentley. In previous Takata recalls, parts availability had been an issue. Owners can go to this Ford website and key in their vehicle identification number to see if their cars and SUVs are being recalled. The same information will be available soon at the NHTSA recall website. More than three years after the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration took over management of recalls involving Takata inflators, one third of the recalled inflators still have not been replaced, according to an annual report from the government and a court-appointed monitor. The report says 16.7 million faulty inflators out of 50 million under recall have yet to be replaced. And 10 million more inflators are scheduled to be recalled this month, including the Ford vehicles. Safety advocates said the completion rate should be far higher given the danger associated with the inflators. The recalls forced Takata of Japan to seek bankruptcy protection and sell most of its assets to pay for the fixes. The inflators grow more dangerous as they get older because ammonium nitrate deteriorates due to high humidity and cycles from hot temperatures to cold. The most dangerous inflators are in areas of the South along the Gulf of Mexico that have high humidity. Related Video:

The AM37 is literally the Aston Martin of boats

While sports car companies such as Porsche and Lamborghini are looking to SUVs to expand their offerings, Aston Martin has taken a page from Mercedes and designed a boat. Specifically, it's a 37-foot powerboat appropriately named the AM37. The boat was developed with help from Mulder Design and Quintessence Yachts, and is available in two different versions, both of which should the aquatic equivalent of Aston Martin performance. The standard AM37 is available with two different pairs of engines from Mercury, either 370-horsepower diesel engines or 450-horsepower gas engines. If that's not enough, Aston also offers the AM37S, which comes with a pair of 520-horsepower gasoline Mercury engines. Like road-going Astons, this boat is absolutely gorgeous. The lines are simple, crisp and clean. It features a beautiful wood deck, and an impressive double-curved, single-piece glass windshield. And if you get tired of the sun, the AM37 features a powered, carbon fiber bimini top. The interior completes the package with a carbon fiber dashboard, lots of leather and polished steering wheel, throttle and joystick. It's also incredibly well-equipped with seating for eight, air conditioning, mood lighting, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, a bed that folds out from the table, and even a bathroom. Aston Martin didn't release pricing or availability for the AM37. However, we suspect that if you really want this boat and have the means, pricing doesn't matter, and you're probably willing to wait. Related Video: Image Credit: Aston Martin Auto News Aston Martin Mercury Luxury boat

Junkyard Gem: 1993 Mercury Topaz GS Sedan

As long as the Mercury brand existed — a period spanning the 1939 through 2011 model years — nearly every Mercury sold in the United States was more or less a redecorated Ford model. The Torino had its Montego sibling, the Crown Victoria had the Grand Marquis, the Cougar was based on everything from the Mustang to the Mondeo, and so on. Naturally, when the folks in Dearborn developed the Ford Tempo compact, a Mercury version had to be created. This was the Topaz, with the official launch of both cars taking place on the deck of the aircraft carrier often referred to as the USS Decrepit. You can't make this stuff up! The Tempo/Topaz, also known as the Tempaz, has largely faded from our collective automotive memory by now, since it broke no significant new engineering or styling ground (this story would be much different if Ford had only put the amazing straight-eight "T-Drive" Tempaz powertrain into production) and didn't have any endearing features other than being a cheap domestic competitor to the Toyota Corolla and Nissan Sentra. Still, close to 3 million Tempazes left North American Ford and Lincoln-Mercury showrooms during the 1984-1994 period. As you'd expect, most of these disposable cars disappeared from both the street and the car graveyard long ago. It takes a very special Tempaz for me to break out my camera while I'm patrolling my local wrecking yards; generally, this means an ultra-rare all-wheel-drive version or at least a very early model in super-clean condition. Today's Junkyard Gem is neither, but I took one look at this spectacular Bordello Red crypto-velour-and-slippery-plastic interior and recognized that this was no ordinary junkyard Mercury. It appears that Mercury had dropped the idea of clever names for base-grade seat fabrics by the time of the Topaz, referring to this stuff as just "cloth" in all the brochures I could find. That's too bad, because Mercurys had cool names for upholstery (e.g., Chromatex) in the old days. The interior is in very good condition but the steering wheel shows substantial wear, so I think this is a high-mile Topaz that got meticulous care from its owner or owners. Ford used five-digit odometers on these cars until the end of production, however, so we'll never know if this reading indicates 65,404 miles or 365,404 miles. The body is very straight, but there's some nasty corrosion behind the right front wheelwell.