1999 Ford Contour from North America - Comments

Have a warped dash since shortly after purchase, which was a manufacturer's defect still yet to be replaced.

Have had brakes replaced repeatedly.

Have a bad transmission at 75,000 miles. Needs replacing.

The vent/heat/air has had a repeat problem of only running on maximum or low. Has been fixed twice.

The car was running on two our of four cylinders, which needed to be fixed.

My car is currently undrivable due to the bad transmission.

Ford is making progressively cheaper cars, which shows. It's no small wonder Contour was pulled off the market.

I thought it was a bargain, but it was a mistake.

To "fix" your warped dashboard, try this:

If you still have the black plastic strip that came out due to the warped dash, you can use tie-wraps to force it into place. If you look in the space where it goes, there are metal dividers along the opening. Depending on how severe it's warped, you can loosely put it in place and by using long tie-wraps, you can loop them through the metal connectors and bring the ends of the tie wraps together through the vents of the black plastic strip. Next, forcefully shove the strip into place and briskly pull the tie-wraps tightly (I strongly recommend plyers). Anyway, this will hold the dash in place and only the very ends will stick up. It works great on my 1999 Contour SE!