1978 Mercury Cougar

The federal record you've supplied covers model years 1990 through 2002, so 1978 falls entirely outside that window — there is literally no complaint, recall, investigation, or TSB data tied to the 1978 model year in this file, and any analysis of that specific year must be limited to its two reported seat belt complaints, one crash-related complaint, and zero fire complaints. For context, the documented arc shows a generation that escalates from a modest 90 complaints and 3 recalls in 1990 to a sharp 1993 spike (210 complaints) and an extreme 1999 outlier of 521 complaints and 9 recalls, before tapering back down through the early 2000s — a pattern consistent with platform aging, a major mid-cycle redesign, and accumulated in-service issues rather than any single-year defect. Because 1978 predates this entire federal tracking window by more than a decade, it cannot be meaningfully placed on that arc, and the data does not specify any root cause for its lone reported seat belt issue. Practically speaking, the thin complaint footprint (only 2 issues, no fires) suggests nothing structurally alarming was reported for that year, but the absence of broader federal coverage means a buyer is relying more on mechanical inspection and provenance than on NHTSA documentation. Bottom line: 1978 is not demonstrably a problematic year in this dataset, but neither is it well-supported by it — so a pre-purchase inspection by a classic-car specialist is the wiser safeguard over the federal record alone.