Driving on interstate and lost power. i pulled to shoulder and black smoke came thru air vents. i opened the hood and there was fire. my car completely burned up. i never had any mechanical problems. the tow truck driver said he believed the fire started under my car.
On 2/11/2016 i got home from work and i parked my 2005 mini cooper s (53,000 miles) on the driveway, turn off car and stayed with my kids & wife since they were waiting for me outside, my wife notice a sound & smoke coming from the car, the smoke were coming from the engine, i immediately open the hood & there was more smoke coming out, the headlights & all the lights turned on & stared flickering, also the wipers turned on, couple of seconds later the botom of the engine was engulfed in flames. my wife ran to get the water hose & i were able to put the fire out, we were lucky that i didn't walk inside the house like i always do, it could have been a horrible tragedy for me, my family and even our neighbors. the next day i had the car towed to my mechanic who after an inspection found out if was the power steering pump that got on fire and damaged all the wires around it, since he is a mini specialist he told us about a recall for that specific part, but to our disappointment he ran our vin # and found that our car is excluded from that recall since its a late 2005 production. that exactly same thing happend to us with the actuators, one day while my wife was shopping with my kids, they just got locked inside the vehicle with the windows rolled up, it was a summer day and luckily she was able to get out through the back trunk, we contacted mini because there is also a recall for the actuators and they also excluded our car saying that it was a late 2005 production and were not able to get the recall. the way we see it mini is not taking responsibility for their defective components, it is not fair since i have no way to find out if my car was build with not defective parts, obviously it was. i am terrified by the idea this could have been worst since we r always driving with our kids. u need to do something about this & make mini liable for these safety issues.
Driving to work in the am. i smell something in the car. when i look at my passenger side seat i saw smoke. pull over and got a better look at it. i have a holes in my car seat and the two vest that i place on the seat. it appears the heated seat had a electrical failure. took car to mini dealer. they said it real odd this happen. they also nice to say i would have to paid to fix it. look at many site on internet and seen bmw/mini and other company have issues with heated seats. it do not seem to odd to me. i did not even had the heated seat on because no one was seating there. *tr
Power steering pump seized and needed to be replaced. power steering fan failure and also needed to be replaced. power steering hoses leaking and also needed to be replaced. output shaft seal is leaking, but has not been replaced at this time. these repairs cost me approximately $1000! i have found numerous complaints about power steering failures in the 2004-2005 mini. please make bmw pay for this! *tt
Experienced abrupt and complete loss of the power steering system simultaneous with an immediate and sharp decrease in power. this incident occurred at 75 mph on an interstate highway, car in middle lane. very narrowly avoided collision with a truck when moving vehicle to full stop in emergency lane. vehicle currently not in use as we feel it is a road hazard and unsafe to operate in current condition. also awaiting for response from mini dealer.
The vehicle has loss the power steering assist due to power steering pump failure. thus requiring increased force to steer and control the vehicle. steering has becomes extremely difficult and has made manoeuvring this car far harder and dangerous. the car has spotty electrical failures; example the window just doesn't want to roll up; no, wait, it does. no, wait, it doesn't. the stereo just gives up; no sound anymore,then it plays again. the same with the drivers side door you could here it unlock and re-lock, but the door would not open and then it would. also both of my keys to open the door both turned off at the same time and i had to have the keys re-calibrated at a mini dealership to reopen the vehicle.