Problems with 2005 MINI Cooper STEERING

While driving my 2005 mini cooper on tuesday, the steering felt odd. when i went to drive the car the following day there was no power steering. i felt i didn't have control. when making a turn i had to physically turn the steering wheel to get the car to straighten out. it was frightening. i took it to my mechanic who informed that this problem has been reported to him by other mini owners. upon further investigation i found alot of information on the internet from other 2005 mini cooper owners. i have made an appointment to have the situation checked out at my mini dealer in freeport,ny. on monday. when informing them about this problem and what my mechanic and the internet have stated, i was told they were not aware of such problems and that it would cost me $130 just to get a diagnosis from them. i then called mini usa to report it to them and i was told that they are aware of such problems and that i should call them from the mini dealer after the diagnosis is performed and they will let me know if they can help me. *js

The power steering failed during driving and the vehicle became very difficult to steer. i had to pull over to access how much control i still had. the car continued to be very difficult to steer but i was able to drive home. *js

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. the contact stated that the power steering failed and the vehicle was unable to be controlled. the contact crashed into a curve and punctured the rear driver side tire. in addition, the was an abnormal humming heard from the engine and the battery failed. the contact was advised by an independent mechanic that the power steering pump would need to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the vin was not available. the failure mileage was unknown, but the current mileage was 102,000.

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. while driving approximately 55 mph, the steering became difficult to maneuver. the contact stopped on the shoulder of the road and shut off the vehicle. once restarted, the vehicle regained power steering function. the failure recurred intermittently. the vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostics where the technician advised the contact that the power steering pump would have to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 120,774.

While driving the vehicle the power steering intermittently goes out. it is very unpredictable, where i will be driving for several miles with the power steering intact, then all of a sudden it goes out making the vehicle difficult to turn and control. later the power steering returns. i had the vehicle examined by the mini dealer, the insurance company mechanic, and my personal mechanic. none of them were able to notice any damage to the power steering. the fluid level is intact as well as the pump. the mini dealer stated that they've "seen a lot of this" issue, but there are no recalls or open campaigns. the dealer believes the issue is due to an internal electronics failure and will not agree to fix it in good faith. in calling mini usa, there are no open campaigns or recalls for the issue either, despite over ~50,000 cars of the same model year reportedly having the same issue. this is a very dangerous and frustrating situation with the potential to cause accidents due to an unpredictable loss of control while driving. *tr

Have been noticing my mini's fan has been sounding louder than normal thought maybe a cooling issue going on however last week the power steering randomly went out in the car while driving. i managed to pull the car over and tried turning car off and restarting it, power steering came back on. i thought it was a weird fluke and checked all my engine fluid levels when i got home. all fluids were at normal level and thought nothing of it. today again power steering quit this time early in the morning as i was getting ready to leave for work (car had not been driven since previous night). i had to drive into work with no power steering as i could not call out and same thing driving home today power steering was still out. i started searching online and saw there had been supposedly a "safety recall" on 2005 mini cooper's for "campaign - power steering fan relay wiring modification -notes :si m32 03 04" stating: "service action: correct the wiring for the power steering fan relay". i just called my local mini dealership (boston) gave them the last 7 of my vin for them to look up if there were any recalls on my car, they stated my car is not on the recall list despite this recall was supposedly on models r50 and r53 (my model is r50). i cannot drive this car now without performing this repair, my car has just turned 60,000 miles (still considerably low i think for something like this). in my searching i have found there are 14 other complaints literally just like mine since just january of this year!!! how is this not on a recall list ? i loved my car up until now, i feel like mini has a huge problem they already know about and are sticking their customers with paying a bill for something they publicly acknowledged as a safety issue in their cars. *kb

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. the contact stated that after starting the vehicle, the steering wheel began to shake and became difficult to maneuver. the failure recurred numerous times intermittently. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnosis and the contact was informed that the power steering pump would need to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure and current mileage was 118,000.

While driving approximately 45 mph, the power steering on my 2005 mini cooper failed and i had trouble turning the car. the power steering failure continued until i was able to pull into a parking lot and turned the car off. i let the car to cool down for approximately one hour before restarting it and the power steering worked fine the rest of the trip home. this was the second time i experienced this failure, but did not record the date, etc. of the first incident so am unable to accurately report that. both times that the power steering failed, it was only due to my driving vigilance and arm strength that i was able to successfully avoid an accident. the local mini dealer cannot look at my car for almost two weeks to identify the problem and i am afraid to drive my car fearing another failure of the power steering. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. the contact stated that the steering wheel became extremely difficult to turn while driving 35 mph. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer nor repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure and the current mileage was 53,000. updated 03/15/12 *bf

Power steering intermittent. generally, it will go out after driving 20-30 minutes, however, it has failed to turn on when starting in the morning on occasion. in both cases, turning off the engine and restarting brings the power steering back on. it looks like this is related to investigation ea11005. *tr

Power steering failure. very difficult to steer to back up or drive. after shutting off and restarting car twice the power steering is working again. car is unsafe if power steering fails at any speed. could cause loss of control resulting in injury or death. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. the contact stated that while driving approximately 30 mph, the steering wheel seized. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where they advised her that the power steering pump failed. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was contact and they offered no assistance. the failure mileage was approximately 82,000. the vin was unavailable.

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. the contact stated that while parking, the power steering system malfunctioned and the vehicle became difficult to steer. the contact restarted the vehicle and the power steering system began operating normally. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 35,192.

Generally, i love the mini cooper having purchased it in the after market. however, not long after the warranty ran out, i had problems for several weeks with my steering wheel seizing up but an incident in february 2012 sticks out most in my mind since i was on i-95 in the rain and could not adequately steer the car to take an exit. my 11 yr old daughter was with me at the time. i pulled to the shoulder and shut the car off and was able to restart and resume driving. financially, i could not afford to take the car into the dealer but the condition and work around continued intermittently for a few weeks when i could afford the repair. in early may 2012, i took the car to the dealer for repair and it cost over $1300 to replace the power steering pump. at the time of the repair, it was noted that the cooling fan also needed repair for another $720 -- i just didn't have it. today, my 2-yr old battery failed apparently due to draining from the fan. for now, i replaced the battery for $249. i will be incrementally getting repairs done, however, in reading some people's experience with the steering pump, i understand that there may be some relevance between the pump going bad and an impact on the fan. i'd appreciate any insights you may have on that possibility. i am reporting this not only for myself but for others who also may be impacted by the pump defect that i am learning is somewhat common. i look forward to the outcome of your engineering analysis. thank you. *tr

Power steering went out making the car very hard to steer. the first time was january 2012, randomly off and on since. i have had the power steering return after simply turning the car off then on, other times after a week. it appears the power steering pump has decided to quit altogether at this point. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. the contact stated that the power steering pump was emitting a noise. neither the dealer nor the manufacturer were notified of the failure. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the failure mileage was 44,300 and the current mileage was 44,800. the vin was unavailable.

Car was making a very loud noise. took it to shop who identified it as a failing power steering pump cooling fan, and replaced it. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. while driving approximately 15 mph, the steering became difficult to maneuver. the contact stated that the failure occurred intermittently. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. the contact believed that the power steering motor needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the contact referenced a concurrent investigation under nhtsa action number: ea11005 (steering steering:hydraulic power assist:pump steering:electric power assist system steering:hydraulic power assist system) that could possibly have been related to the failure. the vin was not available. the approximate failure mileage was 80,000.

My wife was backing out of a parking spot and the power steering assist appeared to have been turned off. she re-started the car and the power steering worked fine after that. it happened again when i was also backing out of a parking spot last night. i am afraid this could become a big issue if this happens in traffic thus the report. from an internet search, it seems that numerous other people have the same issue so there seems to be a problem which mini needs to fix before this ends tragically for someone. *tr

While driving 2005 mini cooper, i went around a corner at about 30 mph and when i tried to straighten out the power steering had quit working. it almost put me in the ditch on the wrong side of the road. just thankful of no oncoming traffic. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. the contact was driving 45 mph when the power steering seized and became extremely difficult to maneuver. the dealer was contacted who advised that there were no recalls for the vehicle and that he should bring the vehicle in for repairs. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 80,781.

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. the contact was driving 70 mph when the power steering failed.the contact was able to safely merge to the shoulder where the vehicle was shut off. once restarted, the steering resumed normal operation. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 79,000.

After running errands in the morning i parked my car in my spot in front of my house. when i walked away the car was silent. two hours later my neighbor knocked on my door to let me know that my car (which had been off and parked for two hours) was making a loud whining noise. i went outside to check it out, and determined that the noise was coming from my car while it was off. i immediately took the car, which was driving well at the time, to my local mechanic who could not determine the cause of the problem and recommend that i should take it immediately to the mini dealership. when i arrived at the mini dealership they immediately took my car back. i was told that my power steering pump was failing and overheating, which caused the power steering fan to keep running while the car was off. the service representative said that this happens time to time, and if i had continued driving the car it may of caught on fire. the technical words on the work order from the mini mechanic were, "scanned car for faults, after checking cars fault memory it was found that there was a current fault for an open circuit on the electric power steering pump." both the power steering pump and fan had to be replaced. *tr

Going into a turn on the northwest side of i-465 in indianapolis and the mini cooper's power steering went out. i braked hard and pulled off the side of the road. it came out of nowhere. *tr

I recently bought my 2005 mini cooper, after moving to tacoma, wa. only after a week of driving i started having problems with the power steering. i have not even made a payment on the vehicle. i have contacted ukmini and my information was forward to bmw head office in germany. miniusa contacted me to bring the vehicle into a local dealer to verify the fault. they didn't say they would cover the cost. but being in the military i will ensure that soldiers are aware of the problems they may face with this company. *tr

While driving at normal speed and approaching a right hand turn the vehicle's steering stiffened. thus, making it difficult to make the turn safely. instead of completing a tight turn into the closes lane, i made a wide turn into lane 2. once the car was turned off, parked and turned back one the problem did not persist. *tr

Steering wheel locks while driving. i have talked to the dealer and the dealer believes the problem is with the steering pump. i researched it on the net and found many people complaining about it. *tr

The first incident happened as i was merging onto the interstate. i couldn't move the steering wheel and thought my car had died, but it hadn't and then all was fine so i thought maybe i imagined it. the second incident was on 11/11/11. i went to pick up my grand-daughter from school. i turned the car off and when i restarted it i could not pull out of the school lineup. i waited until all other cars left and drove forward using all my might to turn the steering wheel so that i could park the car while i tried to figure out what to do. i turned the car off and on a few times and then the steering worked. i drove my grand-daughter home, safely, thank god, returned home and parked the car in the garage. i'm now terrified to drive it and upon doing research online i realize that i am far from the only one with complaints. this is a very, very dangerous problem. being unable to steer puts not only me and my passengers in danger but many others on the road as well..

Power steering fan burned out which caused the pump to fail. seems to be a known problem with this model year. the placement of the fan is really bad because it's subject to constant road grime, salt, etc. cost me over $1,200 to fix. :( *tr

While i was driving the power steering all of a sudden went out thus making the steering extremely heavy. it caught me by surprise. could be dangerous to drivers if failure occurs on a turn. power steering should not fail. *tr

Driving off a parking lot about to make a left onto traffic, car suddenly lost power steering, try to correct direction but weight tons to steer into right direction and runs straight into traffic. *tr

Power steering pump failed without warning while i was in the middle of a left hand turn. the car's steering suddenly became so heavy that i almost drove into somebody's yard. since the road was a 3 mile straight shot to my home, i drove it the rest of the way. the problem seemed to come and go to varying degrees over that distance. i will not be driving it again until repaired. *tr

Random loss of power to power steering system at varying speeds and conditions. loss of power steering can vary in times from a few seconds to a several minutes. steering vehicle becomes extremely difficult to turn and may result in an accident due to loss of power in steering pump/system. condition seems to go away for a few hours to a few days. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. the contact stated that the steering wheel would seize while driving at various speeds. whenever the failure occurred, the contact would restart the vehicle. once restarted, the steering wheel would operate as normal. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer but they were unable to diagnose the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 89,000.

Power assisted steering will cease working while driving, making the car very, very difficult to steer/control. this problem is currently intermittent, but when it does happen it is very scary. *tt

Power steering went out while driving on the freeway. has been happening for several months, but usually when this happens i can turn the car off and when the car is turned on again it is fine for a while. i had power steering fluid topped up but apparently it didn't fix the problem. i was told it is a power steering pump that needs to be replaced and costs approximately $1,000.00- 1,2000.00. today the power steering went out completely and would not return to normal after above said actions. i read that continuing to drive the car in this state can cause battery drainage/failure, fan problems, and/or electrical fires. *kb

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. the contact stated that while turning at approximately 15 mph, the steering wheel seized. the vehicle was stopped and shut off. upon restart, the vehicle operated as normal but the failure recurred on a daily basis. the vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 65,000.

Intermittently and rarely, when the car first starts, the power steering does not work. it is very difficult to move the steering wheel at all, and there is no apparent effect on the wheels of the car. each time this has happened, i have immediately turned off the car and restarted. restarting the ignition has been enough to regain the power steering. after this happened between 5 and 10 times over the past year, i realized it was a pattern and decided to lodge a complaint. i also realized that the louder-than-ordinary steering fan noise might be another symptom of problems with the power steering. in mid-september 2011, the car battery died. the steering fan was very loud. i now wonder if the battery failure was due to the steering fan, although no one at the dealership commented on the very loud fan that was extremely noticeable when they restarted the car. *tr

While driving my 2005 mini, the power steering went out without warning. this has occured numerous times while driving on the highway. once the vehicle cools off, the power steering functions normally. *tr i have contacted the mini dealership about this problem to see if there have been any recalls issued, which there have not. it's obvious that this is a very serious problem and many others have experienced it as well. can someone explain to me why a "recall" has not been issued?

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. the contact stated that while driving 65 mph, the power steering failed without warning. the contact mentioned that she was able to merge onto the shoulder but was not able to continue driving. the vehicle was towed to a local mechanic who diagnosed that the steering pump was defective and needed to be replaced. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance. the vehicle was repaired. the failure mileage was 62,300 and the current mileage was 64,000. the power steering pump was replaced. updated 10/18/11 updated evoq 11/01/11.

Traveling back home to a short drive from a local store. when i went to make a right turn onto my street the steering wheel became extremely difficult to turn. had my wife or daughter been driving the car, i think it may have resulted in an accident because they may not have been able to exert the necessary force to get the vehicle to turn. *tr

Driving around a corner, power steering dropped out. restarting solved the problem. has occurred occasionally since then. also, occasionally the pump continues after the car stops. seems related to ea11005. *js

Power steering pump failure, drained battery due to power steering fan continuing to run after vehicle is turned off. *tr

I was driving down the interstate last thursday and upon exiting the power steering went. i was terrified. i am just lucky i have a straight exit from the interstate; if there had been a curve i would have been into the wall or off the road. my personal feeling is there should be a recall for the power steering pump as failure can be very dangerous. what are we waiting for, someone to be killed? i limped my mini to the dealer and was told it will cost $1257.00 to replace the power steering pump and fan. i am now unable to drive my mini as it is unsafe. *tr

As reported by hundreds of others to nhtsa and by thousands on the internet, the power steering pump in our 2005 mini cooper will simply stop working intermittently and unexpectedly. this is very dangerous as it becomes almost impossible to control the vehicle. there are thousands of other complaints about this on-line and will eventually lead to a death. it is my opinion that nhtsa must immediately move to escalate this from engineering analysis to require bmw of north america, llc issue a recall on all 2005 & 2006 model mini coopers, if not earlier models as there are complaints on-line going back to 2002 when the model was first introduced to the us market. the cost to replace this unit is the better part of $900, but what''s the cost of a life? mini should have long since recalled this unit and they have known about this issue since 2002 but they have clearly ignored complaint after complaint instead claiming they ''work closely with nhtsa on all complaints'' (they''re required to do so by law so their statement doesn''t hold much weight). as the failure is intermittent an unpredictable how can i allow my wife or daughter who is preparing to learn to drive to drive either of our mini coopers until it''s replaced? mini should be forced to do it. information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6) *tt

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. while driving, the contact stated that the vehicle would loose power steering and the contact would see and smell smoke coming from underneath the hood. the dealer nor manufacturer were notified of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure and current mileage was 103,000. the vin was unavailable.

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. while driving at any speed, the contact stated that the manual steering function would illuminate without activating intermittently. the dealer ordered the part that the contact needed to repair the vehicle. the manufacturer was aware of the failure. the vehicle was taken to a private mechanic for diagnostic testing. the vehicle was not repaired. the current mileage was 130,000. the approximate failure mileage was 128,000.

Intermediate power steering failure , ran off the road hit a fence to avoid on coming car,thank god i was not hurt ,was on my way to work, after 8 hrs at work got in it steering was workin almost to my drive went out again never know when this will happen but happens quite often lately come drive it will scare your pants off. *tr

Power steering pump failure. it began to run all the time even with the key off. please note less than 2 months ago i filed claim # 10411560 predicting that after the fan had failed the pump would fail in a short time. it did. *tr

Power steering turns on and off when you least expect it during turns or drivng on a straight highway. *tr