My son was driving the mini cooper and the steering stopped working, he had called mini when he got it in nov 2015 about recalls and they said that the mini was recalled for the steering and the passenger seat air bag. When we called the local mini dealer they said only the air bag. I just got off the phone with a cassandra from mini and she said there is a recall for the steering for minis made between march 2005 and february 2005 and his car was on the tail end of it and they would not warranty it to be fixed. I believe that these car dealers know about safety problems but don't want to fix them properly. My son could have been killed if not for the fact that it came back long enough for him to get the car stopped. I hope that you can get this resolved so they will take care of this safety issue
2005 MINI Cooper Convertible steering complaints
Page 2 of 4: complaints 11 to 40 of 75, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Takata recall.I was on the highway when I lost my power steering. I was able to move to the shoulder but the slower I got the harder it was to steer the car. I had to buy a new steering pump and have it installed. My steering failed for the exact reason mini issued the recall but they won't reimburse me because my car is not within the date of manufacture. Mini installed the defective steering pump but won't do the proper thing and let me recover my costs of $795.00. Again my steering pump failed for the exact reason mini approved the recall. I had 103,383 miles on the car when it happened and only recently did mini finally approve a recall on the pump.
Battery died and replaced. Drove 2 days and battery died and again replaced. Drove and steering became extremely stiff. Checked fluids and no power steering fluid. Happened again with both battery and p/s fluid. Became aware of recall in 04 and 05 mini cooper's and took to dealer. Bad power steering pump and fan as well as 2 hoses. Was told my car was not covered under recall because the build date is may. Was quoted $1300+ for repairs.
Power steering goes out. Very hard to turn the wheel. Its like having no steering at all at times. I have two mini coopers. This one has not yet to get the recall for the steering pump. I have a recall for the other mini that I own but that one doesnt have a problem.
Parked at shopping mall and not running for at least 30 minutes, come out to mini cooper on fire. Smoke coming out of engine area, high pitch fan whirling, electrical smell. Power steering failed, shorted out, and caught on fire. Vehicle was not even on and parked when this happened. Appears to be a major failure many others owning a mini cooper have experienced. Bmw/mini cooper of USA did nothing for us and put it all on our and my insurances shoulders. Amazed so many cases of this same issue have happened yet they do nothing and seem to expect everyone else to foot the bill. Got the run around by bmw and unless it was for my insurance company, the mini would have been scrapped.
Driving up a residential street on my return from work, steering very abruptly became very difficult. Apparent power steering pump failure.
Was driving at 45mph and all of sudden could tell something was different with the steering. Slowed down and turned at the next intersection and it was like driving a tank. Could have been really bad if I had been driving faster.
I was driving on a local curvy highway at approx 35mph when my power steering gave out going around a curve. I almost drove into the side of a mountain.
Power steering, periodically stops working. It usually does not work when the car starts up and will then start working. It has now stops working at unexpected times and seems to come back on after a period of time.
After I turned my car off, a noise like a fan kept running. It drained the battery causing me to get my car jumped. Then power steering went out, and when I arrived home after struggling to turn vehicle and operate safely, the fan did it again, after 5 minutes battery was dead. This is a major issue with this year of mini I have found after researching tonight, and I am very displeased to see that canada has recalled this issue and the USA has not! People could get seriously injured. There is no rhyme or reason as to why, or when this will happen. This needs to be addressed as bmw is not taking responsibility in us as they have been forced to in canada!!! I am a young, female college student and it was very scary being stuck and then not to have steering either.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper convertible. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 MPH, she noticed smoke emitting from under the hood. In addition, there was a strong burning odor inside of the vehicle with a sudden loss of power steering. There were no warning indicators illuminated at the time of the malfunction. The vehicle taken to an independent mechanic for diagnosis. The failure was contributed to the faulty cooling fan, which caused the power steering system to overheat and expose melted wires. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 70,057.
The power steering pump starts and stops whenever it wants to. You can be driving and the pump stops and the steering gets very hard. The pump also runs after the car is shut off. I took the car to the dealer and was told that there was an extended warranty to cover the problem but they could not repair it for two months until parts came in. I took the car back when the parts came in and then when they ran the VIN they said the cutoff was in feb and my car was built in april so it is not covered under the extended warranty.I called mini and they said that they worked extensively with you to figure out what years had the bad parts. When I look on line I see many problems noted for 2005 and even 2006 and it looks like canada made them recall the cars. Would you revisit and see what is going on with the 2005 models before someone is seriously injured. Thank you
Driving about 10 MPH on a one lane street, I tried to negotiate a right hand turn and the steering wheel became very difficult to turn. The car ran off the roadway and collided with some shrubbery.
The manufacturer has recently stated they are going to extend the life of the warranty for the power steering pump for models ranging from the years 2002-2005 and some 2005 mini convertibles. I have a 2005 mini convertible, and have the faulty power steering pump that they have extended the warranty life for. I immediately called my local mini dealership to get my car fixed and found that there is a waiting list to get the work done. From what I have been told the parts are entirely unavailable, and I can expect to wait up to a month before I can expect to be able to get my car fixed. Till then however I cannot get my cars inspection renewed as in my state a car cannot pass without power steering. I have been left without any feasible means of transportation, and upon begging mini to help with my problem which they have created I was told that they were going to do nothing about it. This leaves me with either having to break texas state law and drive the car without current inspection, or drop out of school as I will have no way of getting there until the mini fixes the problem.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper convertible. The contact stated that while driving approximately 50 MPH, the vehicle became difficult to maneuver. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 76,000.
Drove on the highway at 65 MPH for about 15 mins. After exiting the highway, I realized the steering wheel was very difficult to turn. Fortunately, I was coming to a traffic junction and I was able to stop the car and pull aside without any incident. From what I've read on the internet, there is an inherent problem with the power steering pump that causes the power steering to fail intermittently while driving. This is a very serious problem that can easily cause an accident. There is also a whining noise that I hear coming from the engine compartment while driving the car which I found is also related to the power steering pump problem.
Daughter/co-owner was driving car. Shifting from 1st in to 2nd gear. Loud clunk or rattle/clicking from unside. Car lost power steering, battery light came on. Could not control vehicle. Had to call tow truck.
The power steering has been going out for some time. Often it will reset if I turn the vehicle off for a few seconds and restart, but recently it hasn't been resetting right away and often will be out for quite some time before resetting. There have also been strange creaking/groaning sounds every time I turn the wheel recently, as well as a whirring sound that goes on and off while the car is parked and turned off. The steering will go out when I start the car or when I'm driving. It's worrying to drive a vehicle where you can never be sure if a light turn of the wheel will do the trick to avoid another vehicle or if it will require all the strength I have--if I misjudge this by either applying too much force or too little, an accident is very likely.
I was turning the corner to pull into my street and the power steering went out. I barely managed to turn the vehicle into my driveway and then turned it off. When I went to try it again a few days later, I could not turn the steering wheel.
Last thursday may 10, 2012 I was driving home and suddenly and without any warning, I lost the steering power function; the steering wheel got totally rigid and almost impossible to manipulate; with a huge effort and very carefully, I could arrive at home. I am lucky that I am an experienced driver. After switching off and on the car the power steering was working fine again. The problem has been intermittent since then; we are dealing with mini cooper and its authorized dealer right now to get the car repaired but so far the experience with them has been traumatizing. I researched in internet and I found multiple complaints about this issue for the mini cooper models between 2002-2007; I contacted mini cooper and my husband took the car to the authorized dealer this morning but they do not want to assist us with this life- threatening issue; the customer service has been awful here and unconsidered.
I have lost power steering intermittently over the past two months. It causes loss of control and makes the car undrivable and there is no warning. I pull over and restart it and it has power steering again. I am afraid to drive it on the freeway.
Power steering went out while driving, has not come back.
Was traveling at neighborhood speed, turned into driveway and power assist on the steering failed. Had I been at speed this would have resulted in hitting a tree next tot he driveway. The car was essentially unsteerable without tremendous force, a condition completely unexpected. After turning off the vehicle and restarting it, the problem was no longer there, so obviously an electrical problem. The problem recurred about a month later while driving on an interstate highway. I have no idea where as I did not notice it until decelerating to exit the highway and the car was very difficult to steer. At the bottom of the ramp, it again became nearly impossible to maneuver. After turning it off and back on, the problem was gone. This has recurred on and off ever since. A local bmw/mini specialist mechanic informed me that this is not an infrequent problem with 2005 mini's. He indicated the power steering functions fine except for intermittent electrical problems that cause it to fail. The problem has now come back and is very frequent. This is particularly troublesome at low speeds, and while parking. I feel there is sufficient instance of this to warrant a recall as obviously something is not right with the design or engineering of the power steering in far more cases that just my vehicle.
Power steering started failing approx. 3000 mile ago, at lower speeds the power steering would fail. Needed to restart the car to have power work again. Finally the power steering fan would stay on when the car was turned off. Took the car to mini dealership, technician was approx. 30 feet from car and he had a diagnosis . Power steering pump had failed and so did the power steering fan unit. Since the car did not properly shut down I had to replace the battery. I had contacted mini USA when the problem started and they would not do anything until the could replicate the issue of the power steering failing. This went nowhere fast. When pump and fan finally again they still would nothing for me and would not acknowledge any issues with the car.
The car lost power steering intermittently lasting different length of times. The steering was extremely hard to move. This occurred as I was driving 35 MPH with no warning on a left hand turn. Mini diagnostics identified the power steering pump and fan needed to be replaced and said it was infact the same issue being investigated by the federal safety agency but declined to assist in repairs.. $1200.00... Standing only behind the 30,000mi/3 yr warranty expiration. Please recall the 2005 mini for this issue...
Power steering failed on low and high speed. Had to slow down to stop,key off and rekey several times to get power steering to return. This has happened many times since the first time. It happens without warning and with no notice. By looking at this website and online forums I see this is a ongoing concern,and that this concern resulted in a recall in canada. I would hope that the federal safety agency would adopt the same recal as canada,as this defect is not the fault of the consumer. The appx cost of a known defect in the 1200.00 to 2000.00 dollar range that is not the fault of the consumer seems grossly unfair.
After igniting my car, sometimes power steering doesn't work. All I can do at this moment is that I turn off and restart my car again. And most of times if I restart my car, power steering works fine. Also power steering once in a while stops to work when I drive slowly, e.g when I drive local. I have to restart my car in this case too. Until a couple of days ago, I felt this problem only happened when I ignited my car or drove local, so I thought this is a minor issue as long as I can restart my car safely. But the most dangerous moment occurred two days ago when I was making a turn to exit on parkway. Suddenly it was very hard to control the car on highway, and I had to stop at side road and restart. I brought my car to local mechanic and had him examine it yesterday. He said power steering wheel pump needs to be replaced.
Power steering pump failed and lost steering ability. The relay for the cooling fan remained in the closed position causing the battery to fail. I had to replace the power steering pump and battery. There have been many complaints of the same problem. There should be a recall to fix this before someone gets killed.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper convertible. The contact stated that while starting the vehicle, the power steering system malfunctioned and the steering wheel became very stiff. The contact took the vehicle to a local mechanic where the mechanic stated to the contact that the entire power steering system needed to be replaced. The contact did not take the vehicle to the dealer or call the manufacturer. The failure mileage was 75,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper convertible. The contact stated that while driving 45 MPH the power steering became unresponsive. The vehicle was taken to a dealer who diagnosed that the power 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 not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 44,776. Updated 01/18/12*lj the stated she experienced a total failure of the power steering as she rounded a curve. The sudden loss of power steering forced her off the road and nearly into a ditch. The consumer was informed it would cost $1400 to replace the steering pump. Updated 02/28/12
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