Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mini cooper s. While driving at 60 MPH and attempting to avoid hitting an animal, the steering wheel seized without warning and the vehicle struck the animal. The air bags did not deploy; however, the air bag warning light illuminated. A police report was not filed and there were no injuries reported. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 103,000. The VIN was unavailable.
2002 MINI Cooper S steering complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 57, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mini cooper s. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 MPH and making a turn, the steering wheel seized without warning. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who stated that the power steering pump would need to be replaced. The VIN was not included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 15v66000 (steering). The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 126,000.
We have had the power steering and fan go out about 3 times on this car. We have owned it new from 2002. There was a recall and we only received $525 dollars when we spend over $2000. Why would we not receive a full refund as we had the work done always at the mini dealer and we had two receipts from the dealer showing the defect. My understanding is that the warranty is not increased to 13 years and 150000 miles. When the defect happens the car gets noisy from the pump and when it fails the steering becomes sluggish. Why would they be allowed to only reimburse part of the amount when this is such a big issue. $2000 for steering repairs on a $27,000 dollar car should not be tolerated.
I was driving about 60 MPH and all of a sudden the power steering stopped working. Steering became very tight and heavy. Almost lost control of the vehicle.
I was traveling through city traffic and the power steering ceased to operate. Steering became immediately very heavy. Pulled into parking lot, looked under hood, looked under car for fluids, belts, etc., and found nothing visible. Got back into car, started it up and it began to work again, as normal. Two weeks later while driving 65 MPH, power steering again failed abruptly. Power steering pump is scheduled to be checked/replaced today at dealership today. This could be a very serious safety issue. Had I been in a curve at this speed, I'm not sure I could have maintained control of the car.
Power steering pump failure and drained battery (recently replaced). Car will not start, and can not access passenger or trunk door due to electrical failure.
Power steering failed as I was driving, unable to steer car. After some time, power resumed intermittently.
Power steering failed in the middle of driving nearly hit the outer barrier because of the amount of force required to move the steering wheel. I feel if my wife had been driving it would have been a major wreck. I did some research and found that this is a very prevalent problem with the mini cooper. From my understanding canada has issued a recall on the power steering pumps. Would like to log a complaint to see if we can get mini USA to take some action.
Power steering went out at highways speeds, after 3+ hours of driving. After cooling down for an hour, power steering came back, but only lasted 5 min., and was out for another day. Comes and goes, depending on how hot the weather/engine is, but stays out longer and only works for short periods of time now. Please issue a recall/extended warranty as canada has soon!
Power assist pump failure.
While on a short vacation out of town, close to 230 miles from my home, my cooper s' power steering failed and almost cause me an accident. I immediately checked the fluid and saw that there were no visible leaks present. After making arrangements for a rental vehicle, I noticed that the power steering started working correctly again. Because of that I proceeded to return home and the steering did not fail for the remainder of the trip. During march of 2012, the power steering failed again, during a commute home from work on friday, may 3rd. To this day, I have no been able to afford additional repairs or diagnostics, because of the monthly payments, insurance, fuel and previous issues of repairs under 75,000 miles including the head gasket, and heater core. Regardless of the policies that bmw/mini and the federal safety agency have concerning used vehicles, and warranties, absolutely no vehicle produced by an internationally known company or business should be producing such unreliable, unsafe and potentially dangerous motor vehicles and not take immediate responsibility to isolate and terminate the issue rather than ignore and deny responsibility for poorly manufactured products.
I bought a 2002 mini cooper s almost a month ago and lost the power to steer my car in a turn at almost 50 MPH. If toyota would have had this problem I'm sure some one would be in jail or maybe you would here it on the news. This is my third mini in 6 years and I never heard a peep about this scarey problem. I would like to thank are government for making the roads so safe. At least they are taking the effort to stop those pesky kids and there texting. Thanks again!
I was exiting the freeway when my battery indicator light went on; I lost power steering and saw a large amount of smoke coming from under the hood. The mini dealership has determined that the power steering module failed, and subsequently burned the wiring harness. There have been several reports of faulty manufacturing in regard to this part from bbc in uk, as well as on many forums, in particular north american motoring.
The power steering fails with no warning. The car becomes extremely difficult to control. It happens without warning and at various speeds. It may last just a few minutes or much longer - hour or so. Usually does not occur when just starting the car but no other known pattern. It happens 1 to 2 times a month or more.
Heard of powersteering issue but still purchased car. Driving to work smelled burning and lost powersteering, if this happens to a woman driving around a rotary and kills someone will you wait for 50 people to get killed before something is done. This is complete inadequate research on your part ford recalls due to electricalshort of the idle air control valve and cruise control cut pressure switch had to burn down houses when they had the cruise control issue which no recall till months after they knew it was a fault. By the way I am a mechanic ase certified own a shop in wakefield [xxx]. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
There have been three instances when my power steering went out on me...I could have had an accident had I not been in a residential area during those times.
Driving to work 4 mile trip power steering randomly stops working almost locking up the steering wheel. Tried to pull over to the side of the road a full grown man struggles to be able to turn the wheel about a quarter of a turn. Shut off car wait to start back up. Power steering still dead call tow truck and have it hauled to repair shop. Told power steering pump has died and needs replaced along with power steering pump fan.
Driving approximately 25 MPH and vehicle lost power steering....made it home...checked all fluid levels...all okay....got back in the vehicle the next morning to take to service station and power steering was working again...garage could not find problem...scared to drive it now for fear of loss of steering again!
Tl*the contact owns a 2002 mini cooper. The contact stated that when traveling at various speeds, he would lose power steering intermittent without warning. He noticed that the power steering cooling fan would remain active without power to the vehicle. The dealer or manufacturer was not notified nor was the failure diagnosed or the vehicle repaired. The current mileage was 65,096. The approximate failure mileage was 60,000. Updated 06/24/11 *bf updated 06/30/11
Tl*the contact owns a 2002 mini cooper s. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH a sudden loss of power steering occurred without prior warning. The vehicle was driven to the side of the road with difficulty in turning the steering wheel. The contact restarted the engine and was able to resume normally. The failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the power steering pump would be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 132,000. Updated 07/08/11 *bf the consumer stated the power steering goes out intermittently at random times. Updated 07/18/11
Power steering pump in 2002 mini cooper failed while making a right hand run, caused me to drift into the oncoming lane, almost hitting the oncoming traffic.
A fire was caused by the failure of the power steering cooling fan. At some point the day of the incident the fan seized and the resulting electrical resistance in the main wiring harness caused the wiring harness to heat to a point of melting some of the plastic wire insulation allowing for direct wire to wire contact and resulted in an electrical fire between the engine and the passenger compartment. The resulting fire completely disabled the vehicle's electrical system and requires at minimum the replacement of the entire main wiring harness. Event description after a short drive (less than 2 miles on a cold engine) the vehicle was parked. After the engine was turned off smoke was seen rising from the vehicle engine compartment. Upon raising the hood, flames were seen between the engine and the passenger compartment reflecting off both fire walls. 2 fire extinguishers were required to put out the flames after the battery was disconnected. Total loss of the vehicle to fire was prevented by the owners actions.
Problems with the electronic power steering, it work intermittent, almost got to a accident.
After picking my sister up from the train station I noticed a loss of power steering. Steering is now very difficult around corners and in city driving. No repairs made yet.
The second power steering pump on my 2002 mini cooper s has failed. The first time when it happened I had loss of steering while doing a low speed turn and hit a curb.
2002 mini cooper s. Power steering pump failure with 55k miles on the highway. Caused loss of powersteering making the car difficult to control. Upon stopping the power steering pump wouldn't go off and drained the cars battery. This is a well publicized problem on the web, yet mini denies any fault.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mini cooper s. The contact stated while entering a residential garage driving 5 MPH, the power steering failed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who replaced the steering pump. There were no recalls for the failure. The manufacturer was contacted offered no further assistance. The failure mileage was 51,000. Updated 03/08/11 *bf the consumer stated the vehicle was extremely difficult to steer and if it failed in a turn, the vehicle would inevitably steer very wide from the intended course. Updated 03/09/11.
Power steering failed in the middle of a curve in the road, resulting in a loss of control and nearly causing the car to go into a ditch. #20 the car is nearly impossible to steer without the power-assisted steering. #20 mini USA denies any knowledge of this problem, yet there are in excess of 1,600 reports on one internet forum alone. #20 the british government has officially acknowledged this issue, and in europe bmw/mini has acted, but in the USA the company denies any awareness. #20 this failure could have cost me and my wife our lives if I were a less skilled driver who managed to force the car back onto the road.
Loss of power steering 2002 mini cooper s.
Tl*the contact owns a 2002 mini cooper s. The contact was driving approximately 60 MPH when there was a complete loss of power steering without warning. The contact pulled over to the side of the road with difficulty. The engine was turned off and restarted. The power steering became functional. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnosis. The technician was unable to duplicate the problem. The failure continued. The failure mileage and VIN were unavailable.
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