Power steering pump failed while driving on highway without notice. Never got a warning light before during or after failure. Narrowly avoided an accident since I was not prepared for steering to be so difficult to turn the wheel. I was able to pull over into a parking lot where I turned the car off, let it sit for a while and then turned it back on and the steering was ok again. Since the steering is back and no warning lights, I assume everything is going to work ok from now on.
2004 MINI Cooper S steering complaints
Page 3 of 8: complaints 41 to 70 of 210, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Power steering failed after 3 hour trip - while parking. Steering has returned and quit multiple times since - and now has quit working it seems for good. Car is hard to steer, especially at low speed, but I am still able to drive it.
Driving on freeway, steering suddenly became very difficult. Later went back to normal. A month later the power steering pump continues to run after vehicle switched off, draining battery dead.
Power steering is loss is random, once steering is lost after turning off and car cools it works again. Leading me to believe that the cause of the problem is in the unit's design. Hesitant to spend upwards of $800 (in parts) to replace when it may not solve the problem. Manufacturer should investigate and issue recall due to tremendous complaints on similar failures and not solution is available.
The power steering stopped operating as we were making a 90 degree turn at an intersection. We were able to pull over and turn off the engine. We checked the power steering fluid level, and found it was in the proper range. After a short wait we restarted the can and the power steering seemed to be operating.
My mini cooper intermittently, without warning becomes very difficult to steer. Power steering failed rounding a corner on the freeway, nearly resulting in a high speed crash.
I was driving through atlantic city, and when I tried to make a left turn, the power steering assist on my minicooper failed. The steering wheel was rigid and needed to be forcibly turned using a great deal of strength. I almost ran into a fence surrounding a parking lot, but was able to apply the brakes, wrestle with the wheel , and edge into the parking lot.
Experienced total loss of power steering on several occasions with no warning lights. Occurred mostly after starting the car on hot days. The car is very difficult to steer at low speed with no power steering. Power steering sporadically came and went. Eventually, the power steering pump would remain on after turning off the car, causing the battery to go dead. Replaced power steering pump and fan in may 2012 at about 130,000 miles and haven't had any issues since.
Power steering intermittently goes out and steering becomes very difficult (I.e. Hard to control the car). This problem has occurred several times without warning and after restart goes away. In february of 2012 there was a recall for this specific problem in canada. This is a safety issue, please rectify it.
Power steering is of great concern as it has periods where it seems that the power steering quits working. Also when adjusting the direction as I am backing up into my driveway steering is sort of lazy and it make a high pitch whining noise when I turn the steering wheel.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. While driving approximately 65 MPH the steering wheel locked and became difficult to maneuver. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 128,000.
Power steering pump failed while driving. Luckily incident happened at low speed.
I was merging onto highway I-25, taking a sharp turn at 50 MPH when the power steering suddenly failed. I nearly missed the turn and almost crash down the on-ramp, which would've placed me heading perpendicular straight into highway traffic.
My mini was parked for about 2 hours. When I went to leave in it, I could not steer it. The power steering was completely unresponsive. I was able to drive it home (about 5 miles) but it was very difficult to steer and unsafe to drive.
Power steering pump wont shut off after vehicle is disabled, causing the battery to die. The power steering pump will disable while driving.
I was unable to get my vehicle smogged. The obd was not communicating with smog machine. Took it to dealer and found the power steering electrical was causing a short circuit in the system.
Hydraulic power steering assist system failed while on the road 3 times causing a crash hazard. The power steering would return intermittently until it completely stopped working.
Bmw installed plastic power steering pump that should have been recalled because the part is faulty and leaks power steering fluid. I had to replace pump with metal power steering pump.
Occasional power steering failure. At first it occurred mostly at start up for less than a minute. After calling the dealer for info, I added fluid, turned the wheel to lock in both directions and that seemed to help for a couple weeks. The issue has since returned, about 1 occurrence per week. Most recently I had no power steering for the entirety of a ~30 minute drive. I'm concerned that the steering will fail mid-turn, particularly while driving dangerous mountain roads. Does the pump need to be replaced or is this an electrical issue as described in existing complaints?
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. While driving approximately 40 MPH, the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnostics where the mechanic advised that the power steering pump would have to be replaced. There was an open investigation of the failure under the federal safety agency action number: ea11005 (steering:hydraulic power assist:pump steering:electric power assist system steering:hydraulic power assist system) that could have been related to the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 60,000.
Failure of power steering pump made vehicle very difficult to maneuver in traffic and when parking.
Exiting on an off-ramp from the freeway the power steering pump failed and steering became rock hard and it took considerable strength to keep the car from going straight and running into the guard rail around the turn. Very scary experience and if I had decreased muscle strength the car would have veered straight for the guard rail and at high freeway exit speeds.
While driving on an interstate highway, the power steering completely failed, resulting in a near-loss of control and crash due to the sudden dramatic increase in physical effort required to control the car. The failure was determined to be related to the power steering pump no longer functioning. There was no loss of fluid or breach in the hydraulic system. This is apparently a very common problem among this model of car.
Experienced power steering loss driving along a suburban road. After stopping and restarting the car the power steering returned.
I had multiple incidents where my power steering wasn't available. Several times the power steering failed driving around the corner which was very freighting. I contacted bmw about the issue but they said it was normal wear and tear. I don't agree with that since my car only had 35k miles. I owned other cars where I never had a failed power steering pump. Mini uk seem to handle the problem much better for their customer (see link below). I cannot believe that there has no recall being made yet. Paid almost 1k for replacing the defective pump and it seems that the new pump they put in my mini starts acting up again. Http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2009/02/mini_steering_system_failures.html.
While exiting the freeway the steering suddenly and without warning became extremely heavy taking significantly more effort then normal to just move the wheel slightly. The next day the power steering worked normally but the fan on the power steering pump continued to run after the engine was turned off. After 5 minutes in a parking lot it had drained the battery to the point where it struggled to start the engine. When I returned home I was forced to disconnect the battery until I can get it serviced.
I had power steering one day and the next day when I was driving I began to make a turn and realized my power steering went out. To this day it has never came back. I was told it is something like an electric hydraulic pump but the price is so outrageous I cannot afford to get it fixed so I just try to drive it as little as possible and be as careful as I can.
Power steering failed, car would not turn. Second occasion 1/19/12 same thing at 40mph. After car rests problem disappears. Almost impossible to turn car at all.
Power steering stopped working---while driving on curve---impacted car control. Regained power steering. This happened two more times. Very dangerous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Electric power steering pump failed while driving. I noticed it when I went to change lanes and the car resisted. I slowed for a corner and when attempting to turn, it became very apparent that there was no steering assist. This is a common failure on the first generation mini coopers that is unacceptable and depending on the circumstances, potentially dangerous.
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