Passenger air bag sensor is defective. The passenger air bag off light, illuminates 3-4 seconds after engine start, along with the red air bag failure light, on the main speedometer. This occurs, whether there is a passenger in the seat, or not, due to this safety defect. Mini cooper dealers, deny this is a problem, however, I have found over 40 other complaints registered on this exact defect !!! Major repair cost from the dealer, to change the whole bottom seat cushion assembly, which includes the defective air bag sensor, that separates from the seat cushion, after a short time!
2005 MINI Cooper S electrical complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 23 of 23, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Parked the vehicle after a short trip of approx. 10 miles. Left car for approx 5 to 7 minutes. Returned to find smoke billowing from under the hood. Immediately started to unhook the battery cable. Got the battery unhooked and smoke diminished. Tried restarting car, restarted fine, but no power steering. Assuming that the power steering pump went up in smoke. Fortunately, damage seems to be limited to ps pump... Not sure yet if smoldering/smoke indicates any other damage under the hood or not.
2005 mini cooper s - engine fire a few days ago (7/27/2011) my 2005 mini cooper s caught fire in the lower rear engine compartment while parked in a business parking lot. It had been driven a short distance (about 6 miles) three hours prior with no indication of a problem. The car ignition was off and there was no key present in or near the vehicle. Fortunately, a co-worker spotted the car billowing smoke from beneath the hood and we were able to quickly extinguish the fire before any significant damage was done to the vehicle or surrounding property. According to the mechanic who diagnosed the car and subsequent electrical fire - the incident was caused by an overheating and eventual ignition of an electrical harness caused by a sudden failure of the power steering pump. I must emphasize that prior to the fire, there was no indication in the vehicle (warning system) or by the vehicles performance that there was any problem with the pump or handling. It failed completely without warning! While parked and unattended! Thankfully, the car was not parked in my garage at night where the fire would have certainly gotten a lot worse before being discovered and could have potentially been devastating to my property and family. As it stands the car is scheduled to be repaired at a cost of nearly 1000.00, possibly more as we do not yet know if there was any damage caused to additional components within the vehicle by the pumps failure. I am the original owner and only driver of this vehicle. This car has been regularly maintained and was recently mechanically inspected last march. No issues were found with the vehicle at the time of it's last maintenance and inspection.
Upon starting the vehicle and sometimes while moving at low speeds the power steering would fail making the vehicle extremely difficult to steer. The dealer explained that the relay in the auxiliary engine fan had failed likely as a result of the power steering fan failing. Both the auxiliary engine fan and the power steering fan had to be replaced. The cost of the repairs and labor was $1060.14.
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.
The power steering failed during a left turn, almost causing me to head straight into opposing traffic waiting at the left turn signal opposite me. I managed to pull the wheel hard enough to get it to the curb. I restarted the car and it was fine. This happened again months later on a canyon road and finally on a 2 hour road trip where I was freeway driving approximately 70 MPH when I felt the wheel tighten. As I was on straightaway, it wasn't obvious until I had to exit. Again, I pulled over, turned the car off and restarted with no problem. I brought it in on 11/30/2010 and had to have the power steering pump replaced. Now I have to go in because there is an electrical current coming through my steering wheel. There have been several other issues with this model that are not life threatening but have been an unnecessary expense. Without quick reflexes and, quite frankly, a bit of strength, this could have been a very serious accident.
I have a 2005 mini cooper. The airbag sensor in the passenger seat failed around 66,000 miles. I was told that the passenger seat airbag and both door sensors had to be replaced along with the battery cable at a cost of $4000.00. Sounds as if bmw still has real electrical problems in their cars and are sticking it to consumers to fix it instead of fixing these problems themselves. The car has never been involved in any accident.
I was travel at a speed of 70 MPH, when my vehicle lost power immediately down to 15 MPH. The engine did not shut off, but I could not accelerate above 15 MPH. I was able to pull to the right because the traffic flow was spaced so I could safely pull over. There was no warning that this malfunction was going to happen. The vehicle was said to gone into "limp mode". The electronic belt was replaced that apparently controls the vehicle function at a cost of $3400.00.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated the vehicle would not start. She contacted roadside assistance which jump-started the vehicle. The vehicle resumed normal operation. The failure recurred the next day and she was able to have the vehicle jump-started a second time. The dealer removed the battery and there was excessive water surrounding the battery box. The vehicle resumed normal operation for a while until the failure recurred. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the contact was informed that the battery was entirely encased in water and exhibited corrosion. In addition, the dealer advised that the bst cables and fuse assembly would need to be replaced. The dealer was unable to provide an explanation for the excessive water in the battery. The contact was concerned that if the vehicle was repaired, the failure would only continue to recur. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer would not provide any assistance. The current and failure mileages were 28,326.
Defect initially occurred at night time in rush hour traffic: dash-lights went out, turn indicator not functional, heater blower stopped working (causing fogging of windshield/windows), air bag lights went on, seat belt light on consequently had to pull on the side of road (limited visibility, no speed indicator, could not operate vehicle safely). A couple of attempts at ignition cycling partially restored functionality. After initial defect, problem could be reproduced intermittently (all/some of the component listed above failed during course of normal operation of vehicle). Vehicle inspected by mini/bmw dealer, root cause: interference on k-bus of one of the audio component, resulting in failure/malfunction of other components on the bus. Ultimately component (mini I-pod interface) had to be removed -- part is available if needed. Request to have repairs covered was rejected by mini/bmw customer relations on grounds there was no recall (vehicle is 5 months out of warranty --- 41k miles).
2005 mini cooper s. Approximately 63,000 miles. October 22, 2009. I had just gotten home from work and parked in the garage. Going in the house I smelled something burning. After a couple minutes of investigating in the house, I decided to go back into the garage, and find that it is a little smokey. I open the garage door and back the mini out onto the driveway. Now there is smoke streaming from under the hood. I can hear spinning/clicking noises coming from the engine compartment. I open the hood and see flames coming out of the back of the engine, below the exhaust manifold. I emptied 3 fire extinguishers into the engine bay and it was still burning. Called 911. By the time the fire department came, the fire had burned itself out. I was extremely fortunate that I went back into the garage within minutes to investigate, otherwise it could've been a huge car fire and potentially fire damage to the garage and house as well.
Power steering pump fan seized. Per dealership and independent mechanic, most common mini repair. Problem is that seized fan motor continues to draw power which drains battery. Had to have car jumped by aaa to get it started to bring in for repair. Now all the dashboard electrical functions are malfunctioning: no speedometer/tach/gas gage read out. In excess of $2k to fix plus already paid $400 for new power steering fan and battery, hoping that was all that was needed.
Auto was parked in driveway after a 30 mile drive, turned off and keys removed. After some time being parked, car started billowing smoke from under the hood. Dash lights came on, parking lights came on spontaneously. No keys present in the vehicle. Before I was able to disconnect the battery the apparent short circuit had drained the battery. Vehicle was towed to mini of peabody ma where it was determined the electro-hydraulic power steering pump had shorted out causing the wiring harness to be destroyed and also destroying the battery.
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