Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 15v660000 (steering). The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be remedied; however, the contact believed that they did not inspect the vehicle. The contact was notified by a technician that it should have taken four hours to complete the inspection and perform any necessary repairs. The contact did not believe the repair was adequately performed. The manufacturer was notified. The contact had not experienced a failure. Updated 09/27/16*lj consumer stated the dealership said car was fine, consumer wants to know it if it was recalled why the parts were not replaced updated 6/12/18
2004 MINI Cooper steering complaints
Page 2 of 9: complaints 11 to 40 of 238, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 15v660000 (steering); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not notified of the issue. The VIN was unknown. The contact had not experienced a failure.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper. The contact stated that while driving at 25 MPH, the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The contact had to apply force to the steering wheel in order to steer the vehicle. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The VIN was included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 15v660000 (steering) however, the part needed to repair the vehicle was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 58,000. Vin tool confirms parts unavailable.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper. While driving at an unknown speed, the steering wheel seized without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the power steering electric pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 15v660000 (steering); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 65,000. Vin tool confirms parts not available.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 15v660000 (steering) however, the part to do the recall repair was not available. . The contact stated that while driving at 55 MPH, the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The contact was able to pull the vehicle over and shut it down. The vehicle was restarted and functioned as normal. The dealer was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 145,000. Parts distribution disconnect.
I was driving around 40 miles per hour and the car abruptly slowed down then sped up without any warning, if another car was behind me, it would have caused some serious damage. Now my car wouldn't shift shift out of first gear. I was told by my mechanic that the CVT transmission is gone. After reaching out to mini USA, they told me they haven't had any problem with this transmission and it's pass the warranty date. If the folks at mini USA had been honest with me I could have made the deadline for a settlement pertaining to the same problem they claimed they had no idea about. This product need to be recalled! After doing extensive research the CVT transmission have had problems all along and the company have been settling claims for quite some time. Why are they allowed to run hard working folks into death because they know most of us can't and wouldn't pursue this matter. It will cost me 6500.00 for the part and another $2200 for labor, the car is now valued at $5500.00. It there something wrong with this?
Vehicle intermittently becomes extremely difficult to steer.
The power steering on my 2004 mini cooper, base, sporadically quits working, especially in cold weather. I was told by mini dealership that it is a known defect but they will not replace it until it fails completely. Very sub-par customer service, as they know it is a problem. Unhappy.
I was changing lanes in a heavy traffic situation and my power steering quit causing the car to continue in the "changing" direction. This nearly caused me to hit a car in another lane because I could not move into the intended lane.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 MPH, it was difficult to control the vehicle. The failure recurred multiple times. The vehicle has not been repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage 125,000.
The power steering quit working while driving vehicle, contact was made with the mini dealer in nashville tn and I inquired about a recall on the power steering and was told no recall was placed on this vehicle.
Replacement of power steering pump per recall, but unable to steer without replacement of u joint also.
1) automatic transmission busted. Car stalled dangerously on the highway. 2) power steering pump busted. Steering locked dangerously on the road and could not be moved.
After driving from san francisco to burlingame, california, I turned off the engine. When I returned 10 minutes later, I lost power steering when I started the car. On that same day, I drove from burlingame back to san francisco. I turned off the engine. 5 minutes later, I lost power steering again when I started the engine. The car is extremely difficult to turn without power steering, especially at low speeds.
2004 mini cooper steering becomes hard to steer suddenly during driving and also at times after a restart from parking. After a couple of restarts it appears to be back to normal but quickly becomes hard to steer again while driving. During turns I feel kind of blocks in the steering during the turning that are required to be countered with a little more hard pressure on steering to complete the turn. Feel riskier to take it for downtown drives that need sharp and proper turns into lanes. Even more riskier for highway drives as not sure how it will react to a quick lane change or during exits. Power steering seems to no longer exist.
Steering would work fine some of the time but then become very hard to turn.
Was driving home from work, went to turn a corner and the steering got very hard.
Power steering failed while I was driving the vehicle and I almost crashed.
Yesterday I was driving home from work and as I was turning onto the access road to get on the highway my steering wheel locked up and forced me to hit a curb. I was able to take side roads to avoid the highway and make it home safely. The curb did do some damage to my car. Man date is oct 2004.
Exiting the interstate,I almost went off the road when steering the car became very difficult and turning the car was almost impossible. I parked the car for about 6 hours, tried it again, steering seemed to have returned to normal.
Heard click while turning wheel was advised steering hose needed replacement last july 12 2012 had repair made. Now with only 78k on car hearing click again - took to mechanic advising whole power steering pump needs replacement.
Lost all power steering.
The power steering pump on my 2004 mini cooper has gone out now four times. It becomes very hard to steer and impossible to make a u-turn or parallel park. It happens intermittently and without warning and is very dangerous.I have contacted mini of san francisco and they refuse to make the repair because the car is not under warranty. This is despite acknowledgement from bmw/mini that the part is faulty.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper. The contact stated that while exiting a residential driveway, the power steering failed without warning. The vehicle was not repaired and the problem persisted. The manufacturer was notified. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 30,000.
I was driving 45-50 miles an hour on i95s over the q bridge near new haven. I turned gently to the right hand lane and could not steer the car to straighten up. I was unable to steer the car at all. I tried to brake but it did not help. Nothing like this happened before. My car was bounced from one side of the concrete barrier to the other. All airbags were deployed. The car was totaled. I was deemed to be at fault. I sustained severe spinal injury and required major surgery immediately. I was unable to work for over 3 months. I got reimbursement from my insurance for the car,s kbb value. I think the car was taken to hartford. I have not been able to file this complaint until now due to my physical disability. Please investigate this case for steering failure.
I was driving to work my steering all of a sudden became hard to turn I hit the curb and blew two tires.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper. The contact stated that while driving 70 MPH, the steering system seized while the contact was changing lanes. The contact took the vehicle to a local mechanic however, no details regarding the steering system defect was provided by the mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 100,000.
My daughter had been driving my car with no problems, when she parked to pick me up I put the car in reverse and was barely able to get out of the parking stall the steering was so hard. I then had to drive home using every ounce of strength I had, while making sure not to hit anything. I too have researched this and am truly disappointed with bmw.
I was exiting interstate and slowing to a stop when steering wheel no longer worked easily. The steering wheel became hard to turn, I was able to pull over and avoid an accident.
I drove my sister's 2004 mini cooper sometime in spring of 2012 to check on work done from the dealership. As I yielded into a roundabout and entered it, the power steering cut off which steering effort became very heavy and very nearly had a collision with another vehicle. I sister informed me afterwards that the issue just happen recently occurred to her too, as she exited a highway exit ramp at nearly 55mph, and power steering had failed. Luckily, she was able to react quickly with the power steering loss. Pulled to the side, shut the vehicle, and turned on the vehicle again, and power steering came back on. It has intermittently going off/on w power since then which the dealer recognizes, but warranty has been expired since it's 9 years and over 100,000 mi. And we are left with a bill at around $1,400 average. $800 in parts alone. There are many mini customers known to have this issue of power steering loss in their early models too, same as my sister's year model. So far fortunately, there are no injuries nor fatalities directly from this power steering loss from what I know of. But many are faced with this large repair with we're facing, and some may forego/ delay repairing it. Transport canada, recognizes this as a safety issue, and recalled about 9,000 mini's last year. And the power steering pump part is no different than theirs. When are we going to act like our neighbors? Until we get someone horribly injured or killed?! Or have mini customers such my sister facing this large repair order on this defective part that's known to fail prematurely? This is a serious gamble with lives.
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