Loud whine from power steering pump.
2005 MINI Cooper steering complaints
Page 3 of 10: complaints 41 to 70 of 276, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. When the vehicle made a right turn at 50 MPH, the steering wheel seized. The contact had to use excessive force to get the steering wheel to straighten. The dealer stated that the steering pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 145,000.
Power steering pump failure. This is a known design defect of this model and year, however, mini states that my VIN is not covered (possibly because I purchased the vehicle while stationed with the army in germany). This is a dangerous situation and I am not happy with miniusa's response to date.
Started out being an intermittent problem,where it would seem the power steering would shut off then come back on, making hard to judge if you could just relax to steer or not, now its more off than on. Called the mini assistance number because I was told there was an extended warranty on this issue, was told there was but my vehicle didn't qualify for it, and the extended warranty was for vehicles 2002-2005, mines a 2005 and my VIN was not covered. Don't understand.
I have a 2005 mini cooper and just lost the power steering. A couple times recently it was hard to steer while parallel parking, but ok on the road. This morning it completely failed on the way to the highway. The wheel was very hard to turn and just managed to get it back to the house, will take it to the dealer on monday. I see on the internet now that there has been a known issue with the steering pump since 2011 that I did not know about before. Why are owners not notified about this? I could have had a bad accident if the failure had been on the highway. Updated 11/24/2014
Was driving normally on 4/8/14 , turned normally until I took a slight curve and steering wheel got very stiff & hard to turn from then on . Until now it remains very hard to drive .
Power steering went out abruptly while driving the car on the highway.
Sudden failure of power steering resulting in very high steering effort, traced by dealer to a well-known failure mode in electrohydraulic power steering pump. Pump and associated fan were replaced by dealer under special ("secret") warranty coverage, due to common incidence of this failure. Existence of this special warranty was found only after search and location of many identical failures on the internet. The vehicle battery was found to be completely discharged upon arrival at dealership. Once a shop battery was connected, the pump was found to be running continuously even though the vehicle ignition was in the full off position. Also, the alternator was found to have failed, presumably because of excessive stress imposed by the defective pump on the vehicle electrical system. Cost of alternator replacement was not covered by the manufacturer. This known failure mode is believed to be a significant safety defect. Formal recall of affected vehicles by the federal safety agency is warranted, since sudden loss of power steering at speed can result in loss of vehicle directional control.
I was on my way home from work, I was only two houses from my home going around small curve thought my car had cut off then realized only the steering had gone out very hard to steer if had been on hwy at med rate of speed could not have been able to drive car and possible wreck.
My car started with a low hum and as time has gone by the sound has gotten louder and ever since the sound has been there the power steering has intermittently gone out, but now is out almost all the time. My wife drives the vehicle the most but we were planning on giving it to our 17 year old daughter for her graduation present but now that this problem is an all the time thing we will have to go purchase a different vehicle for her. It is just frustrating that after reading all the complaints and them being the same it almost seems useless to file a complaint due to mini not wanting their vehicles to be good. Also about 3 months after purchasing the vehicle the airbag light for the passenger seat is always lit.
I was driving along at about 35 MPH steering through a curve when the power steering failed. It required major effort to keep the car turning through the curve to avoid oncoming traffic. This seems to be common occurrence on first generation mini coopers and could easily result in a serious accident. If my 16 year old daughter who typically drives the car had been at the wheel at the time this could have had catastrophic results because of the amount of effort required to maintain the steering of the car. A car shouldn't be at risk of having major component failures with only 50,000 miles.
While driving at any speed I or my husband have lost power steering in our 2005 mini cooper s. This electro-hydraulic power steer pump & fan has been a long standing problem in these minis. (this has been a complete recall in canada.) the loss of power steering makes the vehicle very unsafe as it is a sudden onset. It is problematic at slow or fast speeds. I can barely steer the vehicle when this occurs. It is almost impossible to get in/out of our garage or in/out of parking spaces. I have had to find parking in strategic areas most often where I could pull straight in a spot and pull straight out. It is also scary on ramps or interstate as instead of having a responsive sporty car it feels like you are driving a tank that you cannot control. This has happened many times in last 10-12 months. It has become more frequent in last few months. We received a notice for "warranty extension/ repair reimbursement" and called for several months but were told mini had been unable to get the parts. We called and they now say they have the parts so we drove nearly 1 hour to dealership and now they will not repair it because the part has not failed. They state they drove it and there has been no failure. I would guess it has stopped working while I have been driving it about average 1x/week but more frequent as time progresses. The failure may end up being me... In a casket!
I was driving and lost all power in my steering. Very hard to turn, nearly got into an accident crossing the yellow line in the middle of the road. Recovered and drove the rest of the way home.
My cooling fan burned out causing the power steering to fail. I found out that this was a known problem in my model year and that the warranty on that part had been extended. However, mini claims that they started putting new pumps in feb of 2005. My car was made in mar of 2005 and thus they will not cover it. I went the extra step and had the dealer do a diagnostic which found that my car has the same part with the same problem as described in the warranty extension. Still mini will not cover it. One of the reps tried to cover it up by telling me that there is confusion on the part number matching because they used the same part number when they changed the oem part. That does not compute because if that were true, there would be no way to accurately distinguish the good parts from the bad ones. There 222 other steering complaints at ntsb so I'm not only one. I'm calling a lawyer because this is ridiculous. How can mini let cars that have a known safety risk continue to be on the roads?
Power steering in the vehicle went out without any warning making it very difficult to steer the vehicle correctly. Since this date the power steering comes and goes intermittently.
The first of multiple steering failures occurred in a parking lot, thankfully. None has yet to happen on interstate or at a deadly rate of speed, which that wouldn't have to be very fast if a child riding on their bike unexpectedly darted in front of you. If the steering malfunctioned at that moment it would be over for the kid. I don't understand how a known, potentially dangerous, issued goes unaddressed. I'm bewildered.
In september 2012 I noticed a loud fan noise that wouldn't turn off. The car was also overheating. I noticed that it was very hard to steer the car, but I thought that was due to the overheating. Mechanic determined failed cylinder head gasket in 11/2012. The radiator was replaced and the thermostat was replaced. In 11/2012 the water pump was also replaced. In 12/2012 the battery had to be replaced. In 06/2013 the heater core was replaced. I believe that these issues are directly related to the loss of power steering and the associated fan failing, which caused the car to overheat and the battery to fail. Please see the federal safety agency complaints 10453158, 10444328, 10379750, 10442431,10379459 for similar cases of these same issues related to the failure of power steering and the associated pump.
While I was driving on the highway approximately 65 MPH my steering gave out and locked up, almost slamming me into the guard rail. I was fortunate enough to stop before tragedy. Unfortunately I was blocking a lane of traffic until I could force my way of the roadway. The second incident happened as I was turning into my own driveway. The steering locked up again causing me to miss my driveway and crash into the ditch. The other safety issues with my car is the windshield wipers will stop working at random and the reverse and tail lights will fail at random. The engine light stays on and the codes read emissions failure. When I talk to mini cooper customer relations they gave me an extended 100,000 mile warranty on the power steering and emissions. Mini cooper claims they can't do the safety repairs due to a part shortage. They extended my already extended warranty to 150,000 miles and are wanting to charge me for diagnostics on these extended warranty issues. They will not offer any resolution and claim it is my problem as a consumer and claim the power steering issues are not safety related. When I asked about the electrical lighting issues they replied with that's not mini coopers problem.
Car was making a very loud noise. Took it to shop who identified it as a failing power steering pump cooling fan, and replaced it.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. The contact stated that while driving 20 MPH, the steering wheel failed without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnosis where it was advised to the contact that the steering pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 70,000.
Power steering fan burned out which caused the pump to fail. Seems to be a known problem with this model year. The placement of the fan is really bad because it's subject to constant road grime, salt, etc. Cost me over $1,200 to fix. :(
I had been having problems with the power steering in my car going in and out at random times. To fix this problem I would just turn the car off and then back on. Now, however, the power steering is always off. I have managed to drive just fine for months without, because I simply don't have the money to get the system replaced. It has finally come to the time of year when I have to get my inspection renewed, and I have now learned that the car will not pass inspection in my state because of its lack of power steering. If the car cannot pass a state inspection without the power steering, how is it that there has not been a recall made because of the power steering system failure making the car unsafe to drive? There is clearly a design flaw with the power steering system. It is entirely unfair that not only has there not been a recall made forcing bmw to fix this design flaw, but there is also laws in place that force me to either stop driving, get a new car, or spend money I don't have to get it fixed.
Wife was driving her 2005 mini cooper (r50) when the power steering failed thus causing a very frightening and possibly very dangerous situation.
While driving on a curvy road the power steering went out making it very difficult to maneuver. This seems to be an intermittent problem and is very dangerous!
The steering wheel stops turning while mid-turn. I took the car to mini of san francisco and for whatever reason, they could not find a problem. The steering continues to be a problem, happening randomly when the car is first started up.
Hello, over the past few months the steering on my 2005 mini cooper cuts out unexpectedly. The wheel is almost impossible to turn when this happens, and it occurs with no warning. It appears that the steering pump fails when the car warms up. I have noticed many other owners of this make and model making the same complaint in online forums. The car is not safe to drive in this condition. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Loss of power steering..nearly a collision.
Parked the car to go in a store, in the store for 10 minutes. Came out to start the car and the steering wheel was stiff and did not want to move. Cut the car off and was looking into ways to get the car towed. I tried to start the car back up maybe 15-20 minutes later and it was working just fine. Ever sense then, the car's power steering would stop functioning and then reset itself once the car was stopped and idle. You can never predict when this will happen or when it won't. The power steering issues have gotten progressively worse with longer intervals of wait time before the power steering starts functioning again. The wheel when the power steering stops functioning is virtually immovable it is almost impossible to make turns unless they are wide ones. This is a tremendous safety hazard and the power steering pump is clearly defective.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. The contact stated that while driving approximately 18 MPH, the steering wheel became extremely difficult to maneuver without warning. The vehicle also overheated and a loud noise was heard coming from the front end of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where the technician advised that the power steering fluid needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage was 74,000.
Was driving on nys thruway when I thought I'd gotten a flat tire due to sluggish steering now hours later and a little internet investigation I think it to be the power steering pump. This should be recalled asap before someone is killed.
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