MINI Cooper wipers problems

Filed Aug 13, 2026 · Brakes · NY

Anytime the wipers are on and the speed is above 50 mph, this car periodically applies the brakes to keep the rotors dry. It's an automated system that BMW's and Mini's have. However, for some reason, the vehicle now pulls hard to the right, which veers the car into the other lane. The brake pads and rotors are all new. The tires are new and the alignment is good. The brake fluid was just changed and bled. There is literally nothing wrong except for this bizarre system which is now only applying some brake pressure to the front right rotor. The car slows and pulls right suddenly without applying the brake lights. I'm worried I will get rear ended or side swipe somebody. I've resorted to using Rainx and not using the wipers or simply avoiding driving in the rain. This is a serious issue that should be a recall. Thank you!

Filed Feb 11, 2026 · Electrical, Visibility · OH

Either closing the moonroof or the wipers activating caused the screen to flicker off and back on. Sustained usage or frequent usage caused the screen to completely deactivate for 10+ minutes and the Driver's HUD to deactivate and retract. During this time, the car was operating on the highway in rain conditions with zero driver's instrumentation, including speed, navigation, fuel, battery, safety warnings, blinkers, or other indicators. It was unclear if blind spot indicators or driving assistance features were impacted, or if vehicle lights were impacted as no indicators were present in the vehicle. This incident lead to driver anxiety, reduced situational awareness, reduced confidence in the vehicle's safety and operational capability, and reduced safety to other vehicles around the car as it could have led to changes in driver behavior or lane changes due to surprise at vehicle behavior. The problem has been reproduced by the dealership's service station, however the dealership has changed ownership recently and has lost some records. The car has been in dealer service for the past 70 days but the fault is still not understood or remedied. The dealership was made aware of this roughly 60 days ago and is resisting even replacing the vehicle, let alone understanding and remedying the quality issue.

Filed Sep 12, 2024 · Brakes, Electrical · SC

While driving straight on an Interstate highway at approximately 65 mph, the right front and left rear brakes momentarily locked up after the windshield wipers were turned on due to light rain starting to fall. This happened multiple times, only when the wipers were turned on. There were no warning lights illuminated in the instrument cluster or dash displays. This nearly caused a loss of vehicle control on several occasions and nearly caused an accident as well. The car has been routinely serviced to factory schedules including brake fluid time based changes. There appeared to be some occasional delay in the release of the brakes when starting from a stop. The brakes were serviced after this incident and the service center recommended completing a few panic stops to operate the ABS system. They could not explain how the wiper system can cause one circuit of the braking system to operate momentarily. A search of web forums for the F56 series MINI shows that this random locking of the RF & LR brakes with teh wipers in operation has happened to quite a few other owners of similar Mini Coopers. This problem creates a very significant safety risk.

Filed Feb 27, 2024 · Electrical, Fuel system · NC

started with lights not going off once i cut car off, then windshield wipers would come on it's on, then check engine warning lights, check fuel pump and check rear bulbs lights and several other warning lights would stay on, finally it got to it wouldn't crack until after three or four tries, then it started cutting off while driving, then I would have to wait for 30 min. or more, then it would crank back up. now it won't crack at all. I've been waiting on this recall since 5/12/23 recall #23V337. Please advise and Help!!

Filed Jun 1, 2023 · Electrical · OK · fire

The car just randomly caught on fire while off in my driveway. Noticed a weird sound outside looked out and noticed the windshield wipers were going even though the car was off and I hadn't driven it. Opened the door to bellows of smoke coming out. fire department was called and had to rip it apart to get to the fire which was under the steering wheel in the left side

Filed Feb 11, 2017 · Visibility · MA

I have a 2013 cooper s and wanted to replace the blades to something with a bit more quality (the far right side of the passenger blade does not contact the lower corner of the windshield). After 2 weeks using new oem wipers they lose their flexibility and are less able to wipe cleanly. Mini change design wiper blade and only poor quality oem blades available for replacement, no automarket alternative. I have critical safety concern about oem mini cooper wipers

Filed Jul 11, 2013 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 95,900 miles · OK · crash

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.

Filed Jan 2, 2008 · Brakes, Electrical · 56,344 miles · OK

I have a 2002 mini cooper with 52k miles, the transmission has went out twice in the past 2 years the first time at 31k miles. The clutch has also went out as well as the sunroof motor, left front brake caliper, windshield wiper motor with a host of sensors, gauges etc... Parts are impossible to get and service on a 24k car (when new) is as much as my 70k bmw 7 series.

Filed Oct 26, 2006 · Visibility · 56,800 miles · MA

Windshield wipers failed while driving in rain. The dealer diagnosed problem as wiper motor failure. I noticed that the wiper motor was exposed directly to the weather and moisture because it is located directly underneath the cowl intake and I felt that was the cause of the failure. It's exposed to rain, snow, and winter road salt spray - even when the vehicle is not being driven. I obtained the replacement part and noticed that it had a plastic shield installed to protect the motor indicating the manufacturer does know about the problem and has implemented corrective action. When I contacted bmw, they claimed to be unaware of the problem. Bmw insists on charging for the repair ($465.00) and has not yet recognized the fact that there is a safety defect with the vehicle. There is also a high likelihood that there are other vehicles that could experience the same failure resulting in loss of life.

Filed Mar 14, 2005 · Visibility · 850 miles · OH

While driving normally a very very small pebble size stone hits underneath the windshield wiper on the passenger's side. The windshield immideiatly spiders all over the window. I've been told all the problems with the bmw windshields were corrected, but I've heard from over 20 fellow mini owners of random cracking and failures within the first 2000 miles!!! This is totally unacceptable, and it isnt covered under warranty becuase it was the result of an impact.