2005 MINI Cooper owner complaints

The car stopped steering correctly. It is very difficult to turn the wheels. The power steering is gone. I started noticing the difference in the steering and then the steering progressively got worse. I called the service department of the dealership to ask if there should be a concern because the steering started after I had the recall service on the seat warmmer.

Intermittent power steering failure. After long drive ~150 a loud buzzing under car continued after car engine was shut off. Moving the steering wheel made the buzzing change sounds. Starting and shutting the car's engine did not resolve the buzzing. Disconnected the battery to avoid battery failure. *tr

Power steering will go out without notice at all speeds. It will reset if the car is turned off and restarted, however the interval to the next power outage is unpredictable. It occurred the first time, and then didn't reoccur for a couple of months. Then when the problem returned it did this for approximately two weeks, then didn't happen again for another month. It has no been a fairly common problem. Have also had experiences where making a turn, the power assist will go out, and then return, which has me putting extra exertion into making the turn, only to have it come back on resulting in oversteer.

The power steering suddenly went out on my 2005 Mini cooper s as I was about to turn right onto a highway on ramp. I felt the lack of power and continued straight so I could pull into a service station up ahead. The power steering was intermittent for a bit then totally out, leaving me with a 45 minute drive down the mountains to home without power steering. I have had multiple incidents of the power steering fan running after the car was off. Now it looks as if the fan is no longer cooling the pump causing it to overheat which could start a fire. I am planning to try to replace the fan soon but I am just a broke college student so I really hope this recall goes through. *tr

2005 Mini cooper s. Intermittent failure of power steering under varied driving conditions. Although NHTSA has opened investigation, BMW has not issued a recall yet. Local Mini service department will change the electric steering motor at about $1000, but is unaware of the reason for the failures. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 Mini cooper. The contact stated that while driving approximately 30 MPH and trying to make a turn, the power steering failed making it very difficult to maneuver the vehicle. The failure was intermittent. The vehicle had not been inspected or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

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 threat

2005 Mini cooper s power steering pump failure. This is the second time within a two year period that I had to replace the pump. The result is a sudden loss of steering control and degradation of the battery. *tr

Power steering went completely out on my wife's 2005 Mini cooper. No warning, indications, or events LED up to failure. *tr

My wife was backing out of a parking spot and the power steering assist appeared to have been turned off. She re-started the car and the power steering worked fine after that. It happened again when I was also backing out of a parking spot last night. I am afraid this could become a big issue if this happens in traffic thus the report. From an internet search, it seems that numerous other people have the same issue so there seems to be a problem which Mini needs to fix before this ends tragically for someone. *tr

2005 Mini cooper s intermittently loses power steering, this happens without warning and renders the vehicle nearly impossible to steer. The first time it happened was on an elevated exit ramp and almost caused me to strike the safety wall. After a drastic slow down I was able to strong arm the vehicle back on course. This has happened several times since - most dangerous when it cuts out and the randomly comes back on causing severe over-steering. *ln

Drove car to work - someone came in a few minutes after I arrived at work and told me my car was smoking. Went out and looked but smoke had stopped by time got bonnet open. Came from front passenger side. When started car to leave work - had warning light and power steering would not work. Mini manual said to stop immediately. Had car towed to local german repair shop and the said power steering motor had burned up and melted all the adjacent wiring. Had to replace motor and wiring. *ln

About two weeks prior to the fire, my back bumper was hit by someone,nothing too serious just the tail light broken. Their insurance had my car fixed at world Toyota collision center in atlanta georgia. On saturday morning, I picked up my car. I noticed clicking noise coming out from inside the car and the steering wheel becoming rigid as soon as I started driving. I pulled to the closest gas station (was in need of gas as well). White smoke came out from the front right after I parked. My husband lifted up the hood trying to see where the smoke is from. Not even two minutes later, there was flame, yes, actual fire underneath the engine compartment. Fortunately, there were two officers next to us at that time so they used fire extinguisher to take the fire down. I'm extremely frightened an

While driving my 2005 Mini cooper (approx 48,000 miles) our power steering intermittently seemed to cut out making the steering extremely heavy and unresponsive. While on the highway it made driving difficult, but not impossible. However, on arriving in town we were unable to make a turn without ending up in the lane of on-coming traffic! Luckily there was little traffic around when we arrived at our destination. Turning the car off and back on again while stopped at a traffic light seemed to restore our power steering long enough to get to our final destination. *tr

My son drives this car and the power steering went out twice on him while driving. I need to get the pump replaced via the recall, but the nearest location is 200 miles from me. It is not safe to drive this car that far and I would have to drop it off and make another trip to pick it up. Towing that far would cost a small fortune. I called every number and was transferred to several people to help with this issue. They say they can not and won't help me till I get the car to a dealership to fix it. One person from Mini told me I might be able to go to a certified mechanic but when I asked the next person they said it had to be a dealership. I spent two days on the phone with several people from Mini and no one was willing to offer a solution. I drive this car to get the recall fixed and so

Traveling at approximately 40mph. Finger was cut 2mm deep by defective peeling/flaking chrome accent on manual transmission shift knob. As a result, finger was bleeding and experienced a shock from the affected nerve throughout the body while vehicle was in motion. Attention to the road was lost for a moment causing me to nearly get into an accident. *tr

I complained to Mini cooper dealership about noise coming from underside of the on multiple occasions. They were never able to find the problem and the last time I complained they blamed it on "worn tires". At 52,000 miles I noticed a high pitch squealing from under the car when I had the clutch pressed in. When I brought it to Mini service, they said that "clutch material probably got caught in the fingers of the clutch". They said that since my warranty was up (over at 50,000 miles) and that this was a "friction material" issue, the cost of the repair ($2,200 - $2,800) would be my responsibility. Since this cost was so high and the early failure so far outside of normal expected duty time, I refused the service. Since there are many reported cases of early clutch failure and flywh

Driving on interstate and lost power. I pulled to shoulder and black smoke came thru air vents. I opened the hood and there was fire. My car completely burned up. I never had any mechanical problems. The tow truck driver said he believed the fire started under my car.

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 Mini cooper s. While parked, a fire erupted under the hood of the vehicle. The fire department extinguished the flames. A police report was available. The cause of the failure was unknown. The failure mileage was 10,000. The vehicle identification number was unavailable.

Passenger seat occupancy sensor lights stay on at all times, whether the seat is occupied or not. Seat mat sensor defective. This is a common safety issue with this model that the manufacturer is fully aware of. Repair cost is in excess of $1,300 for a very simple part. *tr