This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
We have had the power steering and fan go out about 3 times on this car. We have owned it new from 2002. There was a recall and we only received $525 dollars when we spend over $2000. Why would we not receive a full refund as we had the work done always at the MINIdealer and we had two receipts from the dealer showing the defect. My understanding is that the warranty is not increased to 13 years and 150000 miles. When the defect happens the car gets noisy from the pump and when it fails the steering becomes sluggish. Why would they be allowed to only reimburse part of the amount when this is such a big issue. $2000 for steering repairs on a $27,000 dollar car should not be tolerated.
I was driving about 60 mph and all of a sudden the power steering stopped working. Steering became very tight and heavy. Almost lost control of the vehicle.
The contact owns a 2002 MINICooper. The contact stated that while driving 30 mph, the vehicle became extremely difficult to steer. The vehicle was taken to a dealer for diagnosis but no cause for the failure was identified. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The VIN was unavailable. The failure and current mileage was 130,000.
I was traveling through city traffic and the power steering ceased to operate. Steering became immediately very heavy. Pulled into parking lot, looked under hood, looked under car for fluids, belts, etc., and found nothing visible. Got back into car, started it up and it began to work again, as normal. Two weeks later while driving 65 mph, power steering again failed abruptly. Power steering pump is scheduled to be checked/replaced today at dealership today. This could be a very serious safety issue. Had I been in a curve at this speed, I'm not sure I could have maintained control of the car.
- Delta, CO, USA
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I was trying to get onto an off ramp and when I was into the turn I almost ran into a concrete barrier because the whole steering wheel locked up. The steering wheel always locks up sometimes it with a few miles and others it is good until it locks up. Very dangerous.
After a short trip, I had just parked the MINIFortunately, it was outdoors and within 50ft of my tool chest. On turning off the ignition and removing the key, I noticed an unusual noise; the [electric] power steering pump continued to run. A few seconds later, smoke appeared. I raced to my tool drawer, grabbing the first suitable tool, channel lock pliers, and proceeded to hastily disconnect one of the battery terminals. Smoke was heavy at that point. Disconnecting power prevented further damage, and was fortunately done in time, before the wiring harness was incinerated, or the situation became a self-sustaining conflagration. Apparently, although there is a 100A fuse present, the fault protection on the power steering pump circuit is inadequate. I removed the power wire to the pump, to allow the vehicle to be driven, with heavy [non-assisted] steering, pending service. Since the outcome is not so bad, why should I complain? consider if the vehicle were parked indoors, and/or if the same event were to happen to someone with less electrical aptitude. I don't expect accessories to last forever; the vehicle is 11 years old with 123K miles. I do object to the failure mode, in which the power steering pump circuit becomes an incendiary device...
Power steering pump failure and drained battery (recently replaced). Car will not start, and can not access passenger or trunk door due to electrical failure.
Power steering failed in the middle of driving nearly hit the outer barrier because of the amount of force required to move the steering wheel. I feel if my wife had been driving it would have been a major wreck. I did some research and found that this is a very prevalent problem with the MINIcooper. From my understanding Canada has issued a recall on the power steering pumps. Would like to log a complaint to see if we can get MINIusa to take some action.
My power steering fan continues to run even after the care is turned off. It completely drained my battery so I replaced the battery. Two weeks later the same thing happened and I learned that my power steering pump and fan are defective. Also intermittent loss of power steering while driving and needless to say this can be very dangerous.
The contact owns a 2002 MINICooper. While driving approximately 20 mph the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The contact was able to park the vehicle but stated that the power steering had become inoperable. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 45,065.
The contact owns a 2002 MINICooper. The contact was traveling 20 mph when the power steering assist failed. The vehicle was not taken to dealer for inspection and the manufacturer was not contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileages were 66,000.
Faulty power steering pump causing a loss of complete control of the vehicle. 80,000+ incidents reported with this make/model of vehicle with the knowledge of vehicle manufacturer. The pump has since been re-manufactured to fix the issues but MINIof North America refuses to issue a recall for the serious safety aspect of their failing part.
The contact owns a 2002 MINICooper. The contact was driving 20 mph when the steering assist failed. The dealer was notified and informed the contact that the steering rack, power steering pump and the fan might have to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure and current mileages were 102,000.
Power steering went out at highways speeds, after 3+ hours of driving. After cooling down for an hour, power steering came back, but only lasted 5 min., and was out for another day. Comes and goes, depending on how hot the weather/engine is, but stays out longer and only works for short periods of time now. Please issue a recall/extended warranty as Canada has soon!
My wife has been complaining of intermittent loss of power assist. I drive her car very little however I recently had the problem happen to me. One of my hobbies is sport car racing (most recently at summit point raceway in wv) so I do expect the unexpected however it is so intermittent it is often forgotten. It will be fine for weeks then it happens again. Thousands of reports in the uk and Canada issued a recall. You don't lose your steering just the assist. Next time you are alone on a back road with a curve turn your car off and you will see what the described problem feels like. Lets not have a serious incident before BMW resolves this issue. This has been going on for years.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Hudson, OH, USA