CarComplaints.com Notes: Power steering problems are a major issue with the 2005 Mini Cooper, with hundreds of owners reporting complaints to the NHTSA about their power steering suddenly failing while driving.
Some power steering failures have caused crashes & injuries. Average mileage at failure is well under 100,000 miles & the repair cost is over $1,000. Not good.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
12 / 17
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
73,862 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
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.
Power steering failed at freeway speed. Driver narrowly escaped accident at freeway speed. Power steering pump total failure. Someone will die unless this issue is addressed.
Was driving along the road and came up on a turn when the steering locked up. Put all of my weight into the steering wheel to keep from jumping the median. Scared the life out of me. Immediately pulled over to figure out what happened. Turned the car off, then back on and it seemed fine. Then getting on the freeway, I was on the clover-leaf and it locked up again so I put all of my weight into it again, then it suddenly released. With the sudden jerk/movement (and it has done this a few times) someday I know it will cause the car to flip. The power steering seems to work in phases: It will be fine for a couple days, then its intermittent/gone for a week or 2. the past few days, it has sounded like the engine fan was engaged even though I had not been for a strenuous drive. I think it was actually the pump not turning off when the car was turned off. This morning I got to my car to find the battery completely drained... an apparent short in the power steering pump (and/or fan) killed it.
The contact owns a 2005 MINICooper. The contact stated while attempting to exit a parking lot, the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. There was an investigation under NHTSA action number: EA11005 (steering) that could have been related to the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 67,000.
The contact owns a 2005 MINICooper S. the contact stated that while attempting to turn, the steering wheel failed to respond. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic were it was found that the power steering pump failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the issue and offered no assistance. The failure and current mileages were 59,895. Updated 1/29/13 updated 2/7/2013
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.
On my drive to work on the third of December the steering assist went out while on the freeway and trying to exit onto an off-ramp. The turn was very sharp and I nearly didn't make it. Thank goodness it was a slow time in the day for if it wasn't I may have hit someone else. This is a large safety issue and having read that this complaint is becoming wide spread I would hate to see anyone get hurt. The steering is still an issue and I made sure to take precaution on my drive home not to take any route that would produce a sharp turn in fear of not being able to make it quick enough. The steering is extremely difficult, and I stress extremely as if you are working against the car to try to get the steering wheel to move and the car will not take sharp corners as it once did, but rather must take long shallow turns, which is not always a possibility.
The contact owns a 2005 MINICooper. The contact stated that while driving 5 mph, the steering wheel seized without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the contact was awaiting diagnosis. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure and the current mileage was 58,500.
The contact owns a 2005 MINICooper. The contact stated that while driving 40 mph, the contact was exiting the highway when the power steering failed. The contact was not taken to the dealer for inspection. The vehicle was not repaired and the failure recurred several times after the vehicle would warm up. The manufacturer was notified and they stated that the vehicle was not included in a recall. The failure mileage was 69,500.
The contact owns a 2005 MINICooper convertible. The contact stated that while driving 40 mph the power steering failed and all of the warning lights illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 80,000 and the current mileage was 88,000.
I was driving down the freeway attempting to change lanes when I noticed that my steering wheel suddenly became very difficult to turn and maneuver, as if the power steering feature had been disabled. Initially, I thought it was just the surface of the road making handling of the car difficult, but the problem continued to persist even after I exited the freeway. While performing left-turns and right-turns on the side streets, I had to exert tremendous labor to complete the turn, and on a couple of occasions I almost hit adjacent cars on the road because I couldn't forcibly turn the steering wheel enough. When I arrived at my destination, I turned off my engine, re-started it, and to my relief and amazement, the steering wheel became easy to maneuver again, without a trace of the steering problems that had just occurred.
Loss of power steering while driving. Car did not hit or come in contact with anything when power steering was lost. Full power steering and fan had to be replaced as a result.
My daughter was driving on the highway back from college and the power on the steering went out on her. It started coming back on and off intermittently and she was able to steer it slowly back home from there.
Had been driving for about thirty minutes was going West on a busy four lane city street, preparing to turn onto a side street and the power steering stopped working. I could hardly turn the MINIinto the side street and came close to hitting another car turning beside me. Was able to park and an hour later tried to drive home, power steering worked for about 5 minutes and then quite again. Did not have an accident but it was close several times. It was all I could do to steer the car at slow speeds and I am 6'2 and 205 pounds a woman would not have been able to do it in all probability.
Power steering went out making the car very hard to steer. The first time was January 2012, randomly off and on since. I have had the power steering return after simply turning the car off then on, other times after a week. It appears the power steering pump has decided to quit altogether at this point.
In 2009, the power steering would intermittently work, usually restarting resolved the problem. Increasingly worsened. P pulling out from the business to a residential street, very busy afternoon traffic. I hurriedly turned right onto the street, then left at the traffic signal. While making the left my power steering decided to stop coming too close to running straight into a light standard on the opposite corner. Hitting the curb very hard and steering with no power, I corrected my direction to avoid hitting other vehicles, hit the curb again, found the first possible parking lot and pulled off and thank god I didn't hit anyone. May 2012 no pow steering wed, October 3, 2012 @ 117K mileage, belt broke, battery light came on, overheated. Miniusa takes pride in being responsible and caring about their customers. Their jovial, freethinking, cleaver banter is so falsely represented since I can't even get some one at MINIto talk to me. Now, I'm waiting on finding the right repair shop that won't cost me my retirement. In 2007, I locked my glove compartment since I had just picked up the $2500 engagement ring my son had been paying on so he could propose to his girlfriend. When I got home the glove box wouldn't come unlocked, other than forcing it and risk breaking something I took it to the dealership where I purchased, the car, hoping they might have a known ways, secret solution. Unfortunately, a $80 service fee from just driving onto the lot, plus $350 for a new glove box! just because I locked it for the first time for safety. Now undrivable, I shudder a the thought of repair bills for everything that's failing now, I am obviously not the only one. Not so funny now MINICooper!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Sebastopol, CA, USA