Power Steering Failed problems of the 2003 Mini Cooper - part 2

Have had the car for 7 years and it has never done this before. I was taking a right turn into my work when my power steering failed with no warning. This caused me apply the brakes hard and turn the wheel with a good amount of force to make the turn. It was lucky there wasn't anything on the other side of the road or I would have hit them. It happened at the end of a 50 mile drive, no issues until then. I stopped the car and restarted it an hour later and I worked fine. I drove it back home the next morning 50 miles with no issues. My main concern is having had the car for this amount of time it caught me by surprise, and my worry now is when will it happen again.

Driving normaly power steering failed on freeway curve, had to fight to gain control.

Power steering pump failed while car was driving. It fried one battery. Placed second brand new battery in to confirm the faulty power steering pump defect. Learned from class action lawsuit posted online that BMW knew of the defective problem. BMW claimed they fixed the problem in 2007 to get nhsta to stop investigation. However, I was never contacted or informed of the problem by BMW between 2003 to 2010. BMW customer service told me their investigation found nothing wrong with the power steering pump therefore no recall! they will not pay for any part of repair after they told me to tow my car to the dealer. If the car failed during high speed on freeway I would have been hurt. No warning of when the power steering pump will fail so consumers will have no warning of this problem until it happens. If I did not stop the car immediately, my engine would have been on fire.

The contact owns a 2003 Mini Cooper. While driving approximately 45 mph, the power steering failed. The driver was operating the vehicle when this failure occurred and had to control the steering wheel with both hands. There were no warning lights prior to the failure. The vehicle was taken to a repair shop where the contact was informed that the power steering pump and fan were defective. The vehicle had not been repaired. The contact called the manufacturer who offered no assistance. The current and failure mileages were 74,651.

Power steering pump failure that ended up in fire. Power steering failed and the battery icon light went on, afterwards it began to smell like burnt, I stopped the car immediately and open the bonnet, everything was covered on an ashes layer. The pump wires and connections were all melted along the pump.

On Sep 5, 2010 around 2:40pm, I parked my 2003 Mini Cooper in front of the lowe's store in san bruno, CA and went inside for shopping with my wife. After 20 minutes later we heard a store employee called 911 for the smoke/fire came out from my car. I went out the store immediately and saw the firefighters were about to put out the smoke. The firefighters opened the hood and heard the noise under the car. Next, they disconnected the car battery and the noise was gone. The Mini Cooper was towed to the auto repair shop for the diagnostics. Here is the diagnostics result: "inspected vehicle and found the power steering inoperative. Inspected power steering pump and wiring. Found wiring melted and the power steering pump failed. Found over current damage due to power steering pump failure causing battery light to illuminate. Replaced the power steering pump, wiring harness, power steering pump fan, and alternator. " I believe this is a Mini Cooper design failure according to bbc special reports in 2009. . Read more...

2003 Mini Cooper had power steering failure while being driven.

Intermittent power steering (ps) failure. Approximately 20 minutes into a drive, power steering would fail (at any speed), making car extremely difficult and unsafe to drive. Took all my strength to turn the wheel; a frail person could kill someone. Turning the ignition off and on again would reset power steering assist. Had to replace ps pump fan and ps pump (damaged by overheating), at great expense (>$1100), to drive safely again.

I have an 03 Mini Cooper base model that had the impending power steering failure. It happened suddenly and without any indication. Last June I received the reimbursement letter, so I sent in my information and receipt for the replacement. As time passed and no response from Mini I decided to contact costumer relations, needless to say they had nothing on file and said it should take another month to receive my info. Another month passed, keep in mind we are in August now, no response. Called them up and was told my information is still not there. So I sent two emails with my receipt in hopes that it might speed up the process. About three months later I called and they had said they received my information and that they had sent it to their reimbursing division. Two days ago I called and they gave me the run around again. This is just outrageous, if your going to send a letter say you'll reimburse everyone do it in a timely professional manner. Just before all this happened I had no problem with Mini. I was actually thinking about buying a 4door version of the Mini. After this incident I will not be purchasing a Mini or BMW for that matter. In addition I will influence people into not purchasing any of their products. I understand they had a lot of people send in letters for reimbursements but it is not ok to lie to people. I also know I am not the only one who has had this issue. I am trying to contact as much people as I can about this matter in hopes that this doesn't happen to anyone else. Nobody should have to deal with this.

The power steering pump failed while driving and proceeded to fail intermittently for several months with no warning, sometimes at high rates of speed and in turns. The power steering pump quit for good approximately six months later. I could have been severely injured or killed - or worse, hurt someone else. The Mini Cooper is very hard to steer without power steering. I'm a strong woman but it takes some serious upper arm strength and core strength to control the vehicle manually. The most disturbing part is the lack of warning. There is no clue that you are about to lose power. These parts are prohibitively expensive and there is a shortage of mechanics willing to work on these cars in our area. I don't know if the power steering fan was affected, as well, but I suspect it broke somewhere in that time, too. I know there are incidents of these cars catching fire, and thankfully, we have not experienced that. Please help. This is so dangerous.

Mini Cooper power steering failure. Need to maneuver vehicle to avoid a collision with another and on coming vehicle. Steering wheel locked-up and driver was distracted. This power steering failure was a result of failed power steering pump. This failure was corrected by a repair. Costing 850. 00 us dollars. Old part is available.

2003 Mini Cooper. Power steering failed intermittently then completely. Steering failed but would restart after car was restarted. Steering shut off and came back on suddenly during a long sweeping curve causing a near loss of control. I think this is a very dangerous defect. Replace the pump with a rebuilt at my own expense since the car was bought used. Second pump has also failed after about a year.

Spontaneous engine bay fire in 2003 Mini Cooper with 60,000 miles. Vehicle was driven normally to work, turned off, parked, locked and left. Unattended car caught fire several minutes later. Seattle city fire department responded to emergency call, but fire self-extinguished within 10 minutes. Soot covered engine bay and acrid smoke permeated vehicle. Inspection revealed melted connection between wiring harness and power steering pump, requiring replacement of pump, cooling fan, wiring and other parts. Internet communities of Mini owners contain numerous reports of sudden engine bay fires in 2002 and 2003 Mini Coopers caused by electrical shorts linked to faulty power steering pumps or fans. Frequently these fires occur after the car has been switched off. They always result in moderate vehicle damage and major repair costs (mine is estimated @ $1,600). Occasionally they result in total vehicle loss and / or additional property damage. Had this fire occurred in my home garage at night the results could have been catastrophic; if this kind of incident (sudden power steering pump failure + electric fire) were to occur on a freeway at speed it could easily result in fatalities. BMW / Mini USA has reportedly quietly reimbursed individual owners who have suffered spontaneous fires, but has not acknowledged the widespread nature of the problem -- which is ridiculous. As I discovered while researching my incident, if you google "Mini Cooper fire" or "Mini power steering pump failure" you get a rash of these reports. Apparently NHTSA investigated Mini engine bay fires in 2006-2008 and dismissed the problem, alluding only to the chance of some "localized smoldering. " this is irresponsible -- my Mini was billowing acrid black smoke and could easily have burned out, taking other cars on the parking deck with it. Shocking that this major, dangerous vehicle defect has been ignored. I am one of many victims. Please reopen this investigation into Mini fires. Thank you.

2003 Mini Cooper. Power steering pump failure. It works, then stops. . Cuts out mostly during turns. Dangerous! told by Mini dealer that no recall was involved. Parts and labor was over $1200. 00 to repair. New power steering pump lasted 2 years before same exact problem occurred.

Power steering failure.

My car has approximately 65k miles on it. As I was driving to work this morning on the highway, going approximately 65-70 mph, my power steering failed. My reservoir is full, and I have yet to find a garage who is willing and/or able to address the problem (having already stopped at 3 today).

Parked my 2003 Mini Cooper on the street. Smoke started billowing out of the engine. Popped the hood and saw the smoking continuously emanating from the engine compartment. Had the car towed to the Mini dealership in princeton. They told me that the power steering pump failed; that it leaked and melted the engine harness and power supply cable and power steering fan connectors. Also, the main coolant fan was not functioning properly; and there was another leak in my valve cover gasket. I have read many instances where fires have been started for the same reason, and am lucky that did not happen to me. However, the damage to the car totaled over $3400. I had to have the power steering pump replaced; along with the engine harness, power supply cable, power steering fan and main cooling fan. If this is an issue with many Mini Coopers especially 03 and 04 editions, I think the manufacturers should take responsibility to fix the problem and ensure that it does not happen to anyone else.

2003 Mini Cooper power steering failure. While driving at normal speeds the power steering suddenly quits working intermittently. It will work on and off.