general problems of the 2005 Mini Cooper - part 2

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper. 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.

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 Mini into 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.

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.

While I was driving on the highway approximately 65 mph my steering gave out and locked up, almost slamming me into the gaurd 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 incedent 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 warrany 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 thats not Mini Coopers problem.

Just got off the highway cause the steering started to get very difficult. After we looked in the manual and couldn't find anything about power steering fluid levels we headed towards our destination about 10 or so mins. Later. Steering was fine after that, then about 3 weeks ago we had the same issue, thankfully we were on a local road and it lasted about 3 mins. Then steering became normal again.

Power steering suddenly does not seem to work. The steering is difficult and jerky.

My power steering unexpectedly stopped working while driving to work. Steering fluid level is fine and when I left work it was back on. It is continuing to stop and start working at unexpected times and without warning which makes steering hard when it goes out.

While driving my 2005 Mini Cooper on Tuesday, the steering felt odd. When I went to drive the car the following day there was no power steering. I felt I didn't have control. When making a turn I had to physically turn the steering wheel to get the car to straighten out. It was frightening. I took it to my mechanic who informed that this problem has been reported to him by other Mini owners. Upon further investigation I found alot of information on the internet from other 2005 Mini Cooper owners. I have made an appointment to have the situation checked out at my Mini dealer in freeport,NY. On Monday. When informing them about this problem and what my mechanic and the internet have stated, I was told they were not aware of such problems and that it would cost me $130 just to get a diagnosis from them. I then called Mini USA to report it to them and I was told that they are aware of such problems and that I should call them from the Mini dealer after the diagnosis is performed and they will let me know if they can help me.

Have been noticing my Mini's fan has been sounding louder than normal thought maybe a cooling issue going on however last week the power steering randomly went out in the car while driving. I managed to pull the car over and tried turning car off and restarting it, power steering came back on. I thought it was a weird fluke and checked all my engine fluid levels when I got home. All fluids were at normal level and thought nothing of it. Today again power steering quit this time early in the morning as I was getting ready to leave for work (car had not been driven since previous night). I had to drive into work with no power steering as I could not call out and same thing driving home today power steering was still out. I started searching online and saw there had been supposedly a "safety recall" on 2005 Mini Cooper's for "campaign - power steering fan relay wiring modification -notes :si m32 03 04" stating: "service action: correct the wiring for the power steering fan relay". I just called my local Mini dealership (boston) gave them the last 7 of my VIN for them to look up if there were any recalls on my car, they stated my car is not on the recall list despite this recall was supposedly on models r50 and r53 (my model is r50). I cannot drive this car now without performing this repair, my car has just turned 60,000 miles (still considerably low it think for something like this). In my searching I have found there are 14 other complaints literally just like mine since just January of this year!!! how is this not on a recall list ? I loved my car up until now, I feel like Mini has a huge problem they already know about and are sticking their customers with paying a bill for something they publicly acknowledged as a safety issue in their cars.

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper. The contact stated that the steering wheel became extremely difficult to turn while driving 35 mph. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer nor repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure and the current mileage was 53,000. Updated 03/15/12.

Power steering intermittent. Generally, it will go out after driving 20-30 minutes, however, it has failed to turn on when starting in the morning on occassion. In both cases, turning off the engine and restarting brings the power steering back on. It looks like this is related to investigation ea11005.

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper. The contact stated that while parking, the power steering system malfunctioned and the vehicle became difficult to steer. The contact restarted the vehicle and the power steering system began operating normally. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 35,192.

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.

While driving 2005 Mini Cooper, I went around a corner at about 30 mph and when I tried to straighten out the power steering had quit working. It almost put me in the ditch on the wrong side of the road. Just thankful of no oncoming traffic.

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper. The contact was driving 45 mph when the power steering seized and became extremely difficult to maneuver. The dealer was contacted who advised that there were no recalls for the vehicle and that he should bring the vehicle in for repairs. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 80,781.

Going into a turn on the northwest side of I-465 in indianapolis and the Mini Cooper's power steering went out. I braked hard and pulled off the side of the road. It came out of nowhere.

I recently bought my 2005 Mini Cooper, after moving to tacoma, wa. Only after a week of driving I started having problems with the power steering. I have not even made a payment on the vehicle. I have contacted ukmini and my information was forward to BMW head office in germany. Miniusa contacted me to bring the vehicle into a local dealer to verify the fault. They didn't say they would cover the cost. But being in the military I will ensure that soldiers are aware of the problems they may face with this company.

While driving at normal speed and approaching a right hand turn the vehicle's steering stiffened. Thus, making it difficult to make the turn safely. Instead of completing a tight turn into the closes lane, I made a wide turn into lane 2. Once the car was turned off, parked and turned back one the problem did not persist.

The first incident happened as I was merging onto the interstate. I couldn't move the steering wheel and thought my car had died, but it hadn't and then all was fine so I thought maybe I imagined it. The second incident was on 11/11/11. I went to pick up my grand-daughter from school. I turned the car off and when I restarted it I could not pull out of the school lineup. I waited until all other cars left and drove forward using all my might to turn the steering wheel so that I could park the car while I tried to figure out what to do. I turned the car off and on a few times and then the steering worked. I drove my grand-daughter home, safely, thank god, returned home and parked the car in the garage. I'm now terrified to drive it and upon doing research online I realize that I am far from the only one with complaints. This is a very, very dangerous problem. Being unable to steer puts not only me and my passengers in danger but many others on the road as well. .

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper. The contact stated that the steering wheel would seize while driving at various speeds. Whenever the failure occurred, the contact would restart the vehicle. Once restarted, the steering wheel would operate as normal. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer but they were unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 89,000.

Power assisted steering will cease working while driving, making the car very, very difficult to steer/control. This problem is currently intermittent, but when it does happen it is very scary.

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper. The contact stated that while turning at approximately 15 mph, the steering wheel seized. The vehicle was stopped and shut off. Upon restart, the vehicle operated as normal but the failure recurred on a daily basis. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 65,000.

While driving my 2005 Mini, the power steering went out without warning. This has occured numerous times while driving on the highway. Once the vehicle cools off, the power steering functions normally. I have contacted the Mini dealership about this problem to see if there have been any recalls issued, which there have not. It's obvious that this is a very serious problem and many others have experienced it as well. Can someone explain to me why a "recall" has not been issued?.

Traveling back home to a short drive from a local store. When I went to make a right turn onto my street the steering wheel became extremely difficult to turn. Had my wife or daughter been driving the car, I think it may have resulted in an accident because they may not have been able to exert the necessary force to get the vehicle to turn.

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper. While driving, the contact stated that the vehicle would loose power steering and the contact would see and smell smoke coming from underneath the hood. The dealer nor manufacturer were notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 103,000. The VIN was unavailable.

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper. While driving at any speed, the contact stated that the manual steering function would illuminate without activating intermittently. The dealer ordered the part that the contact needed to repair the vehicle. The manufacturer was aware of the failure. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not repaired. The current mileage was 130,000. The approximate failure mileage was 128,000.

Power steering turns on and off when you least expect it during turns or drivng on a straight highway.

2005 Mini Cooper has power steering problems on several occasions in the last few weeks. Seemingly resolves spontaneously.

Power steering has been going out intermittently while the car is being driven - usually after going over a pothole or bump in the road.

The power steering just stopped working and became nearly impossible to steer. The lack of control nearly caused an accident. I pulled over and turned the car off. I restarted the car and it seems the power steering was okay. It keeps cutting out and I have to shut down the car and restart it in order to get it to work again. I have been told that eventually it will stop working completely. I took it to a local mechanic however they were unable to determine the problem. They recommended having the dealer run diagnostics. Diagnostic at the dealer is expensive and is not credited towards the repairs so I have been unable to get the issue addressed by the Mini dealer.

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 2005 Mini Cooper steering is going out every time I try to turn I have to use both hands and all my power to turn it. I just dropped it off at the repair shop and will call him in the morning to let him know the problem so he can try and fix it.

When backing out of garage noticed that steering felt "heavy", then as I proceeded forward, all power steering assist ceased. This has occurred two or three times (with no warning) in the past, and on the highway. The power steering outage may last a few minutes, or a few days. The outage reported here lasted 10 days. The car can be steered, but only with great effort. . Very dangerous.

Intermittent loss of power steering of a 2005 Mini Cooper. It occurred at least twice (3/14/2011 and 4/8/2011).

We bought this car 1 month ago for our 16 year old twins to learn to drive on. Twice while driving the steering has locked up to the point they are stranded in the middle of the road. Both times they called me from their cell phones and I instructed them to turn on the emergency flashers and try and get to a safe place. They could not move the car from side to side so I instructed them to stop putthe car in park and shut it off and try to re-start. Each times this seemed to help but when we have the car looked at there seems to be no problems. The car had only 27,982 miles a month ago when we bought it.