Table 1 shows one common unknown or other related problems of the 2002 Mini Cooper S.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Unknown Or Other problems |
While on a short vacation out of town, close to 230 miles from my home, my Cooper S' power steering failed and almost cause me an accident. I immediately checked the fluid and saw that there were no visible leaks present. After making arrangements for a rental vehicle, I noticed that the power steering started working correctly again. Because of that I proceeded to return home and the steering did not fail for the remainder of the trip. During March of 2012, the power steering failed again, during a commute home from work on Friday, may 3rd. To this day, I have no been able to afford additional repairs or diagnostics, because of the monthly payments, insurance, fuel and previous issues of repairs under 75,000 miles including the head gasket, and heater core. Regardless of the policies that BMW/Mini and the NHTSA have concerning used vehicles, and warranties, absolutely no vehicle produced by an internationally known company or business should be producing such unreliable, unsafe and potentially dangerous motor vehicles and not take immediate responsibility to isolate and terminate the issue rather than ignore and deny responsibility for poorly manufactured products.
A fire was caused by the failure of the power steering cooling fan. At some point the day of the incident the fan seized and the resulting electrical resistance in the main wiring harness caused the wiring harness to heat to a point of melting some of the plastic wire insulation allowing for direct wire to wire contact and resulted in an electrical fire between the engine and the passenger compartment. The resulting fire completely disabled the vehicle's electrical system and requires at Minimum the replacement of the entire main wiring harness. Event description after a short drive (less than 2 miles on a cold engine) the vehicle was parked. After the engine was turned off smoke was seen rising from the vehicle engine compartment. Upon raising the hood, flames were seen between the engine and the passenger compartment reflecting off both fire walls. 2 fire extinguishers were required to put out the flames after the battery was disconnected. Total loss of the vehicle to fire was prevented by the owners actions.