We found the following complaints for MINI COOPER S (2005)
Read complaints for MINI COOPER S (2005)
I have a 2005 mini cooper.the airbag sensor in the passenger seat failed around 66,000 miles.i was told that the passenger seat airbag and both door sensors had to be replaced along with the battery cable at a cost of $4000.00. Sounds as if bmw still has real electrical problems in their cars and are sticking it to consumers to fix it instead of fixing these problems themselves.the car has never been involved in any accident.
I have a safety recall (no. 25v-205), an air bag problem, issued last june and have now received another recall ((15v-660). The first recall has yet to be repaired.the air bag "off" light is on all the time. I have contacted mini and the dealer twice and they tell me there is not a fix yet.i think 6 months is long enough for an air bag problem. I have not had a problem with the second recall, a steering problem, but i assume it could happen. I am concerned that the combination of these two creates an extra dangerous condition. I asked mini if they would pay for a rental when i needed to have a passenger. They refused. This is my only vehicle and i have no other choice.
The passenger air bag weight sensor stop working. As a result my vehicle displays a warning that the passenger side air bags are off. My driver side fog light housing melted and crack apart. I used stock 55w halogen bulbs. My passenger side fog light housing has also begun to melt. My power steering is not leaking now. But it has been replaced 3 times.
My airbag light came on.the dealer said i had a defective seat sensor but the airbag would still work... My dashboard looks like a christmas tree.later iheard about the warranty extension for this fault.i drove 200 miles round trip after making an appointment.they looked at it and said it is not covered by warranty.the dealer has given me alot of misinformation... Doi trust them on this?no, of course not.although they have a bmw dealer adjacent, the bmw dealers are not like the ones i am accustomed to dealing with.i am disappointed that mini has such poor service while most of its bmw dealers are so stellar.the heated seats work only a few minutes.the dealer said i need a new fuse, in spite of what the manual says.it says if it blows more than twice, the vehicle should be returned to the dealer for service.i did and their diagnosis was that it had a blown fuse.
When adjusting the driver and passenger seats, the airbag light illuminated. After researching online, i conducted troubleshooting. I verified that the wiring harnesses and connectors for the airbag sensors under both seats had come loose, and certain wires de-pinned. The car was running, and parked when this occurred.
Airbag light on center display as well as yellow airbag off light on overhead console intermittently appear and disappear for no apparent reason.mini want over $1500 to replace a seat bottom pad sensor.
My passenger air bag has been inactive for over two years due to a problem with the seat sensor. I recently saw there was a recall for this issue, but according to my vin my vehicle has no open recalls so it would seem i'm not covered by the current recall even though i have the issue. Can you please investigate and let me know as i would love to get this faulty safety feature repaired!
Both my passenger airbag warning light and airbag warning lamp in the instrument panel is illuminated deactivating airbag deployment when an adult is sitting in the passenger seat and remains on when passenger seat is vacant while driving. There is also 2 technical service bulletins (tsb) i'm aware of relating to this malfunction:tsb: si m-65-02-06 airbag warning illuminated, fc55 for vehicles produced from august 31, 2005 - april 25, 2006. Nhtsa 10026024 (my vehicle was produced in august 2005 as indicated on my driver door panel).tsb: 720106 airbag warning lamp for oc3 seat mat fault, airbag warning lamp illuminates together with the passenger airbag status lamp. Nhtsa 10019981.i spoke with 2 service managers at mini indicating faulty detection mat, parts were in stock and will not be covered under warranty for repair or replacement estimated at approximately $1000.00.my only recourse is to repair it, feeling uncomfortable driving my vehicle or transporting passengers in the event the airbags will not deploy.in addition, bmw of north america, llc extended the warranty on passenger airbag detection mats to 10 yrs/unlimited mileage for specific bmw models ranging from my04 through my06, who owns mini of north america.i've read several forums relating to this issue, one of which states mini did extend the warranty on models prior to my05, but problem hasn't been resolved in model years thereafter as mentioned in my complaint and other nhtsa bulletins.i contacted mini of north america with no positive response.
Both airbag warnig lights come on when someone sits in front pass seat. When the "passenger airbag status lamp" is on that means no one is in the front passenger seat.if someone is sitting in the passenger side front seat while it's on and there is an accident the airbag might not deploy b/c the car thinks someone isn't in the seat.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the two air bag lights illuminated stating that the air bags were off despite a passenger being in the seat. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnosis and the contact was informed that the passenger side air bag mat sensor would need to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified but they offered no assistance. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure and current mileage was 74,000.
About 1 week after i bought the car, the passenger air bag off light comes on when i have a passenger and the airbag malfunction sign comes on the dash. In the manual it says :in the event of a malfunction, have the airbag system checked immediately. Otherwise, there is a risk that the system will not function as intended in response to a severe impact occurring within the system's normal triggering range. I have bumper to bumper warranty but they told me it is not a safety issue and i have to pay 100 to have it looked at. I just want to make sure everything is okay. But i do not have the money to do that.
The airbag light that warns of the passenger airbag being turned off comes on sometimes when nobody is in the seat and sometimes when a full sized adult is in the seat.from what i have read this means the airbag sensor is defective and the airbag could either fail to work or deploy when it should not. I have learned that bmw issued recalls for many of their cars built with this particular seat sensor but have not done so with the mini.are you aware of a recall for the mini?we are very worried about using this car to carry a passenger but we have to do so every day.your help will be greatly appreciated.
My passenger air bag sensor lights goes on and off. It does not matter if a person is in the seat. I don't know if the air bags will work or not. My research on the internet suggest this is a common problem with the minin passenger weight sensor similar to the ones in bmws.
The airbag light on the dash came on while driving. There was no accident or incident that prompted the light to come on. Apparently, minis produced three months after this vehicle are included in a recall or "extended warranty" by the manufacturer for airbag sensor lights, but not this specific vehicle. Based on discussions with dealer service, it could be a very costly repair, estimated at $1200. It seems very strange that vehicles manufactured so close to the covered time period are also having issues. Perhaps mini needs to consider expanding the scope of the airbag sensor extended warranty.
When passenger exited vehicle, light airbag off notification came on. This happens every time someone exits the passenger seat. Also airbag warning light & seatbelt not buckled light come on.
The contact owns a bmw mini cooper s.the air bag cover emblem has a defected edge.if the air bag were to deploy, it could cause serious injuries.the dealer replaced the cover three times, but the defect is still uncorrected.the current and failure mileages were 20,000.
The airbag light on the dash and above the windshield for the passenger seat used to go on and off without a passenger in the seat.starting in 2011, it continues to stay on, meaning the airbag is turned off.the dealership said the airbag sensors were bad and the entire passenger seat needs to be replaced at an estimate of $1,000.the dealership could not confirm that the airbag would or would not deploy if the car faced impact and someone was in the passenger seat.this is a serious safety issue and no fault of the car owner.please recall this problem before someone gets injured or dies.
The air bag light comes on for no reason. This has been happening since i got the car and i read that it had to do with putting bags on the seat.i later discovered that it does not matter if there is a bag, a person or an empty passenger seat.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 15v205000 (air bags);however, the part needed to do the repair was unavailable.the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. In addition, the contact stated that the air bag warning light illuminated.the manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was approximately 32,000.
Initially we were parked with a large adult who weighs ~200lbs sitting in the passenger seat, and the passenger airbag off lights illuminated. Shifting around and unbuckling-rebuckling seatbelt caused the lights to go off for a bit. We began to drive anyway, the terrain was mountainous, and eventually the lights went off. That night. In the following weeks and months, it was an intermittent problem, sometimes upon getting seated and starting to drive, other times once we were in motion, very unpredictable. The problem sometimes resolved by shifting his weight or fussing with the seatbelt to get the lights off, but for the past month it has been a constant problem.
The airbag light is on and the passenger seat airbag detection light says off even when an adult is sitting in the seat.i took the car in and the airbag code read was a 71 indicating that theoc3 mat in the passenger seat is faulting.the dealership is telling me that the airbag may or may not work even if a passenger is in the seat.i was told by the dealership that it would cost up to 3000.00 for my car to replace the oc3 mat!!!no safety recall warranty available for this model year as there is on others!
Passenger airbag system failure--passenger airbag off light illuminated and won't go out.according to web-forums, part failed is a seat sensor.dealer wants close to $2k to replace it, but it failed a long long long time ago.i would think it should last longer than 2 or 3 years.can find tons of the same problems at http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/stock-problems-issues-9-2.html.
2005 mini cooper warning lights indicated the passenger side air bag turned off while an adult passenger was in the passenger seat.issue started during a cold ny winter after 5 yrs of fault free operation. Normally the passenger seat will sense the weight of a passenger and automatically adjust the force of a deploying airbag.dealer reported faulty seat mat sensor with a replacement cost of $1300 which is not covered by warranty.after extensive internet search for similar problems, these sensor mats fail at a regular rate, and are not covered by any recall.due to the high cost and repeated failure these repairs are not being performed.
Passenger air bag sensor is defective. The passenger air bag off light, illuminates 3-4 seconds after engine start, along with the red air bag failure light, on the main speedometer. This occurs, whether there is a passenger in the seat, or not, due to this safety defect.mini cooper dealers, deny this is a problem, however, i have found over 40 other complaints registered on this exact defect !!!major repair cost from the dealer, to change the whole bottom seat cushion assembly, which includes the defective air bag sensor, that separates from the seat cushion, after a short time!
Passenger safety indicator light remains on. Called local mini service center after reading multiple complaints on this issue and they stated they (mini usa) have/will not service/repair the faulty seat module. This must be considered as a safety issue for the passenger and should be dealt with under an extended warranty or recall.
I had returned home to california after living in hawaii for a few months. I got in my car, drove it for a few days, only to find that while on one of those drives my airbag light illuminated. Not one person had driven my car since i had been gone. I took my car into bmw and after paying $180 for just a diagnostic fee, i am now told that my "passenger side floor mat sensor" has gone bad and will need replacing for $1,600. They said they would have to replace my entire seat for this. Bmw has, supposedly, recognized this same exact issue in other bmw models on the passenger floor side and is indeed a manufacturers defect and has recalled bmws accordingly. However, with the minis, they have not fessed up to this being a manufacturers defect and the dealer now wants $1,600 from me. I have absolutely zero motivation to pay for something that did not break under my watch, and something that is clearly a manufacturers defect. My car was sitting in a garage under a car cover for 3 months, and there is no way with just 50,000 miles on my car that this should be happening. Because i refuse to give them $1,600, my passengers are now at risk for an airbag either a) going off when not supposed to, or b) not working at all. I pay top dollar for this car and it is an absolute disgrace that bmw will not recognize that this is a safety issue above all. I am really hoping that someone will not have to lose their life over this faulty airbag that they are trying to make customers pay for. I expect top service from a top brand like mini and bmw, and so far they have not taken responsibility for an issue that is clearly their fault.
Airbag light illuminated at all times. Dealership reports $1200 to replace sensor for passenger seat and may impact all airbags if not fixed.
In an offset frontal accident, both front airbags deployed even with the front passenger seat unoccupied.based upon information provided about this vehicle, the passenger side air bag should not have deployed.this appears to be a defect related to the operation of the air bag deployment system.the driver of this vehicle suffered a serious second degree burn approximately 2 inches in diameter to the inside of the right wrist.the long sleeve sweater driver was wearing had a large hole burned thru it in the location of the burn to the wrist.this burn was caused by the air bag hot gas discharge.hands were between the 9 & 10 and 2 & 3 o'clock positions on the steering wheel.driver was sitting correctly positioned relative to steering wheel and was properly wearing the seat belt.
The passenger airbag srs floor mat sensor is damaged and may cause the passenger airbag to not deploy in the case of an accident. The srs airbag light is illuminated.
The airbag sensor light on the center dashboard and "airbag off" light above the rear view mirror turn on when a passenger is in the car. It appears as the passenger airbag sensor is failing to properly detect the passenger's weight.
Air bag sensor lights remain illuminated when ignition is powered.seat can be either occupied or unoccupied.initial problem intermittent, within 1 month problem constant, both airbag lights remain on.there are (2) airbag lights in this vehicle, one red lamp that is in the dash, the second a yellow lamp located near the inside center rear view mirror.feedback appears that the issue is the airbag sensor located in the passenger seat bottom after studying several similar complaints commented on a mini owners website.this is also a known problem occurring on bmw vehicles that is covered under warranty.
Passenger airbag, front seat, sensor has a fault or short in it.intermittently, while adult passenger is in seat, the warning light turns on, and passenger airbag "off" warning light comes on--thus shutting off the passenger airbag. This a known issue with the 2005 and 2006 mini coopers and a serious safety issue.in this past month the frequency has increased to approximately 99% where the passenger has no safety protection as air bag is shut off.to date mini is not warrantying this defect and it is a very expensive repair.i think a safety recall should be issued asap.
Passenger bag system has not worked for over two years.
Srs light came on...passenger seat sensor issue.
Passenger side "air bag" off light is on all of the time and thus, the passenger air bag will not be deployed in an collision. Have had sensor worked on, system flashed by bmw, etc to resolve issue. Bmw unable to resolve without extensive cost.
Passenger seat airbag sensor failed.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While driving approximately 35 mph, the passenger side air bag warning indicator illuminated until the engine was turned off. The failure occurred whenever the engine was in operation. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who stated the front passenger seat sensor pad was faulty and would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the problem in which there was no resolution. The approximate failure mileage was 41,000.
While driving on the freeway to sacramento, ca from alameda, ca, for no apparent reason, my red dashboard air bag warning light and the roof-mounted yellow passenger airbag disable warning indicator light both came on.the roof-mounted yellow light then went out after about 5 minutes, but the red dashboard air bag warning light has remained on every time the ignition was turned on.
I have now had a second failure of the passenger airbag sensor (sensor mat in passenger seat).the first mat failed at 3 months after purchase and the replacement lasted just over 2 years (warranty on part is 2 years).
Air bag light keeps coming on due to faulty oc sensors, and faulty oc sensor connectors. Mini usa refuses extended warranty on sensor, or recall while passenger safety is in jeopardy.
Very disappointed to find out that a vehicle i have taken exceptional care of to avoid costly repairs has also had the occupancy mat go bad out of the blue.... I wasn't even driving the car! i held out hope that the repair would be covered under warranty, and was told off the record by the service advisor that this issue has been one of the biggest complaints he receives and in his opinion has cost mini a tremendous amount of repeat business. It is very hard to swallow the $1400 repair when it is evident that this is a manufactures problem which will cost someone their life one day; maybe then they will do the right thing and fix their problems. Like toyota; it took people dying for them to address the accelerator problem. Sad, very sad.
Air bag indicator came on, and the "passenger air bag off" indicator came on simultaneously.called mini cooper of pensacola, fl and they said the car was not eligible for repair.they said the bag would deploy if their was an accident at full force. I bought the car for my grand daughter and feel the air bags should be active and operable for the life of the vehicle.there are numerous complaints on the internet about this issue.i feel bmw is negligent in not recalling these vehicles and correcting a major flaw, and inherent safety issue.
Dash light indicating a passenger airbag problem lights up.
The passenger seat occupancy mat was replaced by recall on 10/28/2016. On 10/2018 i noticed that when there is a passenger in the seat with their seat belt on the air bag was off, in 1 weeks time the passenger side seat belt light was on all the time and the air bag is off all the time with or without someone occuping the seat. Reguardless if the car is idiling or going down the rode. At least before the recalled mat sensor was replaced the seat mat sensor worked most of the time. Now it does not work at all. I took it to the dealership and they tested the oc3 mat (passenger side mat sensor) and said there are multiple codes for the oc3 mat and they found internal faults and it requires replacement again. They said this recall is no longer under warrenty and i need to pay over 1500.00 to have it replaced. It is unsafe for me to have a passenger in my car if we got into an accident their airbag would not be on, there for they would have no airbags to deploy to try and protect them. How is this my fault? they replaced my mat sensor with another faulty one that is worse then the first one.how long are the warrenties for recalls and the parts replaced?i have the papers from the dealership stating what i just reported to you.
My air bag light on the passenger side is on.mini dealer says it is a broken sensor in the seat.i checked online forums and this is a common problem lots of complaints.mini will not correct the problem unless i pay.it seems as if this is a safety issue and not an isolated case.i would think because of the nature of the problem there should be a recall.
Air bag light keeps coming on due to faulty oc sensors, and faulty oc sensor connectors. Mini usa refused extended warranty on sensor, or recall while passenger safety is in jeopardy. The passenger side air bag warning indicator illuminated until the engine was turned off. The failure occurred whenever the engine was in operation. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who stated the front passenger seat sensor pad was faulty and would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the problem in which there was no resolution. The approximate failure mileage was 35,000.i believe this is a safety related issue that should be addressed by the dealer as a warranty issue as i am not comfortable with the current situation but do not want to pay for an expensive safety related defect. I am the original owner of the vehicle and still have it.part failed is a seat sensor. Dealer wants close to $2k to replace it, but it failed a long, long, long time ago. I would think it should last longer than 2 or 3 years. Can find tons of the same problems at http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/stock-problems-issues-9-2.html
Passenger seat occupancy sensor/mat failed causing airbag "off" warning light and possibly (conflicting info from publicly-available sources) turning off passenger seat airbag triggering function. The cost of replacing this component is such a large portion of the airbag system purchase price and the fact that it may also be essential for the system's proper functioning, make it seem reasonable that it should be warrantied for the life of the (airbag) system itself, or a "fix" engineered and installed at no cost to a vehicle owner.
The airbag warning light comes on intermittently.the repair shop says the sensor under the passenger seat is bad.bmw has known about this issue for several years and issued a 10 year 150,000 mile extended warranty and recall for approximately 150,000 vehicles over model years 2004 - 2006.for some reason they refuse to include the 2005 mini cooper s in the extended warranty and want ~$2,000 to replace the entire seat bottom for the defective sensor.this is a safety issue caused by a known and admitted defective part.mini should issue a recall and replace the defective sensor under extended warranty as their parent company bmw has done for various models affected by the same defect.
Passenger side airbag is disabled when passenger is in seat. If passenger shifts in seat, the airbag may or may not enable. Have been told the fault lies with the airbag sensor mat under the seat.this is a common issue for several bmw models and an extended warranty has been offered.for several mini models, the issue has been reported and an extended warranty has been offered.so far, the 2005 model has not been included.
Around 2 years ago, while driving with a passenger in the front passenger seat and while driving without a passenger in the front seat, the light comes on indicating that the passenger air bag is off.this is extremely concerning that the car's passenger airbag might not be working, particularly with a passenger in the front seat.this malfunction has been reported on other forums to be linked to a faulty sensor in the car seat, and a nhtsa service bulletin (id number: 10043927) has been filed.i hope that nhtsa can conduct an investigation into whether a recall should occur, given the safety concern of potentially not having a passenger airbag go off if a passenger is in the front seat and an accident occurs.
I have a 2005 mini cooper. The airbag sensor in the passenger seat failed around 50,000 miles. I was told that the passenger seat had to be replaced at a cost of $1400.00. This is a know issue with this year of mini cooper s. Dealships need to be aware of this problem and mini/bmw needs to have a recall.
The occupancy sensor has failed. This causes the airbags to be unarmed while the vehicle is in use. I have contacted mini about the problem. They covered the repair on certain vehicles, but not mine. This is a safety issue, and it should be covered on all vehicles that it has occurred on, regardless of mileage. The repair is very expensive, and should be covered.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 15v205000 (air bags) and stated that the part was not available within a reasonable timeframe to schedule the recall repair. The dealer did not give a specific date for when the part would become available. The manufacturer could not provide an estimated date for when the contact's vehicle would receive the recall repair. The contact was not experiencing a failure.
The red airbag warning light in the speedometer area came on at approximately 99,450 miles. It came on after driving across a city railroad crossing at low speed. I took the vehicle to the dealer and asked about the light, and they indicated that it would require additional investigation but could be a faulty seat sensor which would cost approximately $1250 to replace.they also indicated that they were not sure whether or not the airbags would deploy properly in the event of an accident.further research indicates that this model and year may also have problems with the wiring harnesses and connections, and that only the dealer can reset the warning light. As of december 2 2010 the vehicle has 113,000 miles on it and the warning light is still on. I believe this is a safety related issue that should be addressed by the dealer as a warranty issue as i am not comfortable with the current situation but do not want to pay for an expensive safety related defect.i am the original owner of the vehicle and still have it. Thanks.
The airbag sensor in the passenger side seat does not correctly detect a person sitting in it.when a passenger is in the seat, the airbag sensor stays "off".
The air bag light is on and says the passenger air bag is turned off. It appears that there is a weight sensor in the seat and it is defective. I have researched this issue on the internet and have found this to be a common problem. One of my concerns is that there is conflicting information not there as to weather the air bags will work or not in this condition. The dealer fix cost between 1000 and 1200 dollars to fix. These safety items should last the life of the car and not cost this much to repair. Why isn't bmw recalling this car and fixing an obvious defect?
The airbag light in the car shows that the airbag is off when there is someone sitting in the front passenger seat.the light comes on and then goes off, over and over again, whenever the seat is occupied.this indicates to me that the person sitting in the seat has no reliable airbag protection.this has been going on for over three years in my car.original complaint was on 5/31/11.still no action.emailed mini usa and they told me there were no recalls and offered no help.this was done about one month ago.do we have to wait until people start dying before this safety issue is fixed by mini?i am not the only mini owner having this problem. Bmw has recalled cars having this same problem. They deemed this a safety issue. Why shouldn't mini?can you help with this problem?
Passenger airbag off warning light on.dealer wants $1800 to fix defective system.
The airbag light for the passenger seat comes on intermittently when someone is sitting in the seat.also, the light which indicates the passenger side airbag is off comes on when someone is sitting in the passenger seat.certainly, this is a safety issue and we believe bmw/minishould fix this at no charge.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 15v205000 (air bags) however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure.updated 11/18/15*ljthe consumer stated she paid for an air bag sensor two years. Updated 12/15/15.
2005 mini cooper s was traveling 50mph when it hit icy bridge spun around and rolled 3 times driver was wearing a seatbelt and passenger was not and got ejected and died.no airbags deployed. Hwy 299.*dt
"srs" warning light (passenger airbag off) blinks on and off in a 2005 mini coopers with less than 60,000 miles on it. The warning light only triggers when there is someone sitting in the passenger seat. Was told by mini dealership that it would cost $800 for the part and +$200 in labor to fix this safety issue. Not an acceptable answer.
The red airbag warning light in the speedometer area came on at approximately 99,450 miles. It came on after driving across a city railroad crossing at low speed. I took the vehicle to the dealer and asked about the light, and they indicated that it would require additional investigation but could be a faulty seat sensor which would cost approximately $1250 to replace.they also indicated that they were not sure whether or not the airbags would deploy properly in the event of an accident.further research indicates that this model and year may also have problems with the wiring harnesses and connections, and that only the dealer can reset the warning light. As of december 2 2010 the vehicle has 113,000 miles on it and the warning light is still on. I believe this is a safety related issue that should be addressed by the dealer as a warranty issue as i am not comfortable with the current situation but do not want to pay for an expensive safety related defect.i am the original owner of the vehicle and still have it. Thanks.
I have a 2005 mini cooper s with 60,000 miles on it and about 55,000 miles the airbag warning lamp and passenger airbag off lamp illuminated intermittently. At 58,000 miles it has stayed on constantly. After researching the issue i took the car to a trusted mechanic and he diagnosed that the weight sensor pad in the seat cushion is defective and would require the car to go to the dealer to be replaced. I feel that this is a safety issue and the dealer should issue a recall on the vehicle since it is a well known problem. I have attempted to contact miniusa by email and have been waiting over a week for a response.*ln
Both my passenger airbag warning light and airbag warning lamp in the instrument panel is illuminated deactivating airbag deployment when an adult is sitting in the passenger seat and remains on when passenger seat is vacant while driving. There is also 2 technical service bulletins (tsb) i'm aware of relating to this malfunction:tsb: si m-65-02-06 airbag warning illuminated, fc55 for vehicles produced from august 31, 2005 - april 25, 2006. Nhtsa 10026024 (my vehicle was produced in august 2005 as indicated on my driver door panel).tsb: 720106 airbag warning lamp for oc3 seat mat fault, airbag warning lamp illuminates together with the passenger airbag status lamp. Nhtsa 10019981.i spoke with 2 service managers at mini indicating faulty detection mat, parts were in stock and will not be covered under warranty for repair or replacement estimated at approximately $1000.00.my only recourse is to repair it, feeling uncomfortable driving my vehicle or transporting passengers in the event the airbags will not deploy.in addition, bmw of north america, llc extended the warranty on passenger airbag detection mats to 10 yrs/unlimited mileage for specific bmw models ranging from my04 through my06, who owns mini of north america.i've read several forums relating to this issue, one of which states mini did extend the warranty on models prior to my05, but problem hasn't been resolved in model years thereafter as mentioned in my complaint and other nhtsa bulletins.i contacted mini of north america with no positive response.
I have a 2005 mini cooper s and the passenger airbag light keeps coming on and after some research on forums see that there is a common problem with this.turns out the airbag sensor in the passenger seat is a common problem and that dealerships even carry extra parts because of this.i see that something very similar just happened with other bmw's.i think this should be added to the recall list.it appears that in an accident the passenger airbag will not deploy.
Airbag light comes on (indicating airbag system malfunction/inop.) and auto manufacturer has no fix, definitely a safety problem.2005 mini cooper.
Passenger airbag light illuminates intermittently as inoperative with or without a passenger. This could cause a loss of airbag protection in the event of a qualifying crash for the passenger.
The srs light was on and wouldn't go out.the dealer checked it and said that the passenger seat mat is defective and it was a hard fault which prevents the air bag from working.the light sometimes goes out but usually stays on.they would not warranty this and wanted $1330 to repair it.the passenger seat has probably only been sat in 10% of the time.
On 2005 mini cooper s with 13,000 miles the passenger airbag warning light came on.mini diagnosed reason as failure of the sensor in the passenger seat, which would require $1100 repair.mini will not fix because car is out of warranty.mini did not state whether the airbag will or will not function.passenger seat has rarely been used.mini denies responsibility.
Passenger airbag off light illuminated.
Airbag cover on the drivers side has a defect edge on the mini emblem which could cause additional injury to the driver in the event of a deployment.
Air bag light keeps coming on due to faulty oc sensors, and faulty oc sensor connectors. Mini usa refused extended warranty on sensor, or recall while passenger safety is in jeopardy. The passenger side air bag warning indicator illuminated until the engine was turned off. The failure occurred whenever the engine was in operation. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who stated the front passenger seat sensor pad was faulty and would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the problem in which there was no resolution. The approximate failure mileage was 35,000.i believe this is a safety related issue that should be addressed by the dealer as a warranty issue as i am not comfortable with the current situation but do not want to pay for an expensive safety related defect. I am the original owner of the vehicle and still have it.part failed is a seat sensor. Dealer wants close to $2k to replace it, but it failed a long, long, long time ago. I would think it should last longer than 2 or 3 years. Can find tons of the same problems at http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/stock-problems-issues-9-2.html
Airbag light illuminated at all times. Dealership reports $1200 to replace sensor for passenger seat and may impact all airbags if not fixed.
The passenger seat occupancy mat was replaced by recall on 10/28/2016. On 10/2018 i noticed that when there is a passenger in the seat with their seat belt on the air bag was off, in 1 weeks time the passenger side seat belt light was on all the time and the air bag is off all the time with or without someone occuping the seat. Reguardless if the car is idiling or going down the rode. At least before the recalled mat sensor was replaced the seat mat sensor worked most of the time. Now it does not work at all. I took it to the dealership and they tested the oc3 mat (passenger side mat sensor) and said there are multiple codes for the oc3 mat and they found internal faults and it requires replacement again. They said this recall is no longer under warrenty and i need to pay over 1500.00 to have it replaced. It is unsafe for me to have a passenger in my car if we got into an accident their airbag would not be on, there for they would have no airbags to deploy to try and protect them. How is this my fault? they replaced my mat sensor with another faulty one that is worse then the first one.how long are the warrenties for recalls and the parts replaced?i have the papers from the dealership stating what i just reported to you.
I have a 2005 mini cooper s with 60,000 miles on it and about 55,000 miles the airbag warning lamp and passenger airbag off lamp illuminated intermittently. At 58,000 miles it has stayed on constantly. After researching the issue i took the car to a trusted mechanic and he diagnosed that the weight sensor pad in the seat cushion is defective and would require the car to go to the dealer to be replaced. I feel that this is a safety issue and the dealer should issue a recall on the vehicle since it is a well known problem. I have attempted to contact miniusa by email and have been waiting over a week for a response.*ln
The red airbag warning light in the speedometer area came on at approximately 99,450 miles. It came on after driving across a city railroad crossing at low speed. I took the vehicle to the dealer and asked about the light, and they indicated that it would require additional investigation but could be a faulty seat sensor which would cost approximately $1250 to replace.they also indicated that they were not sure whether or not the airbags would deploy properly in the event of an accident.further research indicates that this model and year may also have problems with the wiring harnesses and connections, and that only the dealer can reset the warning light. As of december 2 2010 the vehicle has 113,000 miles on it and the warning light is still on. I believe this is a safety related issue that should be addressed by the dealer as a warranty issue as i am not comfortable with the current situation but do not want to pay for an expensive safety related defect.i am the original owner of the vehicle and still have it. Thanks.
Driving to work in the am. I smell something in the car. When i look at my passenger side seat i saw smoke. Pull over and got a better look at it. I have a holes in my car seat and the two vest that i place on the seat. It appears the heated seat had a electrical failure. Took car to mini dealer. They said it real odd this happen.they also nice to say i would have to paid to fix it. Look at many site on internet and seen bmw/mini and other company have issues with heated seats. It do not seem to odd to me. I did not even had the heated seat on because no one was seating there.
Auto was parked in driveway after a 30 mile drive, turned off and keys removed. After some time being parked, car started billowing smoke from under the hood. Dash lights came on, parking lights came on spontaneously. No keys present in the vehicle. Before i was able to disconnect the battery the apparent short circuit had drained the battery.vehicle was towed to mini of peabody ma where it was determined the electro-hydraulic power steering pump had shorted out causing the wiring harness to be destroyed and also destroying the battery.
Power steering pump fan seized. Per dealership and independent mechanic, most common mini repair.problem is that seized fan motor continues to draw power which drains battery. Had to have car jumped by aaa to get it started to bring in for repair.now all the dashboard electrical functions are malfunctioning: no speedometer/tach/gas gage read out.in excess of $2k to fix plus already paid $400 for new power steering fan and battery, hoping that was all that was needed.
Passenger air bag sensor is defective. The passenger air bag off light, illuminates 3-4 seconds after engine start, along with the red air bag failure light, on the main speedometer. This occurs, whether there is a passenger in the seat, or not, due to this safety defect.mini cooper dealers, deny this is a problem, however, i have found over 40 other complaints registered on this exact defect !!!major repair cost from the dealer, to change the whole bottom seat cushion assembly, which includes the defective air bag sensor, that separates from the seat cushion, after a short time!
I got home from work parked car and heard a whining noise under hood i could seesmoke and buring smell coming from steering cooling fan the fan stayed on and went into extreme high speed and continued to smoke and wiring burning ,i was fortunateenough to be able to disconnect batterywhich stopped fan and electrical burning i have car parked in drive way and contacted my insuranceto file a claim,i am afraid to start car andneed to have car repaired
2005 mini cooper s - engine fire a few days ago (7/27/2011) my 2005 mini cooper s caught fire in the lower rear engine compartment while parked in a business parking lot. It had been driven a short distance (about 6 miles) three hours prior with no indication of a problem. The car ignition was off and there was no key present in or near the vehicle. Fortunately, a co-worker spotted the car billowing smoke from beneath the hood and we were able to quickly extinguish the fire before any significant damage was done to the vehicle or surrounding property. According to the mechanic who diagnosed the car and subsequent electrical fire - the incident was caused by an overheating and eventual ignition of an electrical harness caused by a sudden failure of the power steering pump. I must emphasize that prior to the fire, there was no indication in the vehicle (warning system) or by the vehicles performance that there was any problem with the pump or handling. It failed completely without warning! while parked and unattended! thankfully, the car was not parked in my garage at night where the fire would have certainly gotten a lot worse before being discovered and could have potentially been devastating to my property and family. As it stands the car is scheduled to be repaired at a cost of nearly 1000.00, possibly more as we do not yet know if there was any damage caused to additional components within the vehicle by the pumps failure. I am the original owner and only driver of this vehicle. This car has been regularly maintained and was recently mechanically inspected last march. No issues were found with the vehicle at the time of it's last maintenance and inspection.
Earlier in the day i took the car on a day trip to lake tahoe driving a combination of interstate and mountain pass road. 3 hours later, my wife had taken the car to run an errand and came home and parked the car in the garage completely off and locked. 10-15 minutes later we hear the car alarm going off. We opened the door to the garage and saw white smoke coming from the engine compartment. There was high pitched wining also. When i opened up the door the put in neutral, the lights on the instrument panels were all on with no keys in the ignition.opened the garage and moved thecar to the driveway and away from the house. Called the fire department and i used an extinguisher underneath where orange glow was visible. The glow of the flames were toward the back part of the engine compartment and low.saw no visible flames in the main compartment when the hood was popped open when fire department showed up they used a garden hose to cool engine compartment and suggested to disconnect the battery which i did. I had the car towed to the mini dealer in reno, nv. Updated 8/8/12the consumer stated the parts that seemed to have caused and were damaged in the incident were the power steering pump, power steering cooling fan, and electrical harness all in the engine compartment of a 2005 mini cooper s. Updated 08/14/2012
Battery light flashing, power steering cutting out intermittently while driving. Alternator and serpintine belt replaced but problem continues. Electric power steering seems to be draining electrical system.
Upon starting the vehicle and sometimes while moving at low speeds the power steering would fail making the vehicle extremely difficult to steer. The dealer explained that the relay in the auxiliary engine fan had failed likely as a result of the power steering fan failing. Both the auxiliary engine fan and the power steering fan had to be replaced. The cost of the repairs and labor was $1060.14.
I have a 2005 mini cooper.the airbag sensor in the passenger seat failed around 66,000 miles.i was told that the passenger seat airbag and both door sensors had to be replaced along with the battery cable at a cost of $4000.00. Sounds as if bmw still has real electrical problems in their cars and are sticking it to consumers to fix it instead of fixing these problems themselves.the car has never been involved in any accident.
Power steering system fire.
The power steering failed during a left turn, almost causing me to head straight into opposing traffic waiting at the left turn signal opposite me. I managed to pull the wheel hard enough to get it to the curb. I restarted the car and it was fine. This happened again months later on a canyon road and finally on a 2 hour road trip where i was freeway driving approximately 70 mph when i felt the wheel tighten. As i was on straightaway, it wasn't obvious until i had to exit. Again, i pulled over, turned the car off and restarted with no problem. I brought it in on 11/30/2010 and had to have the power steering pump replaced. Now i have to go in because there is an electrical current coming through my steering wheel.there have been several other issues with this model that are not life threatening but have been an unnecessary expense. Without quick reflexes and, quite frankly, a bit of strength, this could have been a very serious accident.
On 2/11/2016 i got home from work and i parked my 2005 mini cooper s (53,000 miles) on the driveway, turn off car and stayed with my kids & wife since they were waiting for me outside, my wife notice a sound & smoke coming from the car, the smoke were coming from the engine, i immediately open the hood & there was more smoke coming out, the headlights & all the lights turned on & stared flickering, also the wipers turned on, couple of seconds later the botom of the engine was engulfed in flames.my wife ran to get the water hose & i were able to put the fire out, we were lucky that i didn't walk inside the house like i always do, it could have been a horrible tragedy for me, my family and even our neighbors.the next day i had the car towed to my mechanic who after an inspection found out if was the power steering pump that got on fire and damaged all the wires around it, since he is a mini specialist he told us about a recall for that specific part, but to our disappointment he ran our vin # and found that our car is excluded from that recall since its a late 2005 production.that exactly same thing happend to us with the actuators, one day while my wife was shopping with my kids, they just got locked inside the vehicle with the windows rolled up, it was a summer day and luckily she was able to get out through the back trunk, we contacted mini because there is also a recall for the actuators and they also excluded our car saying that it was a late 2005 production and were not able to get the recall.the way we see it mini is not taking responsibility for their defective components, it is not fair since i have no way to find out if my car was build with not defective parts, obviously it was. I am terrified by the idea this could have been worst since we r always driving with our kids. U need to do something about this & make mini liable for these safety issues.
Parked the vehicle after a short trip of approx. 10 miles.left car for approx 5 to 7 minutes.returned to find smoke billowing from under the hood.immediately started to unhook the battery cable.got the battery unhooked and smoke diminished.tried restarting car, restarted fine, but no power steering. Assuming that the power steering pump went up in smoke. Fortunately, damage seems to be limited to ps pump... Not sure yet if smoldering/smoke indicates any other damage under the hood or not.
2005 mini cooper s. Approximately 63,000 miles. October 22, 2009. I had just gotten home from work and parked in the garage. Going in the house i smelled something burning. After a couple minutes of investigating in the house, i decided to go back into the garage, and find that it is a little smokey. I open the garage door and back the mini out onto the driveway. Now there is smoke streaming from under the hood. I can hear spinning/clicking noises coming from the engine compartment. I open the hood and see flames coming out of the back of the engine, below the exhaust manifold.i emptied 3 fire extinguishers into the engine bay and it was still burning. Called 911. By the time the fire department came, the fire had burned itself out. I was extremely fortunate that i went back into the garage within minutes to investigate, otherwise it could've been a huge car fire and potentially fire damage to the garage and house as well.
Started vehicle in the morning of 11/14/2012. The shift indicator on the dash shows ep mode instead of d,r,n,etc. The car seemed to drive fine but there's something wrong with the shifter electronics. The car does not seem to know what drive mode is in. Putting the auto manual transmission into sports mode does not change the shift indicator on the dash. In sports modes it still showed ep. In ep mode the car does not rev beyond 3000rpm and drives rough at certain speeds. This may be a manufacturer defect with a transmission sensor, or the shifter electronics.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated that power steering failed. In addition, the vehicle was unable to be started. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic who advised that the failure caused damage to the electrical system, which had become inoperable. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 105,916 and the current mileage was 105,960.
When adjusting the driver and passenger seats, the airbag light illuminated. After researching online, i conducted troubleshooting. I verified that the wiring harnesses and connectors for the airbag sensors under both seats had come loose, and certain wires de-pinned. The car was running, and parked when this occurred.
I was travel at a speed of 70 mph, when my vehicle lost power immediately down to 15 mph. The engine did not shut off, but i could not accelerate above 15 mph. I was able to pull to the right because the traffic flow was spaced so i could safely pull over. There was no warning that this malfunction was going to happen. The vehicle was said to gone into "limp mode". The electronic belt was replaced that apparently controls the vehicle function at a cost of $3400.00.
The vehicle has loss the power steering assist due to power steering pump failure.thus requiring increased force to steer and control the vehicle.steering has becomes extremely difficult and has made manoeuvring this car far harder and dangerous.the car has spotty electrical failures; example the window just doesn't want to roll up; no, wait, it does. No, wait, it doesn't. The stereo just gives up; no sound anymore,then it plays again. The same with the drivers side door you could here it unlock and re-lock, but the door would not open and then it would. Also both of my keys to open the door both turned off at the same time and i had to have the keys re-calibrated at a mini dealership to reopen the vehicle.
Vehicle fire 5/2/2012.car parked for 4 hrs.returned to car & drove it <50 yards for ~2 minutes (moved it from street to parking lot).turned it off and went in store.returned ~4 minutes later, noticed smoke/exhaust smell; presumed it was adjacent car.unlocked car.car would't start (no lights/electrical at all).i then noticed white smoke coming from hood.opened hood then noticed flame/fire inside engine compartment.went in store, got fire extinguisher and put fire out. Invoice was >$3500 from mini dealer.the dealer's assessment:"verified power steering pump has overheated to the point where it has burned up internally as well as externally (melting allthree connectors and the wiring leading to them). Inspectedpower steering cooling fan and verified cooling fan isseizing up which very likely led to the overheating andeventual failure of the power steering pump. Removed enginecompartment fuse box to examine megafuse powering the powersteering pump, fuse is intact and did not burn up. Inspectedpower steering pressure hose and it appears the rubbersection of the power steering pressure line was subjected tothe heat/melting of the main power connector (it's in veryclose proximity to the connector) and it appears the hosehas taken a level of damage from the heat. Recommendreplacement of power steering pump, the wiringsection/connector pigtail from the fuse box (this is themain power connector), the engine wiring harness (containstwo other electrical connectors to the pump which receivedextensive damage), the power steering fan (likely cause offailure), power steering pressure line (high pressurehydraulic line which has been exposed to the main connectormelting and subsequent heat), and other miscellaneous itemsassociated with those components (o-rings, crush rings, hoseclamps ect...)"
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated the vehicle would not start. She contacted roadside assistance which jump-started the vehicle. The vehicle resumed normal operation. The failure recurred the next day and she was able to have the vehicle jump-started a second time. The dealer removed the battery and there was excessive water surrounding the battery box. The vehicle resumed normal operation for a while until the failure recurred. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the contact was informed that the battery was entirely encased in water and exhibited corrosion. In addition, the dealer advised that the bst cables and fuse assembly would need to be replaced. The dealer was unable to provide an explanation for the excessive water in the battery. The contact was concerned that if the vehicle was repaired, the failure would only continue to recur. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer would not provide any assistance. The current and failure mileages were 28,326.
2005 mini cooper s - engine fire a few days ago (7/27/2011) my 2005 mini cooper s caught fire in the lower rear engine compartment while parked in a business parking lot. It had been driven a short distance (about 6 miles) three hours prior with no indication of a problem. The car ignition was off and there was no key present in or near the vehicle. Fortunately, a co-worker spotted the car billowing smoke from beneath the hood and we were able to quickly extinguish the fire before any significant damage was done to the vehicle or surrounding property. According to the mechanic who diagnosed the car and subsequent electrical fire - the incident was caused by an overheating and eventual ignition of an electrical harness caused by a sudden failure of the power steering pump. I must emphasize that prior to the fire, there was no indication in the vehicle (warning system) or by the vehicles performance that there was any problem with the pump or handling. It failed completely without warning! while parked and unattended! thankfully, the car was not parked in my garage at night where the fire would have certainly gotten a lot worse before being discovered and could have potentially been devastating to my property and family. As it stands the car is scheduled to be repaired at a cost of nearly 1000.00, possibly more as we do not yet know if there was any damage caused to additional components within the vehicle by the pumps failure. I am the original owner and only driver of this vehicle. This car has been regularly maintained and was recently mechanically inspected last march. No issues were found with the vehicle at the time of it's last maintenance and inspection.
About two weeks prior to the fire, my back bumper was hit by someone,nothing too serious just the tail light broken. Their insurance had my car fixed at world toyota collision center in atlanta georgia. On saturday morning, i picked up my car. I noticed clicking noise coming out from inside the car and the steering wheel becoming rigid as soon as i started driving. I pulled to the closest gas station (was in need of gas as well). White smoke came out from the front right after i parked. My husband lifted up the hood trying to see where the smoke is from. Not even two minutes later, there was flame, yes, actual fire underneath the engine compartment. Fortunately, there were two officers next to us at that time so they used fire extinguisher to take the fire down. I'm extremely frightened and disappointed at mini cooper. Very dangerous car.
Earlier in the day i took the car on a day trip to lake tahoe driving a combination of interstate and mountain pass road. 3 hours later, my wife had taken the car to run an errand and came home and parked the car in the garage completely off and locked. 10-15 minutes later we hear the car alarm going off. We opened the door to the garage and saw white smoke coming from the engine compartment. There was high pitched wining also. When i opened up the door the put in neutral, the lights on the instrument panels were all on with no keys in the ignition.opened the garage and moved thecar to the driveway and away from the house. Called the fire department and i used an extinguisher underneath where orange glow was visible. The glow of the flames were toward the back part of the engine compartment and low.saw no visible flames in the main compartment when the hood was popped open when fire department showed up they used a garden hose to cool engine compartment and suggested to disconnect the battery which i did. I had the car towed to the mini dealer in reno, nv. Updated 8/8/12the consumer stated the parts that seemed to have caused and were damaged in the incident were the power steering pump, power steering cooling fan, and electrical harness all in the engine compartment of a 2005 mini cooper s. Updated 08/14/2012
2005 mini cooper s was traveling 50mph when it hit icy bridge spun around and rolled 3 times driver was wearing a seatbelt and passenger was not and got ejected and died.no airbags deployed. Hwy 299.*dt
Takata recall. Dealership wanted to charge me $1000 to fix this airbag. Steering also stiff and at time unresponsive.number three misfire is a design flaw.horn does not work. Lens on headlights make light very dim.
The vehicle began to feel like the transmission was slipping: hesitation, wheels skidding, rough acceleration and deceleration.the problem continues after 2 trips to mini cooper in which the car's computer was "reset" because no problems with the transmission were found.the problem described above persists, but there was also one episode where the car did not start and later turned off while driving on a congested nyc road.
Started vehicle in the morning of 11/14/2012. The shift indicator on the dash shows ep mode instead of d,r,n,etc. The car seemed to drive fine but there's something wrong with the shifter electronics. The car does not seem to know what drive mode is in. Putting the auto manual transmission into sports mode does not change the shift indicator on the dash. In sports modes it still showed ep. In ep mode the car does not rev beyond 3000rpm and drives rough at certain speeds. This may be a manufacturer defect with a transmission sensor, or the shifter electronics.
Defective cvt transmission! the dealership said that it was no fault of ours that we needed a new transmission, but due to the way this transmission was designed!!!!!!!!
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated that while driving at 30 mph, the vehicle overheated and smoke began coming from under the hood of the vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic where the water pump was replaced. After the repair, the power steering ceased without warning upon starting the vehicle. The contact referenced nhtsa campaign number: 15v660000 (steering) as possible cause of the failure however, the vin was not included. Mini of des moines located at (9900 hickman rd, des moines, ia 50325) was contacted and confirmed that the vin was not included. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.
Over heating constantly no technical personknows of a remedy. Overflow tank blows out when car overheats constantly.this seems to be a problem since the beginning no matter what year the car was built and never remedied. Why not a recall? not knowing what other damage this causes to the engine.this has to be a recall for the company to fixit is a hit and miss fix???this is a costly process and even in the forums on mini it has been an ongoing issue.front end fails all at the same time. (control arms, cv joints) steering becomes hard to control.mini help
Vehicle fire 5/2/2012.car parked for 4 hrs.returned to car & drove it <50 yards for ~2 minutes (moved it from street to parking lot).turned it off and went in store.returned ~4 minutes later, noticed smoke/exhaust smell; presumed it was adjacent car.unlocked car.car would't start (no lights/electrical at all).i then noticed white smoke coming from hood.opened hood then noticed flame/fire inside engine compartment.went in store, got fire extinguisher and put fire out. Invoice was >$3500 from mini dealer.the dealer's assessment:"verified power steering pump has overheated to the point where it has burned up internally as well as externally (melting allthree connectors and the wiring leading to them). Inspectedpower steering cooling fan and verified cooling fan isseizing up which very likely led to the overheating andeventual failure of the power steering pump. Removed enginecompartment fuse box to examine megafuse powering the powersteering pump, fuse is intact and did not burn up. Inspectedpower steering pressure hose and it appears the rubbersection of the power steering pressure line was subjected tothe heat/melting of the main power connector (it's in veryclose proximity to the connector) and it appears the hosehas taken a level of damage from the heat. Recommendreplacement of power steering pump, the wiringsection/connector pigtail from the fuse box (this is themain power connector), the engine wiring harness (containstwo other electrical connectors to the pump which receivedextensive damage), the power steering fan (likely cause offailure), power steering pressure line (high pressurehydraulic line which has been exposed to the main connectormelting and subsequent heat), and other miscellaneous itemsassociated with those components (o-rings, crush rings, hoseclamps ect...)"
My problem is with a 2005 mini cooper s. Why is their not a recall on the water pump? it has been know for going out premature and bmw has redesigned the new pumps with a metal impeller instead of previous plastic. Talking to the dealer, they made me feel fortunate that my water pump made it to 50,000 miles stating they replace many water pumps in the 1st generation series around 20,000 miles. I strongly believe this is dangerous, as the failure can cause overheating and requires you to shut off the car, and sit on the side of the road. Cars are not made to over heat. This greatly increases the chance of a fire. Bmw knows they have a problem but is not recalling the water pumps until 2006-2011. I think the 1st generation minis should have the same recall as most minis including mine has/had a water pump issue and would like over a thousand dollars to have it replaced. I have caught mine early but only because i jack up my mini to clean the underbody about once a month. Mini coopers are well known for their water pumps, thermostats, and power steering, failing. I am 18 years old and would like to use this car to travel from south carolina to wisconsin in the future, yet if my coolant system (water pump or thermostat) could go out again at any time and cost a fortune to replace and leave me stranded on the side of a highway. I will be taking a plane every time i travel a few hundred miles and rent a car. This must be addressed! i just paid 1200 for mini to replace a water pump that should have had at the least 30-50 thousand miles more.
A "pop" was heard when i was driving my vehicle on i95.i was able to pull over to the side considering when the "pop" occurred, my mini lost power.as i was pulled over, the vehicle burst into flames.
The mini cooper engine has an internal thermostat that is plastic, when mine cracked and leaked i had no signs showing that.the engine one day got hot, i drove about 5 miles and stopped.i took it to a repair shop and i need a new engine.the repair shop said this happens alot.
My 2005 mini cooper s out of no where buried the needle on the thermostat and was completely overheated.unable to drive any further as i smelt smoke and possibly a sweet smell coming from the engine. Had it towed to a mechanic and have now seen that this is an item that has been recalled on all mini coopers s from 2006 to 2011, i find it hard to believe that the 2005 does not have the same pump electrical circuit board etc. As those and i feel that my car should be also recalled for this item. Obviously, i can not drive it and the price is outrageous to fix it.
Engine cooling fan low speed stage failure. There has been a recall of cooling fan for the same model up to model year 2004.but my 2005 mini cooper s has the same problem.thus, it is appropriate to extend the recall to include model year 2005.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While parked, a fire erupted under the hood of the vehicle. The fire department extinguished the flames. A police report was available. The cause of the failure was unknown. The failure mileage was 10,000. The vehicle identification number was unavailable.
Takata recall. Dealership wanted to charge me $1000 to fix this airbag. Steering also stiff and at time unresponsive.number three misfire is a design flaw.horn does not work. Lens on headlights make light very dim.
The passenger air bag weight sensor stop working. As a result my vehicle displays a warning that the passenger side air bags are off. My driver side fog light housing melted and crack apart. I used stock 55w halogen bulbs. My passenger side fog light housing has also begun to melt. My power steering is not leaking now. But it has been replaced 3 times.
Driving on interstate and lost power. I pulled to shoulder and black smoke came thru air vents. I opened the hood and there was fire. My car completely burned up. I never had any mechanical problems. The tow truck driver said he believed the fire started under my car.
2005 mini cooper s with 42k miles. Driver side door fails to open from the inside. I can only exit the car by using the outside door handle which requires opening the window. If an emergency occurs which requires rapid exit from the car and there was a failure of the electrical system i would not be able to exit vehicle. 42k miles is fairly low and the car has not been abused. Mini cooper claims this is 'normal' wear.it is not 'normal' wear and is indeed a manufacturers defect which apparently happens to many mini coopers.
Both door handles are inoperative from the inside. Dealer per phone call diagnosed "common problem" as the ballard cable disconnecting from the latch. After removing the door panel it was found to be intact. Problem is yet to be diagnosed. It is my assumption that there is a problem with the security system since the doors do not unlock when the ignition is turned off and the doors do not appear to try and lock when the vehicle reaches the set speed of 15 mph. This is a defect of grave concern since the occupants of the vehicle cannot immediately exit the vehicle in the event of a crash or fire and would be totally unable to exit in the event of an electrical failure.
Problem with automatic transmission on 2005 mini cooper s.needs replacement $8000+.only 90k miles.hundreds of complaints on line regarding cvt transmission defect.mini cooper/ bmw not admitting problem to public.
The transmission has failed at 66k miles - as i am researching this problem, i can see that many people have had premature transmission failures with their mini cooper and bmw has not been willing to address the problem.the cost to us will be approximately $10,000 to repair.
Started vehicle in the morning of 11/14/2012. The shift indicator on the dash shows ep mode instead of d,r,n,etc. The car seemed to drive fine but there's something wrong with the shifter electronics. The car does not seem to know what drive mode is in. Putting the auto manual transmission into sports mode does not change the shift indicator on the dash. In sports modes it still showed ep. In ep mode the car does not rev beyond 3000rpm and drives rough at certain speeds. This may be a manufacturer defect with a transmission sensor, or the shifter electronics.
I am the current owner of a 2005 mini cooper s. I purchased the vehicle in 2006 from mini of irvine with 3,000 miles. I have recently been experiencing issues with the cvt transmission. The car jerks when changing gears at any speed, as well as when switching from drive to reverse. I have taken the car to mini of san diego to be diagnosed and have been notified that the transmission needs to be replaced at a cost of $8,000. The vehicle currently has 73,000 miles and find it completely unacceptable that the transmission is failing so early on.
Defective cvt transmission! the dealership said that it was no fault of ours that we needed a new transmission, but due to the way this transmission was designed!!!!!!!!
In the early fall, september 2011, i encountered issues with my car not shifting properly. It's an automatic transmission so i know there was nothing i could be doing to cause this problem. The car has been serviced regularly and driven with care while in my possession(i'm the second owner. No similar issues on carfax report). While the engine is cool and not yet at its optimal temperature the drive is fine and you may not even notice a problem; however, every ride, once warmed up the car begins to shift incredibly violently as it is obviously struggling to switch gears. This occurs also while slowing down and the car is downshifting creating an opportunity to be "slung" into a car from behind(this happened in the mid summer of 2011). After dropping this car off september 15th to the local mini dealership, i did not hear from them for almost three weeks.in the first week of october i was contacted and told it looks like my car is very easily fixable and should be ready shortly.it was explained to me that a seal had broken on the transmission leaking fluid onto it causing this shifting malfunction. When they finally told me i can pick up my car(approximately october 18th) they regretted to inform me the problem was not able to be fixed and i would have to bring it elsewhere as they do not rebuild transmissions. Now it is back in my possession where i am forced to commute in it daily, driving worse than it was before i dropped it off. It now displays "pe" for its current gear from time to time. This is not the only complaint i have filed for this car matching other consumer complaints. I am a victim of their failed power steering as well.
Transmission previously replaced at 48k miles by manufacturer due to noise. My transmission is broken. My tires chirp every time i push on the gas because the transmission does not know what gear to be in due to the bad body control valve. The transmission needs to be replaced because i cannot verify how much mechanical damage has taken place during the time that the valve body has been broken. Once the valve body breaks down, the mechanical unit also begins to break down. Mini needs to issue a service bulletin telling the dealers to commence servicing the aisin transmissions every 40k by replacing the fluid. Bmw/mini's transmission fluid is not lifetime. Volkswagen issued a similar bulletin a few years ago because it also uses the aisin transmission. The independent repair shops may not replace the fluid right because the transmission fluid is hard to drain and in many cases if it's not done right, great damage is done the engine.the consumer stated the vehicle was under powered upon acceleration. The vehicle would jerk, and buck. The valve body in the transmission began to break down because the shavings from the transmission gears began to cloud the fluid and inhibit communication from the valve body solenoids to the mechanical components.updated 03/23/16.
Takata recall. Transmission would not shift gears intermittently while in automatic. Spent $5,600 to rebuild transmission. Still having intermittent issues.
While proceeding down a normal dry road i manually shifted the transmission (using manual mode on the cvt automatic transmission) from 3rd gear to 4th gear. The shift normally would be smooth however on this occurrence the engine idled extremely high and the gear kicked in after a couple of seconds with a loud banging sound when the gear finally took hold. The car behaved itself for a while but this event started happening more and more until it became a regular occurrence.most of the time there was no loud noise but the 4th gear would not catch and i adjusted my driving so that i would shift from 3rd gear to 5th gear as quickly as possible to avoid the over revving.i brought the car in to a local transmission shop. They looked it over and advised me that there was no way of repairing the transmission and that i would have to replace it entirely. I am currently working to locate a new transmission as during the last occurrence (july 21, 2012) the car did not go into 4th gear and i was stuck on a highway without being able to move, i.e. The car would not go into any gear.after pulling over to safety i was able to put the car up to 3rd gear and return home. The car is currently unusable. I am not working with the manufacturer / dealer as previous experience has shown me that they are extremely expensive and financial gain is there primary objective. In addition all the internet blogs that i have reviewed, and joined / commented on has shown me that bmw / mini does not work with their customers to rectify this bad, unsafe product.i am hoping that bmw / mini will work with their customers who are stuck with his bad product and i am on a list to support a class action suit against them.
The automatic cvt transmission just down shifted and now won't go into high gear.this will happen on the freeway and will shift and clunk into gear.bmw is aware of the problem with this transmission but won't stand behind their product. It is very dangerous to drive.
2005 mini cooper s-began having issues with the car jerking when shifting gears (not a manual transmission) in early 2009.i took it to my mechanics.they had it for quite awhile, trying to determine the root cause.they advised that they even consulted with the dealership, but said they felt like the dealership wasn't very forthcoming in their information. My mechanic ultimately decided that he thought it was a sensor that neededto be replaced. $500 to replace this sensor.the rough shifting continued and on june 2, 2009, while i was out at lunch, i lost first gear altogether.the car would move forward, but was not able to pick up any real speed until the rpm's got high enough.i pulled over into a parking lot, put the car in park and turned the car off.when i started it again, i had the use of first gear again, but this time it felt as though it wouldn't shift out of third.i drove it very slowly and carefully back to my office.i called the dealership, told them that i was going to need to have it towed in, and asked if they had a towing service.she said no, but recommended a towing company.i had it towed it but didn't hear anything back from anyone until monday, june 8, 2009.my husband was told it was the transmission and that it would be $8,000 for the transmission and $2000 for the labor.hard to believe anyone could say that with a straight face.around june 9, 2009, the mini service manager said he was going to work with it a little bit and see if he could get any of those costs covered under aservice bulletin.today is june 16, 2009.my husband hascalled, left voicemails, and even gone up the dealership.we have heard nothing back from the mini service manager.my husband spoke to the bmw service manager, who told him that we'd have to wait and talk to the mini service manager.
Vin: [xxx], delivered sept. 2004. Current mileage 49,940this car was ordered via mini.com. The only drivers are a 63 yr female and a 63 yr male. No children have ever driven this car, nor has it been raced, driven hard, simply driven to work and backlast week i was driving to work, a 11 mile trip max speed on a 55 mph highway. The front end made a huge noise, the car shook, and i stopped. I had to call a towing service, as i felt the car was undrivable. The service towed the car to mini of nashville, where i was told the "harmonic balancer"broke, and it then broke the front axle.what? i asked, is a harmonic balancer" and what does it do?, after a lengthy conversation, i find out that if the car is too old, the rubber dries out and this can happen. For a part to wear out, i am stuck with$2,000 repair bill. This car is not too old, it has less than 50,000 miles on it and is always garaged.if the parts mini uses on a car and if mini knows that they wear out then mini should fully disclose this, as consumers can make informed decisions when making decisions on car purchases. This is not what i expect from a mini, this car was gently driven, well taken care of. Your "harmonic balancer" is defective, you should make the buyers of your cars aware of the defect, put yourself in positions to make it right.this car was undrivable, i could have had a serious accident at high speed if a broken axle occurred while on a long trip, let alone the inconvenience of repairs, hotel stays, and other interruptions.i am expecting mini make this repair as a warrantied item, covering the cost, labor to repair defective parts.the invoice is dated 29 april 2011, mini of nashville, i am customer # 31442.the invoice reads as follows: the driver states while driving it sounded like something fell out from underneath the mini.11 - replaced dampner.1035 cthere are many incidents of this on the web. I firmly believe this is the result of using inferior parts.information redacted pursuant to the freedom of inform
24 degree morningcar's manual 6-speed transmission frozen in 1st gear.took other car to work. Problem gone after returning from work at 40 degrees. Looked up online. Saw many of the same complaints due to water in shifter cables.
Passenger side "air bag" off light is on all of the time and thus, the passenger air bag will not be deployed in an collision. Have had sensor worked on, system flashed by bmw, etc to resolve issue. Bmw unable to resolve without extensive cost.
I have a 2005 mini cooper. The airbag sensor in the passenger seat failed around 50,000 miles. I was told that the passenger seat had to be replaced at a cost of $1400.00. This is a know issue with this year of mini cooper s. Dealships need to be aware of this problem and mini/bmw needs to have a recall.
The passenger seat occupancy mat was replaced by recall on 10/28/2016. On 10/2018 i noticed that when there is a passenger in the seat with their seat belt on the air bag was off, in 1 weeks time the passenger side seat belt light was on all the time and the air bag is off all the time with or without someone occuping the seat. Reguardless if the car is idiling or going down the rode. At least before the recalled mat sensor was replaced the seat mat sensor worked most of the time. Now it does not work at all. I took it to the dealership and they tested the oc3 mat (passenger side mat sensor) and said there are multiple codes for the oc3 mat and they found internal faults and it requires replacement again. They said this recall is no longer under warrenty and i need to pay over 1500.00 to have it replaced. It is unsafe for me to have a passenger in my car if we got into an accident their airbag would not be on, there for they would have no airbags to deploy to try and protect them. How is this my fault? they replaced my mat sensor with another faulty one that is worse then the first one.how long are the warrenties for recalls and the parts replaced?i have the papers from the dealership stating what i just reported to you.
Driving to work in the am. I smell something in the car. When i look at my passenger side seat i saw smoke. Pull over and got a better look at it. I have a holes in my car seat and the two vest that i place on the seat. It appears the heated seat had a electrical failure. Took car to mini dealer. They said it real odd this happen.they also nice to say i would have to paid to fix it. Look at many site on internet and seen bmw/mini and other company have issues with heated seats. It do not seem to odd to me. I did not even had the heated seat on because no one was seating there.
The occupancy sensor has failed. This causes the airbags to be unarmed while the vehicle is in use. I have contacted mini about the problem. They covered the repair on certain vehicles, but not mine. This is a safety issue, and it should be covered on all vehicles that it has occurred on, regardless of mileage. The repair is very expensive, and should be covered.
Seat warmer failed to shut off ad burnt a hole in the seat and in my jacket. May have started a fire if i had not shut it off. This car had been in fla for most of its years and also had low mileage - clearly a defective part.
Passenger air bag sensor is defective. The passenger air bag off light, illuminates 3-4 seconds after engine start, along with the red air bag failure light, on the main speedometer. This occurs, whether there is a passenger in the seat, or not, due to this safety defect.mini cooper dealers, deny this is a problem, however, i have found over 40 other complaints registered on this exact defect !!!major repair cost from the dealer, to change the whole bottom seat cushion assembly, which includes the defective air bag sensor, that separates from the seat cushion, after a short time!
The airbag sensor in the passenger side seat does not correctly detect a person sitting in it.when a passenger is in the seat, the airbag sensor stays "off".
When passenger exited vehicle, light airbag off notification came on. This happens every time someone exits the passenger seat. Also airbag warning light & seatbelt not buckled light come on.
Pulled2005mini cooper s in garage,brakes worked fine. Next day, backed car out the garage and the brake pedal went to the floor. No brakes at all! no fluid in the reservoir so i refilled it but still no brakes at all. Had car flat bedded to walsh's garage7 mile rdredford,mi 313-532-2823rear brake lines were totally rusted thru where the brake lines are held up to the frame. Lines were rusted thru under the bracket that is tacked to the frame. I do not drive the car in the winter and hardly ever in the rain so i can just imagine what the brake lines would like if i drove it in the winter in michigan??i contacted mini usa and they did not seem to care about my brake failure?? the rep stated: " what do u want mini to do about it?
Right after exiting the highway, the steering wheel became suddenly very stiff as i was making a standard 90 turn. I almost hit the car next to me but didn't as i managed to hit the brakes. I finished the curve on the very last lane on the right. If a car had been on my way, it would have been a crash, fortunately there was none.mini diagnosed a power steering pump failure. Browsing on the web, i came across pages of people having had the same issue for this year's model (mini cooper s 2005). Canadian authorities even ordered a recall for this exact same failure.i have also read that nhtsa is currently studying this issue; could you please confirm this is trueany idea how long is the process to decide whether or not a recall will be decidedif a recall was decided, would we get reimburse not matter the repair was done in a mini dealer or an independent garage ?thank you
On tuesday, 5 april 2011, i drove my 2005 mini cooper s about 20 - 25 miles heading for work - i made a brief stop for coffee.the car operated properly during this drive, however, when i left the coffee shop i notice a very acrid smell in the area. When i got in my car and started it the "battery" indicator light was on.i check the owner's manual and it said this indicated the battery was not being charged.as the car was running i decided i could drive it to work and then address the charging issue.when i back out of the parking spot i realized i had also lost my power steering.i was concerned that my car might not be cooling as well, so moved the car to a spot further out in the parking lot to allow for a tow truck to pick it up.i realized the acrid smoke smell was still with me and decided to check under the hood. When i lifted the hood i found there was a fire in the engine compartment.fortunately i carried a fire extinguisher and was able to put the fire out - the fire department also responded.the car was towed to sandia mini cooper in albuquerque nm and i have since been informed that the power steering pump malfunctioned and caused the fire.from some research i have done on line it appears this is not an issue isolated to my vehicle, but that it was occurred in a number of cases.
The power steering pump on my 2005 mini cooper s failed, making it extremely difficult to drive the car.a service shop indicated this is a common problem for the mini's. My is out of the warantee, howvere it only has 45k miles. When i called bmw/ mini north america to discuss a remedy but they told me the vin number for my car was not one covered by the extended warranty for this problem, while my car is a 2005 with very low milage they will not offerany assistance whatsoever to help me replace the part as my cars production date is june 2005, which is past the production date for cars getting the extended warantee on p/s pumps.it seams unscroplous to hide from responsability of faulty parts, also potential safty issue. While my car may be produced a few monhs after the production date from the cars they are willing to warantee, it apperars i am suffering from same issues as the otheres they are waranteeing.verry discuraging bmw/mini.
Multiple power steering failures.initially when driving for more than 1 hour, now (jan. 2011) often goes out when driving more than 10 minutes.sometimes comes/goes during a turn.extremely difficult to handle when cornering in the city or parallel parking.
The power steering in my car has failed continuously. We had the entire rack replaced in 2011 - the steering fluid constantly leaks, or burns dry - for the last few months, the power steering pump does not stop running when the vehicle is parked - requiring for the battery to be disconnected at every stop, or risk a dead battery.
Found need more turning of steering wheel at traffic light into the cross street, then parked the car, turned off engine but still found something running in engine bay.thought it was the fan to cool the engine off, so didn't pay attention.at lunch, come back to pick up the car, and found its battery was drained almost totally.jumped the car without issue and drove back home without issue.turned off engine and still hear the noise of something running in the engine bay.pulled all fuses to see if can identify the problem, doesn't help, something still run with load noise.searched internet, found other owners also experienced the same and is the power steering pump failure, some even found failure while driving.
Over the past 9 months my power steering will stop working, i will usually notice this when i start my car and go to move i am able to drive my car but it is very difficult to steer,if i turn off my car and turn it back on occasionally it will start my power steering back up this is not a constant thing but is happening more frequently.i have found that there is a recall on the power steering for the mini cooper but my vin number isnt included in this recall i am very concerned thati have the same problem i need help please
My 2005 mini cooper s has power steering wheel failure.it started happening after the car hit 50,000 miles which i think it's still too low for any cars.i first encountered the problem a couple weeks ago when i was trying to make a left turn on a main rd.the steering was so difficult to turn even with both hands that i had to come to halt in the middle of the road.the car would have hit the building if i kept on going at full speed which is 30 miles.so glad there was no car behind me.encountered a few more times after this.my car is now parked at my condo lot as it cost over $1300 to get it fixed.it will be very dangerous is this happens on the freeway.a few of my friends have the same problem.something needs to be done or life will be lost.bmw/mini needs to do something about this.
We purchased our 2005 mini cooper less than a week ago.it has 51,000 miles on it.i was traveling on the interstate for about an hour.i tried to take an off ramp to the right traveling about 60 mph and realized the power steering had failed.i applied the brake and brought the car to a stop.i slowly drove the car to a gas station where i turned the car off.the fan continued to run.i waited for about 10 minutes and restarted the car.the power steering was working again.2 days later i was driving in town only 10 minutes and the power steering failed again.i was driving in freezing rain...thank goodness i was in town.if the steering had failed on the interstate with these weather conditions there could have been a serious problem.i am taking my mini into the dealership tomorrow. When we bought the mini cooper we thought we were buying a safe and dependable car..now it looks like an unsafe money pit.
The contact owns a 2005 mini coopers s. While driving 30 mph, the power steering begin to fail and the vehicle became uncontrollable. The contact shut off the vehicle and when restarting, the power steering resumed normal operation. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where a diagnostic test was performed. The dealer informed the contact that the power steering pump would need to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified who advised the contact that there were no recalls on the vehicle and offered no further assistance. The vin was not available. The failure mileage was 93,000.
I have a 2005 mini cooper s with mileage of about 72k.the power steering failed on and off for a week and was completely gone on mar 5.updated 07/26/11 the dealer replaced the power steering pump. Updated 08/19/11
Power steering intermittently turned on and off during the normal operation of the car three times since purchase ten months ago. The actual failure of the power steering pump occurred on 8/16/2010 when the relay within the unit failed and would not turn the pump off even when the cars engine was off. The result was a drained battery and the car was unable to be jump started because the power steering pump turned on and continued to drain power as soon as it was connected to power even with the engine off and the key out of the ignition. This is very dangerous as the steering wheel is nearly impossible to turn when the pump shuts down and all three occurrences were when traveling at highway speeds in excess of 55 mph. Also when the car is off the cooling fan is also off and the pump heats up to the point where there is a very real risk of engine fire. The car was towed to a mechanic to have the power steering pump and the cooling fan replaced. The work is not yet completed but the estimated cost is 1,700 usd. This appears to be a recurring problem with mini coopersas the number of forums devoted to and persons reporting this issue on the forums are astounding.
Parked the vehicle after a short trip of approx. 10 miles.left car for approx 5 to 7 minutes.returned to find smoke billowing from under the hood.immediately started to unhook the battery cable.got the battery unhooked and smoke diminished.tried restarting car, restarted fine, but no power steering. Assuming that the power steering pump went up in smoke. Fortunately, damage seems to be limited to ps pump... Not sure yet if smoldering/smoke indicates any other damage under the hood or not.
2005 mini cooper s; while driving at highway speed 60 mph going around a bend on the highway complete failure of power steering car was very difficult to maneuver and almost crashed into median.
Our 2005 mini cooper s has intermittent steering issues. The power steering comes and goes. When researching the fix, i found that a lot of people are having the same issue. There is even a guy on ebay selling remanufactured power steering pumps at an average of one every three days. (based on ebay feed back).
I was driving down brookwood street and went to make a curve when i realized that i couldn't turn the car. I was able to pull harder on the wheel and make the curve. I pulled over and turned the car off to look things over,checked the power steering fluid which was full. I restarted the car and the steering worked again.i finished driving to work with no problems. When i came out of work i again had no power steering and had the car towed into a shop where they told me the power steering pump had failed and it was going to cost over $1300 to fix.i had the repair done but am afraid to drive the car as they told me it could happen again even with the new part.
Power steering is intermittent making car difficult to control. I'm the second owner of car. First failure occurred at approximately 85,000 miles.
Power steering pump had to be replaced at 62,000 miles due to failure.
The power steering failed during a left turn, almost causing me to head straight into opposing traffic waiting at the left turn signal opposite me. I managed to pull the wheel hard enough to get it to the curb. I restarted the car and it was fine. This happened again months later on a canyon road and finally on a 2 hour road trip where i was freeway driving approximately 70 mph when i felt the wheel tighten. As i was on straightaway, it wasn't obvious until i had to exit. Again, i pulled over, turned the car off and restarted with no problem. I brought it in on 11/30/2010 and had to have the power steering pump replaced. Now i have to go in because there is an electrical current coming through my steering wheel.there have been several other issues with this model that are not life threatening but have been an unnecessary expense. Without quick reflexes and, quite frankly, a bit of strength, this could have been a very serious accident.
2005 mini cooper s. Complete power steering failure. Shutting off engine and restarting corrected problem for a short time, then problem resumed. Happened numerous times over the course of the next two weeks.
Power steering appears to not be working.power in the vehicle is interrupted at low speeds after driving the vehicle for a brief period of time.symptoms of this began occurring over three months ago with the battery of the car being drained after sitting for a period of 4 days or more.all relays and fuses have been checked.the power steering pump cooling fan was found to have been inoperative and was removed, cleaned and reinstalled approximately 2 weeks ago.
My 2005 mini cooper s had a sudden power steering failure while approaching a highway off ramp. I went to turn into it and the car had become a tank. After some panic braking and all the upper body strength i could muster on the steering wheel... I did not fly into the ditch, but had the road been wet or icy i have no doubt the results would have been different.contacted the local dealership and was estimated $1200 for the repair of a known factory defect.
The power steering pump stopped working the first time when i stopped to get a sandwich. When i restarted the car to drive off the steering was very heavy. I shut the engine off once again so i could look under the hood to check things out but everything looked fine so i restarted the engine to try to drive off again and the steering still was very heavy. No power assist. This has happened four times since, one time while i was driving.
While driving my mini cooper s '05, i suddenly lost power steering, which made it extremely difficult to steer. I feel threatened driving my car.
In the early fall, september 2011, i encountered issues with my car not shifting properly. It's an automatic transmission so i know there was nothing i could be doing to cause this problem. The car has been serviced regularly and driven with care while in my possession(i'm the second owner. No similar issues on carfax report). While the engine is cool and not yet at its optimal temperature the drive is fine and you may not even notice a problem; however, every ride, once warmed up the car begins to shift incredibly violently as it is obviously struggling to switch gears. This occurs also while slowing down and the car is downshifting creating an opportunity to be "slung" into a car from behind(this happened in the mid summer of 2011). After dropping this car off september 15th to the local mini dealership, i did not hear from them for almost three weeks.in the first week of october i was contacted and told it looks like my car is very easily fixable and should be ready shortly.it was explained to me that a seal had broken on the transmission leaking fluid onto it causing this shifting malfunction. When they finally told me i can pick up my car(approximately october 18th) they regretted to inform me the problem was not able to be fixed and i would have to bring it elsewhere as they do not rebuild transmissions. Now it is back in my possession where i am forced to commute in it daily, driving worse than it was before i dropped it off. It now displays "pe" for its current gear from time to time. This is not the only complaint i have filed for this car matching other consumer complaints. I am a victim of their failed power steering as well.
Power steering failed.extremely difficult to steer without it.after the car as turned off and then cooled: 30 minutes later the power steering worked again.this has now happened on 3 occasions over the last 2 weeks: all on days with the temperature in the 90s.i called the mini service but they said that they won't fix it under the extended warranty on the power steering pumps (150k miles, 13 years) unless its failed while they have it.very dangerous to drive this way with unexpected failures: especially for my wife who would not be able to force it through turns without power steering.i don't understand why there has not been a recall on this power steering system.
I have a 2005 mini cooper s with less than 85k miles it.the power steering has completely gone out. Before it went out completely, it would stop occasionally with out warning while driving the vehicle. The primary impact is as low speeds, parking or turning for example.this vehicle has run flat tires making steering an even bigger challenge.it is a safety hazard and due to the high cost to replace this function and safety hazard it imposes,, the car has been sitting for over a year. There has been a recall on this specific year & model of vehicle for the exact same issue- however it did not include my particular vin.i believe this to be an issue of epidemic proportions and would ask that this be looked into if possible. The mini cooper s is a great little car, however steering is a vital and a required safety measure that i feel mini/bmw should gladly cover in all vin's during this time frame.
Auto was parked in driveway after a 30 mile drive, turned off and keys removed. After some time being parked, car started billowing smoke from under the hood. Dash lights came on, parking lights came on spontaneously. No keys present in the vehicle. Before i was able to disconnect the battery the apparent short circuit had drained the battery.vehicle was towed to mini of peabody ma where it was determined the electro-hydraulic power steering pump had shorted out causing the wiring harness to be destroyed and also destroying the battery.
On 2/11/2016 i got home from work and i parked my 2005 mini cooper s (53,000 miles) on the driveway, turn off car and stayed with my kids & wife since they were waiting for me outside, my wife notice a sound & smoke coming from the car, the smoke were coming from the engine, i immediately open the hood & there was more smoke coming out, the headlights & all the lights turned on & stared flickering, also the wipers turned on, couple of seconds later the botom of the engine was engulfed in flames.my wife ran to get the water hose & i were able to put the fire out, we were lucky that i didn't walk inside the house like i always do, it could have been a horrible tragedy for me, my family and even our neighbors.the next day i had the car towed to my mechanic who after an inspection found out if was the power steering pump that got on fire and damaged all the wires around it, since he is a mini specialist he told us about a recall for that specific part, but to our disappointment he ran our vin # and found that our car is excluded from that recall since its a late 2005 production.that exactly same thing happend to us with the actuators, one day while my wife was shopping with my kids, they just got locked inside the vehicle with the windows rolled up, it was a summer day and luckily she was able to get out through the back trunk, we contacted mini because there is also a recall for the actuators and they also excluded our car saying that it was a late 2005 production and were not able to get the recall.the way we see it mini is not taking responsibility for their defective components, it is not fair since i have no way to find out if my car was build with not defective parts, obviously it was. I am terrified by the idea this could have been worst since we r always driving with our kids. U need to do something about this & make mini liable for these safety issues.
My 2005 mini cooper s appears to have lost its power steering. Just happened today (11/22/10) as i was driving on the interstate. I did not lose control or anything like that. It just became exceedingly difficult to steer the car.
Power steering has failed twice.once was in rush hour traffic and the other was in mid-day traffic.the vehicle became extremely hard to handle.the first time, i almost caused an accident.my car only has 53,000 miles and this should not be happening.
Temporary loss of power steering.after driving for about 2 hours, i stopped to fill up at a gas station.i then started the car and began to drive out of the gas station.i soon noticed the power steering was not working.i pulled into a parking space, opened the hood, and proceeded to check the power steering fluid.the power steering fluid reservoir was full.i restarted the car after about 5 minutes and the power steering was working again.this temporary power steering loss has occurred 3 more times over the last month since the initial incident described above.during the last occurrence, i drove a short distance back to my home with no power steering.i'd like to point out steering was very difficult, nearly undriveable around slow speed turns.the steering effort was much more than manual steering cars i've owned in the past.
Power steering failure on my 05 mini cooper-s. Power steering just stopped working while driving the car on the road in regular traffic, was turning left into a parking lot from a 5 lane road when it quit working, was barely able to turn the wheel enough to safely make it into the parking lot and avoid a crash. Apparently as of now if i turn the car off and then back on the power steering might come back on; terribly dangerous problem to have on a part on a car that should last the life of the car. Repair estimates are around $800-1300, and is apparently a common problem w/ these cars.
Electro/hydraulic power steering unit failure @ 87,000 miles . Unit will not shut off unless the battery cable is disconnected.mini usa refuses to cover the part under the current recall.
I made a left turn at a light and the power steering quit working in the middle of the turn. The steering became very heavy and i thought i had a flat tire. I pulled over and checked the fluid and the level was correct. I continued driving and the steering was fine.
I started the car cold before heading out and the power steering was completely out. After several minutes it started working again, although not with the full assist. Since this time, every time i start up the car, i have a varying degree of assist for the first couple minutes of driving it.
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.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While driving 35 mph and at other speeds, the power steering fan became inoperable and power steering functionality was lost. The vehicle was taken to a repair shop where the power steering fan was replaced at the contact's expense. The manufacturer had not been notified. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.
Pulled into a bookstore came back 30min later, tried to pull out of the parking lot and there was no power steering.my wife isn't quite strong enough - so i had to drive it the rest of the way home.very sudden and without warning, could have been much worse.power steering pump failure.
Temporary loss of power steering.
2005 mini cooper power steering failure.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While the contact was driving approximately 40 mph, there was a complete loss in the power steering without any prior warning. The contact was able to continue driving with caution at a reduced speed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who stated that the power steering pump would need to be replaced. The contact planned to have the vehicle repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. There was currently there an open investigation associated with nhtsa action number ea11005 (steering: hydraulic power assist: pump). The approximate failure mileage was 60,000. The vin was unavailable.
I have a 2005 mini cooper s with 51,000 miles on it. I recently had to replace the lower control arm bushings and have had a creak in my steering column that is getting worse. Last month, i first experienced complete lack of power steering. The car corrected itself and worked properly until a few intermittent occasions this week. Turning off the car and turning it back on seem to temporarily correct the lack of power steering. However, it is very temporary. While driving, i can feel the steering response change on/off due to lack of power steering control. When the power steering fails, the wheel is very difficult to turn. It feels like a 1961 chevy truck with a 350 v8. It is nearly impossible to steer the car from a dead stop making parking extremely difficult. I am being forced to drive below the speed limit to limit my liability in corners and turns, especially on the interstate. I am setting up an appointment with my local mini dealer to address and correct the failure. I understand this is under investigation by nhtsa, but i cannot wait to have the repair. I am bewildered as to why there hasn't been a recall yet. It is unacceptable that a vehicle's steering system can fail after very little miles. Mini needs to be held accountable for this problem.
Failure to powersteering started acting up in january of 2014 after i got my o2 senor replaced. Was told to continued to drive car because the o2 sensor needed to recalibrate itself. So now in april 9th 2014, while getting ready to take off for work,i could not steer the car, called aaa to have car towed to dealership. This is when i was informed it was in fact the power steering pump, and that it would cost me 1700 to replace, im outraged.
On date of incident, was attempting to park when the steering wheel locked up (became very difficult to move). I managed to get the car into a spot and called for tow assistance. The repair shop diagnosed as a power steering pump failure and had to replace that and other affiliated components (cooling fan, etc.).approximately 4 days before the failure, the power steering fan was uncharacteristically whinny, but went away after a few minutes and was not heard again before the failure.
Electric power steering pump failed while i was in a turn at 30 mph.steering became very heavy and nearly caused the car to leave the road due to greatly increased required steering effort.shut car off and checked fluid level.fluid level found to be full.researched the problem when i got home and found that this is a known safety issue with mini's.additionally, transport canada has issued a recall already on these power steering pumps due to continued failures.
About two weeks prior to the fire, my back bumper was hit by someone,nothing too serious just the tail light broken. Their insurance had my car fixed at world toyota collision center in atlanta georgia. On saturday morning, i picked up my car. I noticed clicking noise coming out from inside the car and the steering wheel becoming rigid as soon as i started driving. I pulled to the closest gas station (was in need of gas as well). White smoke came out from the front right after i parked. My husband lifted up the hood trying to see where the smoke is from. Not even two minutes later, there was flame, yes, actual fire underneath the engine compartment. Fortunately, there were two officers next to us at that time so they used fire extinguisher to take the fire down. I'm extremely frightened and disappointed at mini cooper. Very dangerous car.
The car has been having issues with the power steering assist.the power steering assist goes out intermittently making it dangerous to drive in the transition from power steering assist to manual steering.i hope this assists the investigation into this issue.
The power steering suddenly went out on my 2005 mini cooper s as i was about to turn right onto a highway on ramp. I felt the lack of power and continued straight so i could pull into a service station up ahead. The power steering was intermittent for a bit then totally out, leaving me with a 45 minute drive down the mountains to home without power steering.i have had multiple incidents of the power steering fan running after the car was off. Now it looks as if the fan is no longer cooling the pump causing it to overheat which could start a fire.i am planning to try to replace the fan soon but i am just a broke college student so i really hope this recall goes through.
Experienced abrupt and complete loss of the power steering system simultaneous with an immediate and sharp decrease in power.this incident occurred at 75 mph on an interstate highway, car in middle lane.very narrowly avoided collision with a truck when moving vehicle to full stop in emergency lane.vehicle currently not in use as we feel it is a road hazard and unsafeto operate in current condition.also awaiting for response from mini dealer.
On september 12th i was making my commute home from work in my 2005 mini cooper s. Upon my return home, my battery indicator light went on. I parked and turned off the car and the next morning when i went to run errands the power steering was non-existent. I had he car towed to the bmw/mini dealership where they gave me a diagnosis of a failing power steering pump and a bad alternator. Updated 09/08/11
After driving for approx 2 hours at highway speeds, power steering failed.noticed upon exiting highway - no accident, but steering required unexpectedly significant force.
2005 mini cooper spower steering assistance suddenly disappearing from time to time, at least once a month. So far i avoided accident but this can be dangerous. I heard it happens to a lot of minis, but there is no recall issued.
My power steering just totally went out in the middle of a corner and i came within inches of plowing through oncoming traffic. I took it to the shop and they said that there might be a recall on this soon. Powers steering will now come on intermittent.
Power steering assist failed to operate without warning while i was parking the car, mini cooper s 2005 model year.there was no service light or any other warning before the failure occurred.
Battery light flashing, power steering cutting out intermittently while driving. Alternator and serpintine belt replaced but problem continues. Electric power steering seems to be draining electrical system.
I have a january 2005 built mini cooper s (r53) with approximately 21,000 miles on it. On february 12, 2011 i was driving the car on a winding road in southern california when the power steering pump catastrophically failed without any warning in the middle of a high speed turn. The unexpected power steering pump failure made the steering completely unresponsive causing the car to spin out of control and nearly hit a tree (i was very lucky that i wasn't killed!). After doing some research, it appears that unwarranted power steering pump failures are quite common with the earlier mini cooper models. I feel that this is a huge safety concern that should be addressed by the manufacture via a mandatory safety recall.after the initial catastrophic failure of the power steering pump, the pump would work intermittently in that it would run fine for a while and then fail again without warning a short time later making the car extremely dangerous to drive. At times, the electric power steering pump would not switch off after turning off the car's ignition and the car's battery would ultimately go flat leaving us stranded.we took the car into the mini dealership on 2/17//2011 and they diagnosed the car as having a bad battery (claiming that the battery was so low that the car was actually shutting down the power steering in order to stay running). They charged us $160 for the diagnostics. We then replaced the battery with an oem batter from the dealership ($130) and it didn't make any difference. We also contacted the manufacturer (mini usa) directly and they were unwilling to help claiming that the car was no longer under the manufacturer's warranty.ultimately, on july 26, 2011 (at 21,385 miles) we replaced the failed power steering pump (part # 32-41-6-778-425) at a cost of $735.29 (plus labor). The mini dealership wanted well over $1,000 to perform the work and so we purchase a remplacement pump from the mini dealership and had it installed ourselves.
The vehicle has loss the power steering assist due to power steering pump failure.thus requiring increased force to steer and control the vehicle.steering has becomes extremely difficult and has made manoeuvring this car far harder and dangerous.the car has spotty electrical failures; example the window just doesn't want to roll up; no, wait, it does. No, wait, it doesn't. The stereo just gives up; no sound anymore,then it plays again. The same with the drivers side door you could here it unlock and re-lock, but the door would not open and then it would. Also both of my keys to open the door both turned off at the same time and i had to have the keys re-calibrated at a mini dealership to reopen the vehicle.
My power steering pump on my 2005 mini cooper s failed at 45 mph in downtown los angeles. I have taken my vehicle in for a diagnoses in which they informed me the repair would be over $1k. I declined the repair as i have located a number of complaints regarding this issue, and am now taking it up with mini hq.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While in park, the contact heard an abnormal noise coming from the front of the vehicle after the vehicle was turned off. The contact had to disconnect the battery cable to get the noise to stop. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the power steering assist pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 103,000....updated 02/19/16 ... Updated 05/03/18
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper 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 1/29/13updated 2/7/2013
The first time my power steering went out i was at a stop sign. I was making a right turn and had difficulty making the turn. The power steering went out again another time when i was in the middle of a turn, making it difficult to turn. I was fortunate there were no other cars around. Today, 8/20/2012 is the most recent day that it went out. I was driving at approximately 35 mph and making a left turn when i noticed it was out. I have figured out that if i turn off my car it comes back on. Luckily i had to stop before getting onto the freeway so i was able to control my car at high speeds.
Intermittent power steering loss resulting in several complaints to dealer. Dealer provided no working resolution.power steering loss in this vehicle made steering very difficult and resulted in excessively dangerous driving conditions.power pump finally failed and needed to be replaced.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated that while driving, the vehicle lost steering power. He turned off the ignition and restarted; after the restart, the steering capabilities returned. The failure progressed and became worse. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer but they could not duplicate the failure. The current and failure mileages were approximately 80,000.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated while driving approximately 25 mph, there was a sudden loss of power steering. The vehicle was taken to a dealer who stated that the power steering pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 15,000 and the current mileage was 45,000.
Owner parked mini cooper at store went inside. While in store, heard over intercom that her vehicle was on fire. She went outside and saw flames underneath front of vehicle. Fire went out before fire department arrived. Investigation found that electro-hydraulic power steering system wiring had overheated and burned only - nothing else ignited. The damage was consistent with the previous ea analysis ea07-011 pertaining to 2002-2003 mini coopers.
Complete power steering failure on my way to work this morning while turning a corner from the highway to city street.i found an open safety recall dec 2015 for 2005 model mini cooper s but my 2005 vin is not included.it seems a major safety concern like this would be taken care of by the oem.
Power steering abruptly stopped working while cornering causing driver to use heavy manual force to corner the vehicle thru a tricky viaduct train bridge passageway.while midway into the turn, the power steering abruptly "kicked back on" causing the steering wheel to turn violently across lane and nearly into corner of cement wall holding up overhead train bridge.other cars were missed, and driver stopped car with front bumper slightly touching viaduct cement wall.wife and 7 year old child were on the impact side of vehicle.vehicle was checked by an independent mechanic which noted the ehps power steering pump is failing.he cleaned the power steering pump and installed a new cooling fan on the power steering pump.the pump was overheated and packed with metal debris.independent mechanic advised me to return to mini as potential recall issue which has been widely reported but refuted by mini.power steering pump still has significant noise and is scheduled for review by a mini dealer.
Power steering failed as i was making a right hand turn from one street to another.while 1/2 way into the turn the steering no longer responded and started to go straight into oncoming opposing traffic.it took quite a bit of effort to yank the steering wheel and avoid a crash (much more effort than steering my 54 chevy pick up truck).had car towed to bmw/mini dealer - diagnosed as "power steering pump shorting". Cost of repairs to replace power steering pump (including new p/s hoses): $1977.62.
Upon starting the vehicle and sometimes while moving at low speeds the power steering would fail making the vehicle extremely difficult to steer. The dealer explained that the relay in the auxiliary engine fan had failed likely as a result of the power steering fan failing. Both the auxiliary engine fan and the power steering fan had to be replaced. The cost of the repairs and labor was $1060.14.
Takata recall. Dealership wanted to charge me $1000 to fix this airbag. Steering also stiff and at time unresponsive.number three misfire is a design flaw.horn does not work. Lens on headlights make light very dim.
Power steering pump failed while driving on the freeway, resulting in loss of steering control.
Power steering pump failure. The steering wheel completely locks up and can't be turned. On top of that, it's completely unpredictable when the failure occurs.the first time it happened i was taking a right turn out of a roundabout, when the steering wheel wouldn't turn completely.fortunately, i was going slow enough that i could brake so that i didn't have a head on collision with a car waiting at a stop light. It was extremely scary.
Power steering pump and cooling fan failure. Unsafe to drive and safety hazard.poor engineering design with regards to placement of pump / fan and electrical load.defective (rebuilt and not new) parts from mini dealership repaired under warranty one time. Mini does not stand by its products or engineering.replacement and repairs occurred 3 times in less than 5 years and less than 65,000.updated 07/26/11updated 2/29/12
Power steering fails intermittently.failure has occurred numerous times whileparking and twice unexpectedly while driving and making a right turn.makes car hard to maneuver and unsafe because of the unpredictable nature of the failure.
Steering effort increased tremendously during low speed driving and at any speed during turning. Power steering appears to be inoperative.
Power steering for the last year or so only works a fraction of the time. The first time it went out was while driving on the freeway. Last weekend it stopped working and didn't work again for a full week. Very hard to drive this vehicle when it goes out unexpectedly.
Power steering pump seized and needed to be replaced. Power steering fan failure and also needed to be replaced. Power steering hoses leaking and also needed to be replaced.output shaft seal is leaking, but has not been replaced at this time.these repairs cost me approximately $1000!i have found numerous complaints about power steering failures in the 2004-2005 mini.please make bmw pay for this!
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. When the vehicle was started, the steering wheel became very difficult to turn and the service engine soon warning indicator illuminated. The contact stated that the steering failure worsened since december of 2017. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed, but the cause of the failure could not be determined. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was advised that the vehicle was not included in nhtsa campaign number: 15v660000 (steering). The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 63,000.
Vehicle darting around on road like steering stops then starts back up,acceleration darts left , deceleration darts right.
I drive a 2005 mini cooper s, with approximately 49,000 miles driven.on october 22, 2010, the power steering on the car completely failed while driving on the highway, leaving barely enough control over the car to drive very cautiously.the car was diagnosed by two mechanics, one a reputable new england chain and the other an expert mini cooper facility, and both determined that the power steering pump, rack and fan had all failed on the car.even using refurbished parts, the repair is costing $1,100; with new parts, my understanding is that the repair would have been upwards of $2,000.my understanding is that nhtsa is already investigating frequent power steering issues for minis in this date range.the mini shop doing the work for me certainly confirms the stories i've read about other shops around the country - the manager told me that they're doing about 6-7 power steering jobs per month on these cars.hopefully the addition of my situation to the database can help justify a recall - it certainly seems warranted based on the volume of problems that mini owners have had.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated that the steering wheel was difficult to control and the steering pump stayed on while the vehicle was turned off causing the battery to fail. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that the power steering pump failed and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 74,000.
I was exiting the interstate and the ramp curved to the right, as i began to negotiate the curve i noticed i had no power steering at all. I reached my destination about 15 minutes later and had no power steering assistance at all the entire time.i parked the vehicle and did not use it again until 9/3/12 and the steering appeared to be working properly again.in reading the investigative study i noted that it may be due to an error in the internal electronics and may also result in a continuous running of the power steering pump.last year almost to the day, the electrical system went haywire and the car would not steer and had what seemed like power surge and after shutting the car off and removing the key the car continued to make a clicking sound and the windows rolled down by themselves.i could not get the car to restart and had it towed to the dealer and was told to replace the battery,which i did, i now wonder if that was a related incident.
On sept. 19, 2010, my 2005 mini cooper s had been parked in a garage for about 10 hours. When i went to leave, i found that the power steering was not working at all and i had to really muscle it to drive it. I'd never had a problem with it before. Because i had to get to where i was going, i drove it very carefully. After about forty minutes, i stopped at a service area to use the restroom. When i came back out and started my car up, the power steering was working again. Since then, i've had no problem with it. I had planned on mentioning this to my mechanic when i go in to have my brakes done in the next week. But then my husband forwarded me a news story about the power steering issue and i figured that i should report mine.
Lost power steering and ability to make turn easily
There is a power steering pump recall for this model (nhtsa campaign number: 15v660000) but the date cutoff is for cars produced by february of the 2005 model year.my car (2005 mini cooper s with 86,000 miles) has a production date of june 2005 and is not eligible for the recall.the power steering pump has failed making steering difficult and more erratic.steering now requires substantially more force, so my wife is currently unable to drive the car without concerns for her own safety.if the manufacturer feels that the part they used after february 2005 was not subject to this "glitch", then why is the part malfunctioning in the same manner as the admittedly faulty part?
The power steering on my 2005 mini cooper s began malfunctioning on 8-9-2010. While going left on a mixmaster, the power steering failed and i thought i was going to hit the side of the bridge and perhaps drive off of the side of the bridge. The passenger in my car helped me steer (with force) to the left and drive to the straightaway. The power steering is intermittent, working five percent of the time. My car was serviced in june of 2010 due to a problem with the tension belt, which caused the car to have a burning smell and no air conditioning. The "service engine" light is on ten percent of the time and the "check tire pressure" light is on often, though i no longer have run-flat tires. My car is difficult to drive due to the lack of power steering. At the time of the first incident, my car had approximately 75,000 miles.
Drove car to work - someone came in a few minutes after i arrived at work and told me my car was smoking.went out and looked but smoke had stopped by time got bonnet open.came from front passenger side.when started car to leave work - had warning light and power steering wouldnot work.mini manual said to stop immediately.had car towed to local german repair shop and the said power steering motor had burned up and melted all the adjacent wiring.had to replacemotor and wiring. *ln
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While driving various speeds, the contact experienced intermittent power steering failure. The contact associated the failure with nhtsa campaign number: 15v660000 (steering); however, mini of marin (5880 paradise dr, corte madera, ca 94925, (415) 887-2194) and the manufacturer were contacted and stated that the vehicle was not included in a recall. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was unknown.
2005 mini cooper s.intermittent failure of power steering under varied driving conditions.although nhtsa has opened investigation, bmw has not issued a recall yet.local mini service department will change the electric steering motor at about $1000, but is unaware of the reason for the failures.
Went to dinner and came out and started my car and it was super hard to steer
I started my car after it had been sitting parked for a few days, to find that my power steering had completely failed.the car was next to impossible to drive - but i had to move it to avoid it being towed.while able to maneuver the car with great difficulty, this unpredictable failure could have been catastrophic had i been driving on the highway, or in a densely populated area requiring quick steering reactions.this seems to be an endemic problem.see this thread on the mini north american motoring discussion pages:http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/stock-problems-issues/74213-the-great-power-steering-pump-failure-problems-thread-22.html.
Power steering pump failed while driving on freeway over snoqualmie pass.since it is a windy road, steering became difficult.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s convertible . The contact stated while driving at the speeds of 30 mph, without any warning the power steering malfunctioned. The vehicle was turned off and then on when the power steering began to functionproperly. The failure occurred four times. The failure was notdiagnosed or repaired. The dealer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 75,000 and the current mileage was 75,020.
Power steering pump failed while driving.it is a combination electro/hydraulic pump.electrical burn smell was evident. I almost got in an accident, and luckily there was no car in the other lane or i would have hit them.canada has made bmw mini recall these as it is a common problem.
Power steering pump failure on 2005 mini cooper leads to dangerous driving
Intermittent complete loss of power steering. Now is no longer working.has caused very serious situations and potential accident.
Power steering unit stopped working driving normal highway conditions resulting in very difficult driving/handling.car has 48,000 miles and has been serviced on schedule. Unit's fluids were normal and driving conditions were a normal commute.potentially a very dangerous condition.
I bought a 2005 mini cooper in sept 09 with 61,450 miles.several months later the steering "cut out" as i turned a corner.i took it to our mechanic who couldn't find anything wrong & said that it may just be that a speck of dirt that got into the system.it happened a couple more times and i assumed that the "dirt" was working its way out. Then i had a dramatic incidentwhere not only did the steering suddenly and unexpectedly cut out, but there was tremendous "drag" on the system and it took all my might & main to turn the steering wheel.trying to make a right turn i found myself in the opposite lane.i took the car back to the mechanic who eventually got the car to fail for him.he told me to go to a mini service center who could deal with the faulty electronics.i called mini of america to ask for assistance in making the car "right" but i was told that cars break, that it is beyond the 50,000 warranty and that if the car was unsafe, i should have it fixed.the rep said that "maybe" they would pay for part of the problem after it was diagnosed.i thenspoke with a mechanic at a mini service center who knew immediately what was wrong.he said this is a common problem with minis before 2007 ----first the problem is intermittent, then the electronics completely fail. Paying for maintenance and repairs for a car that i own is my responsibility but i believe that a car manufacturer is obligated to put out a safe car.if this is a design error, then the company should make it right.when i turn the wheel, i need totrust the electronics to respond -- because my life andthe lives of my passengers depends on it. I think that mini should be required to insure that the computer that governs steering operates properly.at present i have a car that sits driveway because it is too dangerous to drive.i am making a trip to a city that has a service center in two weeks and i am hoping that mini corrects this problem with no expense to me.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact received a recall notice for nhtsa campaign number: 15v660000 (steering). The contact took the vehicle to the dealer (irvine mini, 9829 research dr, irvine, ca 92618, (888) 238-7585), but they refused to repair the power steering due to a discrepancy in the part numbers. The manufacturer was contacted and stated that they would call the contact back. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 170,000. Parts distribution disconnect.
I am a proud owner of a 2005 mini cooper s with 108k miles. Recently i experienced the infamous ehps pump failure that the pump will continue running after shutting off the car. It drains the battery completely so i hooked up my battery charger to it overnight.after performing some google researching on this subject matter, i realized mini had issued an extended warranty on the ehps system in 2013 and later superseded by the recall 15v-660. Unfortunately my production date (august of 05) does not fall in the range of the recall. The recall covers production between september 2001 to february 2005. Further reading on this issue, many owners expressed that they have success on cleaning the dust inside the pump to solve the shorting issue within the pump. So i disconnect the battery, removed the pump from the car and start taking the pump apart. After removing the cover, i realized the short had already melted down one of the brush (the gold color piece in img_9730) and some other components inside the pump. My research showed that this pump is the exact same one that was used as the recall one, bmw part number 6769961-02 (img_9733). Later on the part number changed to 6769961-03. So i wondered why my car isn't part of the us recall. I also found that the transport canada recall #2012029 does provide extended warranty (12 years / 200k km) on the pump and pump cooling fan for all 2002-2005 cooper and cooper s in canada.i hope someone can further investigate this potential fire hazard issue for all affected production units that is outside of the recall. It is definitely a safety concern for all mini owners and passengers that utilize this ehps pump.
The power steering has been failing on and off for the past 2 years.i first noticed it when i was trying to get out of a parallel parking spot.upon turning off the car and restarting it, the power steering was restored.it most often happened when maneuvering out of parallel parked spots.sometimes it would happen several times in one day and then not again for a few months.several times when i was driving i felt the power steering lock up and have had to drive the car to safely and restart the steering.i took it in to the mini dealership and described the problem.i was told it sounded like the power steering pump and given a quote of $895 to get it replaced.
The power steering on my 2005 mini copper s foes out intermittently which could potentially cause a terrible accident. I refuse to pay more than 1,000euros (since i serve overseas) to fix a "known" problem that bmw mini chooses to ignore despite the valid complaints from all over the world....
2005 mini cooper s. Approximately 63,000 miles. October 22, 2009. I had just gotten home from work and parked in the garage. Going in the house i smelled something burning. After a couple minutes of investigating in the house, i decided to go back into the garage, and find that it is a little smokey. I open the garage door and back the mini out onto the driveway. Now there is smoke streaming from under the hood. I can hear spinning/clicking noises coming from the engine compartment. I open the hood and see flames coming out of the back of the engine, below the exhaust manifold.i emptied 3 fire extinguishers into the engine bay and it was still burning. Called 911. By the time the fire department came, the fire had burned itself out. I was extremely fortunate that i went back into the garage within minutes to investigate, otherwise it could've been a huge car fire and potentially fire damage to the garage and house as well.
Power steering pump failed, and there is a recall for 2002-2005 coopers, but for some reason our vin is not covered, why?obviously the recall came long after the cars were delivered, does our really have a different part number of pump?why isn't our covered by the recall?
Power steering has been failing to work intermittently over the last couple of years.it occurs mainly after starting the car and driving away from a stop.stopping and restarting clears the problem.it did happen once at freeway speed on a left hand off ramp.it made the steering very heavy and hard to turn and could have lead to loss of control had the pavement been slippery.the power steering did return after slowing and completing the turn.
Power steering completely fails.
2005 mini cooper s (bmw) power steering unit failure - vehicle has less than 50,000 miles.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While driving 15 mph, the power steering failed without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the power steering pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. Mag mini dublin in columbus (5825 venture dr, dublin, oh 43017, (614) 389-6854) was contacted and stated that the vehicle was not included in nhtsa campaign number: 15v660000 (steering). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 103,000.
The passenger air bag weight sensor stop working. As a result my vehicle displays a warning that the passenger side air bags are off. My driver side fog light housing melted and crack apart. I used stock 55w halogen bulbs. My passenger side fog light housing has also begun to melt. My power steering is not leaking now. But it has been replaced 3 times.
I have a 2005 mini cooper s. Last year the power steering pump randomly stopped working on my way to school.i did not crash or anything but it was very hard to steer my car.i have not replaced the pump because honestly i do not know how to and i believe the pump costs nearly $1000.the pump on my car still works fine most of the time.now every once in a while on sharp corners the pump will give out and if i pull over, shut the car off, and turn the car back on the pump will work again.this is obviously either a defect with the pump itself or the electronics which run the pump.the fact that shutting my car off and turning it back on makes me think it is mostly an electrical problem, possibly inside the pump itself.
During the first incident i was driving in town, suddenly the steering had a hard resistant making it difficult to do a right turn.i had to muscle the wheel in order to keep from veering into oncoming traffic.when i pulled the vehicle over to do an under the hood inspection and check the steering fluid level, i saw nothing that indicate damage. Once i restart the vehicle, it seem to correct itself.i though was it was maybe a fluke.later on, my wife indicated she heard a whining noise that came from under the hood, and ask me to look into it.after looking it over, i add some belt dressing, because i thought could have been the problem. In the meantime i made several calls to the mini dealership in tempe, az. The service manager stated this noise could be several indicators, such as an aging steering pump, a mixture of non-recommended fluid in the reservoir or the pump could be going out. I dismissed the mix fluid indicator, because the levels were always within range and to my knowledge was never tampered with or topped off. As several months went by, the vehicle continue to operate without incident, other than the whining noise, which was heard when the vehicle was started for the first time of the day, or while the vehicle was running in idle. Recently, my wife call me from work and indicated while she was driving to work for the 2nd time, thesteeringseem to lock and was difficult to steer. She manage to drive home without injury to herself or others. That same day, when i looked over the vehicle for leaks, damage or fluid levels and the vehicle steering again locked in place.after a little research, i found this has been a major safety issue with the 2004 and 2005 mini coopers, which has been acknowledged by mini of canada who issued a recall. On the flip side, mini corp in the us and local dealers do not. Please advise with a reply.
While driving on a 2 lane 2 way (1 per direction) rural road very windy on my daily commute into my office i lost power steering.i was on a straightaway and luckily not in a curve because the steering instantly became tight and at low speeds is almost unable to steer.i say almost because i i am able to drive with great effort and attention however any evasive movement for an emergency may cause me to be involved in an accident. I have seen mimi had a recall for the exact issue in canada but has not had a recall in the usa while we are having the exact problems. Mini also changed the steering pump/fan/wiring in the 2006 models which is the last year of production on the exact model i own.obviously they (mini) is aware and tried to fix the issue on their end without a recall.
My power steering went out while i was making a left turn in front of oncoming traffic. I managed to avoid hitting the curb and pulled over after completing the turn. It felt like driving with four flat tires. After restarting, the power steering worked again. The same thing happened again two days later. In both cases, this happened shortly after starting up.
While driving, the power steering stops working.this problem is intermittent and happens every few days.simply cycling the ignition gets it working again but is a big safety concern in my book.
While driving my 2005 mini cooper s through a crowded parking lot, my power steering just suddenly went out without warning. There was no indication of the sudden failure and i was barely able to get my mini into a parking spot away from pedestrians.
My 2005 mini cooper s has had the power steering go out several times. This happens with no warning and has caused me to almost be involved in an accident. As i was changing lanes on major highways i couldn't turn the wheel and almost went into a concrete wall. It also went out while on a trip in the mountains, i was very concerned about going off the side of a mountain road. This power steering pump also has stayed running and killed my battery leaving me to find a jump. The issue is that it turns off and on at random times and with no warning.
My power steering began to stop working as i rode. I would park the car, switch the engine off and restart and the power steering would come back. This happened several times both in back roads and highways. Finally last month it stopped working completely and now it is very difficult to drive and really a danger to be on the road with.
The power steering goes out intermittently.
Power stearing went out on 2005 mini cooper while driving on lots of curves along columbia river, seems to be a thing with these cars after looking on line. Just glad i'm not swimming with the fishes due to having to muscle the car on the road.
Power steering cuts out intermittently. Power steering comes back after restarting vehicle. Then fails later again.
Complaint in association with nhtsa action number: pe10038 2005 mini cooper s - power steering failure while driving.i own a 2005 mini cooper s with approximately 60,000 miles on the clock.recently while driving home from work, in the process of turning a corner, the steering on the car became instantly heavy causing me to temporarily veer in to the oncoming traffic lane.fortunately at the time there were no other cars coming in the opposite direction and i was able to compensate for the loss of steering control and correct the direction of the car.the situation remained for the duration of my journey, but i was able to safely navigate the car home.i restarted the engine and this appeared to correct the problem.however, during the next 2 car trips similar failures occurred (fortunately i was prepared for the possibility and so did not end up in the opposing traffic lane).the mini dealership diagnosed this as a failure of the power steering pump, a problem which i understand to be the subject of a recently opened nhtsa investigation (pe 10038).personally i believe this situation to be potentially extremely dangerous.there was no warning that the power steering was going to fail, and when it did, the impact was immediate and caused me to steer in to the oncoming traffic (as a result of not being able to turn the corner at the required angle).due to the immediate nature of the failure i was not able to correct the problem safely in time.i am writing this report to be added to the existing nhtsa investigation (pe 10038).
I own a 05 mini cooper s that has power steering problems..the steering went out when driving 75mph..since then the power steering motor will not shut off on its own and the battery must be disconnected which is another issue altogether...i am not able to drive this vehicle as it is not safe...it started as an intemittent problem and now is a constant problem...i only own this vehicle as was hoping mini would step up and take care of this...
Was driving in traffic on interstate 95 when power steering failed without warning. Car became very difficult to drive. Pulled off road, checked fluid levels and couldn't find any obvious problems. Power steering came back on when restarted car.power steering stayed on for rest of drive, but has gone out several times since. Always comes back if turn off car and restart.
I have an 05 mini cooper s and the power steering pump is defective along with 80,000+ others. I am roughly around 90,000 miles and the pump has just recently stared going out due to what the dealership called a "defective leak on the actually body of the pump". I asked them what i should do and they wanted to charge me $1100 to "fix it" but said that it could go out and fail at anytime while i am driving. This is a serious issue because my wife would not be able to control the car if it could go out at anytime? they also said that this was a very common problem in 04/05 mini coopers. I really wish somebody would make them recall this potential life threatening problem without charging us $1100 for their mistake in designing/installing the power steering pumps???
The car had been performing normally and when i attempted to turn into a parking space it was suddenly extremely difficult to turn. After coming out of the store the car resumed steering correctly. Then a few days later the same thing happened-it was terribly difficult to turn the vehicle. I called my mechanic who suggested checking the power steering fluid level. I was unable to find in my owners manual where the power steering reservoir was located. The mechanic checked the fluid the following week and found the level to be normal. He investigated and found that there had been problems with power steering in other cars of my type. I ended up having to have everything replaced-pump, fan and reservoir at a cost for parts alone at $1033. I feel that if this problem was known to the manufacturing company that this should have been a recalled item for safety sake. The recall extended only to vehicles manufactured as of december 31, 2004. My vehicle was made in february 2005.
My 2005 mini cooper s had the power steering fail while i was driving. This car only has 56,000 miles. I took the car into the dealer to have maintenance done on it last week and was told the power steering pump was "seeping" but was not of immediate concern and i could wait on fixing/replacing it. Today there is almost no fluid in the reservoir and i am unable to purchase at any local auto part store as no one carries (chs 11s) apparently a type of mineral spirit. In researching the issue, i found this to be a very common complaint and discovered that the national highway safety administration is investigating the issue so i wanted to add my voice. I was traveling at a low rate of speed in a slight corner at the time and yet still had a very hard time maintaining control of the car. Please look into this issue, this could really lead to a tragedy.
2005 mini cooper s intermittently loses power steering, this happens without warning and renders the vehicle nearly impossible to steer.the first time it happened was on an elevated exit ramp and almost caused me to strike the safety wall.after a drastic slow down i was able to strong arm the vehicle back on course.this has happened several times since - most dangerous when it cuts out and the randomly comes back on causing severe over-steering.*ln
I have a 2005 mini cooper s. The power steering went out on me as i was driving on the bay bridge. Almost killed me and god only knows who else was on the bridge! how can the people at bmw sleep at night knowing there are minis out there with this problem! do the research and you will see how many terrified mini owners are out there! thank god i was in the far right lane so i could pull the car over and coast the rest of the way. The car was towed to minisf, who told me the power steering pump failed. I replaced the pump, but for some reason the problem continues intermittently. The fan runs all the time, even when driven for a short time. The entire system needs to be replaced. And, what's worse is the thought of selling this car to someone who might experience the same terror i did. There were no injuries or crashes. Thank god for that.
2005 mini cooper s power steering pump failure. This is the second time within a two year period that i had to replace the pump.the result is a sudden loss of steering control and degradation of the battery.
Since i had the car in 2009 i had this problem with the power steering that it has a failure. Bmw no response for this its a pump that its not design correctly. Lost of minis has this problems. Hard to steer and almost got into a crash.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While driving 30 mph, the power steering failed. The failure was intermittent. At times, the power steering would reset itself after being turned off and restarted. The vehicle had not been inspected or repaired. The manufacturer had not been notified. The vin was unavailable. The failure mileage was approximately 63,000.
While driving on the freeway (i-684) at 65 mph the vehicle lost power steering assist approx. 30 miles from my home. This made the car difficult to control, especially when taking turns in and off of exits. Much force was required to maintain control and steering the vehicle for the rest of the trip home. I will report this to mini on monday.
2005 mini cooper s, 50,000 miles on the odometer, loses power steering which causes significant problems at slow speeds.the car will still steer at faster speeds, but with very heavy, unpredictable response.the problem began with an increased droning noise when the steering wheel was in the neutral position which would diminish when the steering wheel was turned. The problem was intermittent, and therefore, i thought it was related to a low fluid level issue.i went to the dealership and purchased "special" steering fluid, and no mention was made to me about any steering pump defect.i installed the fluid to the recommended level with no change in response. I telephoned the dealership service department and the person who answered the phone said he knew the problem, and that i needed a new steering pump, cooling fan, hoses, and reservoir, and the cost of the work was $1600.00.i then did internet research and learned that this problem is frequently experienced in 2004 and 2005 mini cooper models.i then telephoned mini cooper's corporate complain department and i was told to spend the money to repair the car.this problem is undoubtedly a persistent defect, and should be the subject of recall repair program.
I was driving my 2005 mini cooper and took a sweeping right turn onto a freeway on ramp. During the turn the power steering stopped working and it took an extreme amount of force on the wheel for me to avoid hitting the side of the overpass as the car wanted to continue going straight.. It proceeded to cut out again as i tried to get it home. Luckily i was able to control it and park it. When i turned the car off the pump continued to run and drained the battery overnight. The car would not start in the morning.
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 mini cooper s. The contact stated that power steering failed. In addition, the vehicle was unable to be started. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic who advised that the failure caused damage to the electrical system, which had become inoperable. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 105,916 and the current mileage was 105,960.
Power steering pump fan seized. Per dealership and independent mechanic, most common mini repair.problem is that seized fan motor continues to draw power which drains battery. Had to have car jumped by aaa to get it started to bring in for repair.now all the dashboard electrical functions are malfunctioning: no speedometer/tach/gas gage read out.in excess of $2k to fix plus already paid $400 for new power steering fan and battery, hoping that was all that was needed.
2005 mini cooper s.power steering failure:i was driving my car for about 10 minutes, when the power steering failed. I reached my destination (without power steering), the car sat for approx 3 hours, when i got back in the car, the power steering worked.the first occurrence was on tuesday, june 14, 2011. On wednesday, june 15, this occurred numerous times after driving the vehicle only for a few minutes. Again, after the car sat for a few hours, the power steering resumed working. My car has approx 56k miles on it, and i am the original owner of the vehicle.updated 07/26/11 updated 3/16/12
Problem of power assist failing causing steering to become difficult.only happens after been on highway for more than 15 minutes.very similar to other reports on 2004-2005 mini cooper s's reporting this problem.
The mini cooper was sitting in the garage.my family noticed a distinct burning smell.we did not know where is was coming from. The burning smell was traced to the garage, but still did not identify the source.the next day when the vehicle was driven, there was no power steering.upon inspection and removal of the power steering pump, all the electrical connections to the unit were melted.the power steering unit and the wiring harness leading to the unit are damaged and must be replaced.in conclusion the unit drew power while the car was off and fried the electrical connections.
The power steering pump on my 2005 mini cooper s failed, making it extremely difficult to maneuver the car safely in traffic.i was able to get the car to a service shop and later discovered that this is a very common problem.i called mini, and they told me that the vin number for my car was not one covered by the extended warranty for this problem, even though my car is a model year 2005.they offered no financial assistance whatsoever to help me replace the part.a new part was quoted as 1300 dollars, and that was aside from the labor.for cost reasons, it looks like i will have to install a refurbished part instead, which gives me concerns about future failures.
Sometime in late summer of last year, my car began to make a "honking" sound. It sounded like the clutch that had already been replaced on both of our 2005 mini coopers under warranty (another possible safety issue?) but the clutching seemed ok. Up until the time i was able to get the car in to the shop to get looked at, i noticed a puddle in the garage, and i also noticed it was getting harder to steer. The shop determined that my steering rack was leaking and needed to be completely replaced, which we did. Now, just over 1 year later, the car is already exhibiting the same behaviors exactly. Something in the vehicle is causing the rack to malfunction and require replacement.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While driving 35 mph, the vehicle lost power steering ability without warning and became difficult to steer. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the power steering pump failed. The vehicle was not included in nhtsa campaign number: 15v660000 (steering). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 131,000. Updated 07/12/16*ljupdated 07/14/16.
The car was in motion when suddenly the steering wheel became very hard and the driver lost control, almost causing an accident. There has been a recall for mini cooper s vehicles (15v-xxx safety recall) involving the electric-hydraulic power steering system. The recall includes 2002-2005 models, and extends the warranty up to 13 years or up to 150,000 miles. Our vehicle falls under those requirements, and is a 2005 model and has 69,751 miles, yet we were told that there are no existing recalls for our vehicle, even though we suspect that the incident we had involves the hydraulic steering system.
1 normal driving all the sudden steering wheel got hard to move , then it loosened up and then caused oversteer2 power steering pump failureput car into ditch damaged 2 tires/rims3 replaced the fan unit once then the entire pump the second time it is currently out for the third time.
Power steering assist fails repeatedly. Solution has been to stop car and restarted engine; seems to reset pump electronics. This intermittent power steering failure has happened dozens of times in the 3 years we've owned the car and can be very dangerous if driver is not aware of the change in steering ability. We're going to have to replace the pump i believe and with all the other complaints about this problem i feel mini/bmw should view this as a manufacturer defect and cover under warranty -- it is clearly a dangerous part and poor design.
Power steering no longer works.
I had to replace the power steering pump as it had failed. It first failed while i was on a highway off-ramp and nearly crashed. The failure was due to the power steering fan seizing and therefore it was not cooling the power steering pump. After some investigation of my own, i found out that the root cause of this problem was the low fan speed resistor failed on the engine cooling fan. The power steering fan will only activate once the engine cooling fan is running. If the low fan speed relay fails, the engine cooling fan will only turn on at 233f (high speed fan minimum temperature). Once the engine cooling fan turns on at 233f, the power steering fan will turn on to cool the power steering pump. The power steering fan will be too hot at this point and will overheat itself and seize. The power steering fan failure then causes the power steering pump to overheat and fail. If the power steering fan is not replaced before the power steering pump fails, this causes the entire hydraulic system for the power steering system to fail as well and leak hydraulic fluid. If the power steering system fails, this can cause the power steering pump to ultimately catch on fire due to it overheating from low levels of hydraulic fluid. The complete replacement of parts alone for the power steering system is $1,296.35. This system is required for driving the vehicle at any speed as it is a "power assisted steering" system, thus making it very hard to control the vehicle at any speed. If you visit any mini forum (i.e. Www.northamericanmotoring.com or www.motoringalliance.com) you can find hundreds of posts about the power steering system failing in minis. I replaced the pump and fan ($876.46 parts cost), then had to replace the entire system ($1296.35 parts cost) when the system failed again because of the low speed engine fan resistor failing and causing the entire problem.
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.
Power steering system fire.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While driving approximately 15 mph, the power steering failed and caused the steering wheel to become very difficult to turn. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the power steering pump was faulty and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 115,000.
2005 mini cooper s - engine fire a few days ago (7/27/2011) my 2005 mini cooper s caught fire in the lower rear engine compartment while parked in a business parking lot. It had been driven a short distance (about 6 miles) three hours prior with no indication of a problem. The car ignition was off and there was no key present in or near the vehicle. Fortunately, a co-worker spotted the car billowing smoke from beneath the hood and we were able to quickly extinguish the fire before any significant damage was done to the vehicle or surrounding property. According to the mechanic who diagnosed the car and subsequent electrical fire - the incident was caused by an overheating and eventual ignition of an electrical harness caused by a sudden failure of the power steering pump. I must emphasize that prior to the fire, there was no indication in the vehicle (warning system) or by the vehicles performance that there was any problem with the pump or handling. It failed completely without warning! while parked and unattended! thankfully, the car was not parked in my garage at night where the fire would have certainly gotten a lot worse before being discovered and could have potentially been devastating to my property and family. As it stands the car is scheduled to be repaired at a cost of nearly 1000.00, possibly more as we do not yet know if there was any damage caused to additional components within the vehicle by the pumps failure. I am the original owner and only driver of this vehicle. This car has been regularly maintained and was recently mechanically inspected last march. No issues were found with the vehicle at the time of it's last maintenance and inspection.
Power steering pump was making a loud whining noise as soon as the car was started, and would "wind down" a few seconds after the car was turned off. The pump and fan were both replaced thankfully before the system failed.
About a month ago vehicle steering became very difficult. Vehicle has 117,650 miles on it. Driving is very difficult as steering is very heavy.
The power steering has failed in this vehicle.mini cooper has a recall on this make, model and year but says my vin is not included.mechanic stated power steering unit needs to be replaced.
On multiple occasions at various speeds and at random times, the power steering on my 2005 mini cooper s will stop working. After researching the issue, this appears to be a very common problem that plagues almost every mini sold since 2002. I would also like to reference nhtsa action number :ea11005, as it applies to my particular issue.
Power steering pump failed to turn off with vehicle.resulted in battery being drained and ultimately loss of power steering.power steering pump, fan, and fluid had to be replaced as a result of fan becoming seized, pump overheating and failing.
Power steering pump failure and car become very hard to turn.almost crashed into a curb take a 90 degree sharp turn.all fuses related to pump did not fail.steering fluid level is at proper amount.i jacked up the car front the front and it was a little better without any load on the from end but felt very notchy about every 20% of a full turn of the wheel.electric cooling fan that cools the pump is not blocked and i can spin it freely.many mini cooper owners are complaint about this.my power steering pump does not keep running after the car is shut down.
I have a safety recall (no. 25v-205), an air bag problem, issued last june and have now received another recall ((15v-660). The first recall has yet to be repaired.the air bag "off" light is on all the time. I have contacted mini and the dealer twice and they tell me there is not a fix yet.i think 6 months is long enough for an air bag problem. I have not had a problem with the second recall, a steering problem, but i assume it could happen. I am concerned that the combination of these two creates an extra dangerous condition. I asked mini if they would pay for a rental when i needed to have a passenger. They refused. This is my only vehicle and i have no other choice.
Over heating constantly no technical personknows of a remedy. Overflow tank blows out when car overheats constantly.this seems to be a problem since the beginning no matter what year the car was built and never remedied. Why not a recall? not knowing what other damage this causes to the engine.this has to be a recall for the company to fixit is a hit and miss fix???this is a costly process and even in the forums on mini it has been an ongoing issue.front end fails all at the same time. (control arms, cv joints) steering becomes hard to control.mini help
On 1/14/11 while driving my car on a highway my steering wheel tightened up and made steering impossible. I was able to get back to my driveway. It didn't happen again until 1/16/11 and then 1/20/11, all while driving my car at different speeds, also while trying to back into my driveway. It happens with absolutely no warning. No warning lights or notification from the mini computer system has alerted me.
Power steering fails during driving.seems to be after engine gets hot.happens unexpectedly and without warning.
Noticed a whirring noise from the engine compartment.then suddenly the steering became difficult likely due to power steering pump failure.looked up possible issues on line and noticed that other folks had very similar experiences.
The power steering went out and was virtually impossible to steer.
My power steering is going out. Upon my own investigation i have learned that this is a common problem. Should such a vital piece to having control of the car be a problem? no. Cost of repair is $1,070 as quoted from my dealer.
Power steering suddenly failed while driving and the vehicle became very difficult to steer at all speeds.updated vin. 02/22/11.
I own a 2005 mini cooper s 2 door hard top with currently 90,000 miles. Just recently a semi loud whirring sound started from underneath the hood as soon as the engine is started. Immediately i can notice that the pitch of the noise subtly changes when you go to turn the steering wheel in either direction. I had a certified mechanic look at the car and he confirmed to me that the power steering pump is failing. When i am driving the mini cooper the steering will intermittently begin to get a little harder to steer. The pump is on the way to complete failure and hard steering will end up being the result. I have been researching this issue via the web and have discovered that the failing power steering unit in mini coopers has been a known issue with bmw but i have yet to find any information as to what they are doing about it. Aside from speed, steering a motor vehicle is one of the most important safety concerns when in operation.
Electric power steering pump & fan failure during left turn.several thousands of mini coppers in the uk have had similar recalls.in fact i did find a recall for the power steering pump fan for faulty wires.i could fall under the same recall, but bmw mini dealers are stating that it will cost me just for diagnostics (roughly $90), they also states they knew about a filed complaint but said they couldn't even look at the fan without charging me. I did find after days and days of internet searches that their was a recall # issued for the fan but could not locate it again. Website citing bbc article.www.newmini.wordpress.com/?s=mini+cooper+power+steering+failure.everyday i feel less and less safe driving my mini.thanks.
The power steering went out while driving the vehicle.it has occurred intermittently since then.
While i was driving, my power steering suddenly cut off completely.luckily, i was close to home, but it was almost impossible to parallel park my car.the next day, the power steering worked again.
Dear sir/madam,today (9/29/2010) i saw a news item, "(cnnmoney.com) -- the national highway traffic safety administration has opened an investigation into possible power steering failures in mini cooper cars" and felt compelled to add to the existing complains regarding the dangerously defective power steering electrohydraulic pump in my 2005 mini cooper s.while driving in the city, average speed of 25 to 35 mph, the power assistance provided by the power steering went down to zero, totally unassisted, without any previouswarning whatsoever, making the steering of the vehicle extremely difficult, almost impossible, while going around a roundabout (traffic circle) at no more than 25 mph. Consequentially i was unable to steer first right and the left around the circle, my passenger side front wheel striking the right side curb at the point that i needed to turn left, damaging both the wheel and the tire, and possibly the suspension (macpherson strut).and i ask you, what if i had to steer to avoid a mother pushing a baby stroller, or even an errant dog or cat at the moment the power steering assistance decided to quit? what if the failure occurred at a higher speed while merging on a freeway?i consider bmw/mini to be totally responsible for any deaths or injuries and property damages related to their negligent failure to engineer a properly working power steering pump (an known problem as the newer models have done away with the electrohydraulic pump in favor of a totally electrical assisted steering). I also urge you to look into the failure rate of the power steering fan due to its absurd location (under the car unprotected from the dirt, water, stones,etc. 5-6 inches from the road) an afterthought of a solution that bmw/mini used to resolve the previously known to them power steering pump failure. My car has 27,000 miles, and is dealer maintained since new. I urge you to take action regarding this problem before something more tragic happens.thank you.
Noticed level of power steering fluid was low. No apparent leak on ground. Noticed the boots on rack and pinion are pressurized and realized that is where the fluid is leaking into.
Power steering failed while making a right hand turn. The failures have been off and on since then.failure is usually during in town driving.
Power steering will go out without notice at all speeds.it will reset if the car is turned off and restarted, however the interval to the next power outage is unpredictable.it occurred the first time, and then didn't reoccur for a couple of months.then when the problem returned it did this for approximately two weeks, then didn't happen again for another month.it has no been a fairly common problem.have also had experiences where making a turn, the power assist will go out, and then return, which has me putting extra exertion into making the turn, only to have it come back on resulting in oversteer.
Power steering stopped working near the end of a 15 mile drive to work. Power steering functioned normally on the drive home 9 hours later.
Steering on my mini cooper 2005 failed this morning, resulting in a near accident in a parking garage. It felt like the power steering was failing.it came back briefly on the way to the repair shop, but the tech confirmed that there is a problem.it is currently being diagnosed, but it is likely the power steering pump.
Power steering pump making noise when car is off, draining battery. Eminent failure.
I noticed a strange noise coming from the passenger side wheel area.took the car to the dealer and power steering pump failure was diagnosed.
The power assist for the steering fails intermittently. Often this occurs midway through a turn. Sometimes turning the car off and re-starting will resolve the problem, other times it does not. Reported the issue to the dealer service department and before i could finish the sentence the two service writers said there was not issue with the power steering pump! without the power assist the steering is very heavy. As a strong, experienced driver i knew what to do when the power assist failed, but this would be very dangerous for an older or less physical driver since the assist failure is sudden and without warning. As a driver you go from being able to casually steer with minimal input to instantly needing to forcefully turn the steering wheel to maintain control of the car!!!! the car currently has 40,011 miles and continues to have this problem intermittently.
My 2005 mini cooper s suddenly lost power steering as i was driving almost causing an accident.i've not had it in for repairs yet, but researching on the internet it seems many consumers have had the same problem.i have even read of those whose car caught on fire and am fearful of the same happening to me not to mention the extremely high cost of repair.mini should recall the 2005 and fix this issue.
2005 mini cooper intermittent power steering started at 55,000 miles. During right hand turn at approximately 30mi/hr had near head on collision with the car in the left hand lane do to the unexpected power steering outage. Repair was not covered under warranty (5,000 miles over) cost estimate at $1,200. Car is safer without power steering. Predictable, but difficult to drive.
Bought my dream car, an '05 mini cooper s monday, labor day, and immediately started having problems with the steering randomly cutting in and out. Not awesome! each time, turning the car off and then back on has resolved the issue, however it would seem that it shouldn't be happening, like, at all, let along having to 'cycle' the engine each time.
I was on my way back to work from lunch in my 2005 mini cooper s and my power steering suddenly and without warning failed in the middle of a curve! i fortunately managed to regain control of the vehicle and limp to the parking lot to pull over. Then, i turned the car off to get out, and discovered my power steering pump was still running even with the car completely off!? i was afraid that this would cause a meltdown or fire, so i quickly called a mini dealer to ask how to shut the pump off. I was told that the battery had to be disconnected! the battery had to remain disconnected while the car was off or the pump would run continuously. I did not feel the car was safe to drive at this point. My power steering was now unpredictably intermittent when the car was running. The power steering would suddenly fail and then suddenly come back on, causing a jerk-and-swerve reaction in the steering wheel for me while driving. So i called mini usa to report the problem, and i towed the vehicle to a mini dealer. The mini dealer diagnosed the problem to be the known power steering failure covered by the extended warranty on the power steering pump and associated pump cooling fan for model years 2002-2005 for up to 13 years/150,000 miles. But mini usa denied coverage despite my car only having approx 70,000 miles, claiming that they stopped coverage after feb 2005 because the newly designed replacement parts were installed after feb 2005. My car was built in may 2005 and was proven by the mini dealer to have the original faulty power steering parts, not the newly designed parts. I am reporting this as a known potentially dangerous safety issue that should instead be a safety recall, rather than this extended warranty that mini usa does not properly advertise or honor, so that all mini owners will get their steering checked before anything bad happens.
Vehicle fire 5/2/2012.car parked for 4 hrs.returned to car & drove it <50 yards for ~2 minutes (moved it from street to parking lot).turned it off and went in store.returned ~4 minutes later, noticed smoke/exhaust smell; presumed it was adjacent car.unlocked car.car would't start (no lights/electrical at all).i then noticed white smoke coming from hood.opened hood then noticed flame/fire inside engine compartment.went in store, got fire extinguisher and put fire out. Invoice was >$3500 from mini dealer.the dealer's assessment:"verified power steering pump has overheated to the point where it has burned up internally as well as externally (melting allthree connectors and the wiring leading to them). Inspectedpower steering cooling fan and verified cooling fan isseizing up which very likely led to the overheating andeventual failure of the power steering pump. Removed enginecompartment fuse box to examine megafuse powering the powersteering pump, fuse is intact and did not burn up. Inspectedpower steering pressure hose and it appears the rubbersection of the power steering pressure line was subjected tothe heat/melting of the main power connector (it's in veryclose proximity to the connector) and it appears the hosehas taken a level of damage from the heat. Recommendreplacement of power steering pump, the wiringsection/connector pigtail from the fuse box (this is themain power connector), the engine wiring harness (containstwo other electrical connectors to the pump which receivedextensive damage), the power steering fan (likely cause offailure), power steering pressure line (high pressurehydraulic line which has been exposed to the main connectormelting and subsequent heat), and other miscellaneous itemsassociated with those components (o-rings, crush rings, hoseclamps ect...)"
At the beginning, the steering pump makes some noises and a few weeks later, my power steering completely went out, really heard to steer especially at the lower speed and at the corner.
I have had the steering pump fail twice in my 2005 r53 mini, the 1st time the power steering would cut out at random while driving and the pump would continued to run after car was turned off (had to disconnect battery for it to stop). This was replaced in 2013 at a mini dealership under an "extended warranty" at the expense of mini. Now 3 years later i am having the same symptoms, the power steering cut out on while changing lanes on the highway and then the pump continued to run when i arrived home and turned the car off (had to disconnect battery). The next day the steering pump actually burnt itself out (smoked) while the car was idling in the driveway. I understand mini has issued a more extensive recall however since mine was "fixed" already i am not covered - it seems as though the replacement parts are just as faulty as those they have replaced and will most likely experience the same dangerous failure.
The power steering pump suddenly went out on my 2005 mini cooper s. Fortunately for me (although this easily could have been tragically unfortunate for someone else) this happened in a school zone, which means i was driving very slowly. But with little children around this could have been extremely dangerous. In doing some research i find this sudden power steering failure is a common problem on early mini coopers. The pump has been recalled in canada, but why not in the u.s.a? can you tell me why this is not a recall item here?
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s.the contact stated that the power steering pump would continue to run even when the vehicle was turned off, causing the vehicle to loose power steering while driving.neither the dealer nor the manufacturer were notified of the failure.the vehicle was not repaired.the failure mileage was 73,000 and the current mileage was 74,000.
Power steering intermittently goes out while driving and does not return until car is cycled off and back on again.
I started to hear this winding or loud humming sound,did not know where it was coming from..it was examined by a mechanic,,and it was the power steering pump failing, and the electric cooling fan failing. Read about many problems with this steering pump on 2005 mini's.the cost was $1226.00 to replace.even though i did not lost power steering,it could have happened at anytime.
Power steering intermittently goes out while driving and continues to run while the car has turned off. Has almost caused me to crash several times when it has gone out on the express way.
When turning into our neighborhood at 10-15mph, there was a sudden loss in power and the steering became stiff.i did not think anything of till i pulled the vehicle into our garage and turned it off.at this time the cooling fan and power steering remained active, creating loud whining noises.i let it run for 30 minutes but the issue remained.only thing that resolved the issue was disconnecting the battery.even reconnecting the battery the powersteering fan re-engaged.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated that the power steering failed intermittently and the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic diagnosis. It was unknown if the vehicle was repaired. The contact was not included in nhtsa campaign number: 15v660000 (steering). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 178,000.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated that while driving at 30 mph, the vehicle overheated and smoke began coming from under the hood of the vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic where the water pump was replaced. After the repair, the power steering ceased without warning upon starting the vehicle. The contact referenced nhtsa campaign number: 15v660000 (steering) as possible cause of the failure however, the vin was not included. Mini of des moines located at (9900 hickman rd, des moines, ia 50325) was contacted and confirmed that the vin was not included. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While driving approximately 30 mph, the steering wheel became difficult to steer and seized without warning.the vehicle was towed to the contact's residence and was not taken to the dealer for diagnostics or repairs. The vin was not available.the approximate failure mileage was 118,000.
At highway speed, the power steering suddenly lost power (no noise or other indications). The wheel became extraordinarily difficult to turn. I managed to get the car off the road, but the steering would not have responded to a smaller/weaker driver.
Lost power steering while driving my 2005 mini cooper s. All of a sudden, have no power steering. Very difficult to steer, but not impossible. Thank god i was not in a place that this could have caused an accident. I note that i can turn off the motor, then turn it back on and the steering is ok for a few minutes, then goes out again. I love my mini cooper, but this is a serious safety problem. I am afraid to drive it now, if i can't count on the steering to function correctly.
2005 mini cooper s power steering failure, while turning power steering failed, no leaks, and fluid reservoir full.researched possible problems and found an article on http://new mini.word press.com report published on http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog talks about this same problem effected 175,000 mini's between 2001-2007.this seems pretty serious and with that many vehicles i shouldn't incur any costs for repair.
My power steering in my 2005 mini cooper failed while driving. This is a common issue for all 01-07 mini coopers and before someone dies or is seriously injured bmw mini needs to issue a recall and replace this faulty part. I was driving home from work and the steering started to lockup on the highway, i then pulled over and turned off the car then restarted and the steering worked just fine. Two days later i was pulling off of the highway again and the steering started to lock up once more. I barely made it to a nearby parking lot strong-arming the car with each turn. I pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car once again. After restarting the car the steering still would not work, i even let it cool down for a few minutes to try once more. Still unable to steer. Had to get my car towed and had to replace power steering pump and fan on car. This car is less than 5 years old and the power steering should last the life of the car.
2005 mini cooper s power steering failed while turning off highway almost causing me to crash into an adjacent car because i had to muscle the car into a corner.this is a very serious problem which happened one more time later in the week while i was turning into my driveway.a woman might not be able to muscle the car correctly thus causing an accident.
There were no "events" leading up to this.sudden failure of power steering pump as i turned off the highway onto a city side street - no notice, just complete failure of component.the failure left the vehicle with no power steering - only manual "arm strong" steering until repaired.personally replaced the pump with new part - no support from dealer or manufacture.
Power steering unit had to be replaced twice because of ps motor failing suddenly and with no warning.first occurrence nearly caused crash because ps failed while negotiating intersection.
Power steering stopped working near the end of a 15 mile drive to work. Power steering functioned normally on the drive home 9 hours later.
While driving through a residential area, the wheel of the car became very hard to turn. It was determined that the electric hydraulic power steering pump (ehps) was malfunctioning.the fan of the ehps was not disengaging when the car ignition was turned off, therefore running down the battery and causing the ehps to not work correctly.the next day, with the same ehps, the power steering was working fine.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper.the contact stated that shortly after powering off the ignition, he noticed smoke coming from the steering pump.the fire department arrived and cut the battery line.the dealer did not offer any assistance.the manufacturer was aware of the failure.the contact replaced the steering pump.the current mileage was 40,746 and the approximate failure mileage was 40,540. Updated 9/13/11 the consumer repalcd the pump, fluid and other small parts. Updated 01/23/12
Power steering pump failure on 2005 mini cooper leads to dangerous driving
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s.while driving 30 mph, the steering wheel became difficult to move when the contact noticed a burning odor.the vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where he was informed that the electric power steering component had melted and needed to be repaired.the manufacturer was contacted and informed the contact that there was a concurrent investigation for the failure however, there were no recalls. The manufacturer offered no further assistance.no repairs were performed.the current and the failure mileages were 63,260.updated 12/20/11*ljthe consumer was informed the power steering unit had suffered a complete melt down which spread to the power steering hose and wiring harness.updated 01/20/12
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated that the power steering failed suddenly with no prior warning. A local mechanic stated that the electronic power steering pump failed which caused the failure. The vin was unavailable. The current and failure mileages were approximately 51,000.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s.the contact was driving approximately 5 mph when the steering wheel became extremely stiff.the vehicle was taken to an independent repair shop where the contact was informed that the power steering pump would need to be replaced, but it was not repaired.the failure and current mileage was 104,304.updated 01/20/11 the power steering pump was replaced on october 15, 2010. Updated 03/28/11updated 03/28/11
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. As he was making a leftturn at 5 mph, the power steering pump locked without warning and caused uncontrollable hard steering. The dealer advised that the power steering pump would need to be replaced. The manufacturer advised there were no recalls and the failure was normal for his year, make and model. The contact advised the vehicle would be replaced by an independent mechanic. The failure and current mileages were 70,000.
Power steering pump failed while driving on the freeway, resulting in loss of steering control.
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle, the steering wheel would not turn in either direction. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic and they advised her that the power steering pump and assembly needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. Approximately one and a half years later while driving approximately 30 mph, the vehicle stalled and would not restart. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where they advised her that the power steering pump failed again and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired for the power steering pump. The manufacturer was contacted on both occasions and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 37,800. The vin was unavailable.the consumer stated one incident occurred on 01-sep-2009 with 37800 failure mileage and again on 16-feb-2012 at 53827 updated 06/07/12
Strut towers deformed.this is a result of standard equipment run flat tires hitting pot holes.the fix is a reinforcing plate attached to the top of the strut tower.either the run flats should not have been available or the strut towers should have been of sufficient strength.
(1) i recently traded my 2003 mini cooper in for a 2005 mini cooper s at a private dealership.(2)upon inspecting the 2005 cooper s, i noticed that the strut towers were deformed, but since this was not a mini dealership, nothing could be done by them. I bought the car thinking this could be fixed under warranty. After calling the closest mini dealership which is 200+ miles away, i was informed that this was considered abuse to the car and it would not be covered under warranty. The previous owner must have hit a pothole. The problem i have with this situation is there is a serious design flaw in the mini cooper's shock towers. This is the first time i have seen this happen to a car. I have owned many cars in my lifetime, and never have seen this happen. I am not the only owner to experience this and it is a pretty common occurrence in mini coopers. I'm concerned because this situation causes the car to wander on the road. After doing research, i'm getting feedback from other owners. Some say their dealership is fixing the deformation, others, like myself are denied. I'm a little frightened at what could happen to the car over time from this. Will the sheet metal get even weaker as time goes on? i believe bmw should address this issue.(3) i have not fixed this problem on my car yet, but the fix is to either pay money to have the shock towers cut out and have new ones welded in, or pound down the old ones until they are flat, then buy reinforcement plates from a vendor to keep the already stressed metal from bending again.
2005 mini cooper s with 42k miles. Driver side door fails to open from the inside. I can only exit the car by using the outside door handle which requires opening the window. If an emergency occurs which requires rapid exit from the car and there was a failure of the electrical system i would not be able to exit vehicle. 42k miles is fairly low and the car has not been abused. Mini cooper claims this is 'normal' wear.it is not 'normal' wear and is indeed a manufacturers defect which apparently happens to many mini coopers.
Both door handles are inoperative from the inside. Dealer per phone call diagnosed "common problem" as the ballard cable disconnecting from the latch. After removing the door panel it was found to be intact. Problem is yet to be diagnosed. It is my assumption that there is a problem with the security system since the doors do not unlock when the ignition is turned off and the doors do not appear to try and lock when the vehicle reaches the set speed of 15 mph. This is a defect of grave concern since the occupants of the vehicle cannot immediately exit the vehicle in the event of a crash or fire and would be totally unable to exit in the event of an electrical failure.
(1) i recently traded my 2003 mini cooper in for a 2005 mini cooper s at a private dealership.(2)upon inspecting the 2005 cooper s, i noticed that the strut towers were deformed, but since this was not a mini dealership, nothing could be done by them. I bought the car thinking this could be fixed under warranty. After calling the closest mini dealership which is 200+ miles away, i was informed that this was considered abuse to the car and it would not be covered under warranty. The previous owner must have hit a pothole. The problem i have with this situation is there is a serious design flaw in the mini cooper's shock towers. This is the first time i have seen this happen to a car. I have owned many cars in my lifetime, and never have seen this happen. I am not the only owner to experience this and it is a pretty common occurrence in mini coopers. I'm concerned because this situation causes the car to wander on the road. After doing research, i'm getting feedback from other owners. Some say their dealership is fixing the deformation, others, like myself are denied. I'm a little frightened at what could happen to the car over time from this. Will the sheet metal get even weaker as time goes on? i believe bmw should address this issue.(3) i have not fixed this problem on my car yet, but the fix is to either pay money to have the shock towers cut out and have new ones welded in, or pound down the old ones until they are flat, then buy reinforcement plates from a vendor to keep the already stressed metal from bending again.
I noticed on the front of a set ofabrand new tires the tread on left tire was worn to the core and the was separatingfrom the tire on theinside, the right tire had every little tread left. The cause of thiswas the struts haddamaged the upper strut plates on both sides, causing it to be out of alignment .there has been 216 complaints and nothing has been done to correct the failure; i.e,parts repaired or replaced.
Strut towers deformed.this is a result of standard equipment run flat tires hitting pot holes.the fix is a reinforcing plate attached to the top of the strut tower.either the run flats should not have been available or the strut towers should have been of sufficient strength.
The power steering on my 2005 mini cooper s began malfunctioning on 8-9-2010. While going left on a mixmaster, the power steering failed and i thought i was going to hit the side of the bridge and perhaps drive off of the side of the bridge. The passenger in my car helped me steer (with force) to the left and drive to the straightaway. The power steering is intermittent, working five percent of the time. My car was serviced in june of 2010 due to a problem with the tension belt, which caused the car to have a burning smell and no air conditioning. The "service engine" light is on ten percent of the time and the "check tire pressure" light is on often, though i no longer have run-flat tires. My car is difficult to drive due to the lack of power steering. At the time of the first incident, my car had approximately 75,000 miles.
Driving to work in the am. I smell something in the car. When i look at my passenger side seat i saw smoke. Pull over and got a better look at it. I have a holes in my car seat and the two vest that i place on the seat. It appears the heated seat had a electrical failure. Took car to mini dealer. They said it real odd this happen.they also nice to say i would have to paid to fix it. Look at many site on internet and seen bmw/mini and other company have issues with heated seats. It do not seem to odd to me. I did not even had the heated seat on because no one was seating there.
Power steering pump seized and needed to be replaced. Power steering fan failure and also needed to be replaced. Power steering hoses leaking and also needed to be replaced.output shaft seal is leaking, but has not been replaced at this time.these repairs cost me approximately $1000!i have found numerous complaints about power steering failures in the 2004-2005 mini.please make bmw pay for this!
The vehicle has loss the power steering assist due to power steering pump failure.thus requiring increased force to steer and control the vehicle.steering has becomes extremely difficult and has made manoeuvring this car far harder and dangerous.the car has spotty electrical failures; example the window just doesn't want to roll up; no, wait, it does. No, wait, it doesn't. The stereo just gives up; no sound anymore,then it plays again. The same with the drivers side door you could here it unlock and re-lock, but the door would not open and then it would. Also both of my keys to open the door both turned off at the same time and i had to have the keys re-calibrated at a mini dealership to reopen the vehicle.
On 2/11/2016 i got home from work and i parked my 2005 mini cooper s (53,000 miles) on the driveway, turn off car and stayed with my kids & wife since they were waiting for me outside, my wife notice a sound & smoke coming from the car, the smoke were coming from the engine, i immediately open the hood & there was more smoke coming out, the headlights & all the lights turned on & stared flickering, also the wipers turned on, couple of seconds later the botom of the engine was engulfed in flames.my wife ran to get the water hose & i were able to put the fire out, we were lucky that i didn't walk inside the house like i always do, it could have been a horrible tragedy for me, my family and even our neighbors.the next day i had the car towed to my mechanic who after an inspection found out if was the power steering pump that got on fire and damaged all the wires around it, since he is a mini specialist he told us about a recall for that specific part, but to our disappointment he ran our vin # and found that our car is excluded from that recall since its a late 2005 production.that exactly same thing happend to us with the actuators, one day while my wife was shopping with my kids, they just got locked inside the vehicle with the windows rolled up, it was a summer day and luckily she was able to get out through the back trunk, we contacted mini because there is also a recall for the actuators and they also excluded our car saying that it was a late 2005 production and were not able to get the recall.the way we see it mini is not taking responsibility for their defective components, it is not fair since i have no way to find out if my car was build with not defective parts, obviously it was. I am terrified by the idea this could have been worst since we r always driving with our kids. U need to do something about this & make mini liable for these safety issues.
Experienced abrupt and complete loss of the power steering system simultaneous with an immediate and sharp decrease in power.this incident occurred at 75 mph on an interstate highway, car in middle lane.very narrowly avoided collision with a truck when moving vehicle to full stop in emergency lane.vehicle currently not in use as we feel it is a road hazard and unsafeto operate in current condition.also awaiting for response from mini dealer.
Driving on interstate and lost power. I pulled to shoulder and black smoke came thru air vents. I opened the hood and there was fire. My car completely burned up. I never had any mechanical problems. The tow truck driver said he believed the fire started under my car.
I was travel at a speed of 70 mph, when my vehicle lost power immediately down to 15 mph. The engine did not shut off, but i could not accelerate above 15 mph. I was able to pull to the right because the traffic flow was spaced so i could safely pull over. There was no warning that this malfunction was going to happen. The vehicle was said to gone into "limp mode". The electronic belt was replaced that apparently controls the vehicle function at a cost of $3400.00.
The vehicle began to feel like the transmission was slipping: hesitation, wheels skidding, rough acceleration and deceleration.the problem continues after 2 trips to mini cooper in which the car's computer was "reset" because no problems with the transmission were found.the problem described above persists, but there was also one episode where the car did not start and later turned off while driving on a congested nyc road.
2005 mini cooper s was traveling 50mph when it hit icy bridge spun around and rolled 3 times driver was wearing a seatbelt and passenger was not and got ejected and died.no airbags deployed. Hwy 299.*dt
Sudden stress crack appeared directly behind rear view mirror.no rock chip or other impact evidence.we'd just gone from cool (mid 50's ) to record heat (100) in 24 hours.have less than 4,500 miles on the car.came out in the morning to find the crack, which is approximately 6" long growing vertically.the car is a 2005 mini cooper s convertible.
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