Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | |||||
| 1220005 | 05/01/2005 | 120205 | 10016680 | Dme fc 0136: 02 sensor bank 1. *sc | 09/27/2005 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - SOFTWARE | |||||
| SIM-12-02-11 | 07/01/2011 | 10040855 | Ready | 09/13/2011 | |
| SIM-12-02-11 | 07/01/2011 | 10040855 | Bmw: a software error is causing a hesitation or jerking when accelerating under higher loads between 3000 | 09/13/2011 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | |||
| 01/16/2013 | 87000 | 1 | |
| Power steering pump failure. *tr ## vin failed ## | |||
| 01/16/2013 | 87000 | ||
| Power steering pump failure ## vin failed ## | |||
| 12/08/2012 | 65000 | 1 | |
| Son returned from town, a 10 minute drive, parked car in garage. next morning there was a strong smell of an electrical fire coming from the car. opened the hood and the smell of fire was overwhelming. top of steering fluid pump appeared to be charred. family afraid to drive car to dealer, some 35 miles away. after starting car, electrical fire smell returns. *tr | |||
| 12/08/2012 | 65000 | ||
| Son returned from town, a 10 minute drive, parked car in garage. next morning there was a strong smell of an electrical fire coming from the car. opened the hood and the smell of fire was overwhelming. top of steering fluid pump appeared to be charred. family afraid to drive car to dealer, some 35 miles away. after starting car, electrical fire smell returns. | |||
| 09/07/2012 | 59925 | 1 | |
| The power steering pump stops operating while the vehicle is in motion. it has happened three times to date: the first incident was at low speed in a parking structure; the second incident happened at freeway speed; the most recent incident occurred on a surface street while decelerating to a stop. in each case, control of the car was maintained but was very difficult. the pump function was restored by stopping and cycling the vehicle ignition to off and then restarting the engine. *tr | |||
| 09/07/2012 | 59925 | ||
| The power steering pump stops operating while the vehicle is in motion. it has happened three times to date: the first incident was at low speed in a parking structure; the second incident happened at freeway speed; the most recent incident occurred on a surface street while decelerating to a stop. in each case, control of the car was maintained but was very difficult. the pump function was restored by stopping and cycling the vehicle ignition to off and then restarting the engine. | |||
| 09/12/2011 | 71000 | 1 | |
| Intermittently and rarely, when the car first starts, the power steering does not work. it is very difficult to move the steering wheel at all, and there is no apparent effect on the wheels of the car. each time this has happened, i have immediately turned off the car and restarted. restarting the ignition has been enough to regain the power steering. after this happened between 5 and 10 times over the past year, i realized it was a pattern and decided to lodge a complaint. i also realized that the louder-than-ordinary steering fan noise might be another symptom of problems with the power steering. in mid-september 2011, the car battery died. the steering fan was very loud. i now wonder if the battery failure was due to the steering fan, although no one at the dealership commented on the very loud fan that was extremely noticeable when they restarted the car. *tr | |||
| 05/30/2012 | 87000 | 1 | |
| All bulbs are good but yet i have no brake lights are turning signals top brake light is all i have when i turn on signals windows go down sunroof opens. *tr | |||
| 05/30/2012 | 87000 | ||
| All bulbs are good but yet i have no brake lights are turning signals top brake light is all i have when i turn on signals windows go down sunroof opens | |||
| 07/21/2011 | 61000 | ||
| Driving home from work at about 70 mph, the power steering failed. i was going around a bend in the road when suddenly the power steering failed that almost caused an accident. without notice the car reverted to rack-and-pinion mode. i was fortunate that time to gain control of the car and did not go over the side of the road or hit another car. i didn't drive the car for several months then took it to a few mechanics for an estimate. dealer says replace the steering pump at $1200 but they will not honor any assistance due to the premature failure of the steering pump or the electrical connection to the cooling fan failure. the power steering fan quits then the pump gets hot and shuts off. i called mini usa today and they said they will not assist me in paying for the manufacturing defect. my pump failure is intermittent suggesting that the problem is electrical and on point for a recall on 2004 mini coopers. my car has the same problem and was manufactured in 2004, but is the 1707 car outside their official recall range. mini/bmw sent a mr. driver letter out on 12/2004 for this recall. my car had not been purchased yet. the dealer says that replacing the steering pump will solve all the problems including the electrical issue. apparently, the new steering pump has a design feature that eliminates the electrical failure problem (defect code: 0032630100 & labor code: 0055719). the more the pump overheats because of the fan non-operation problem, the pump will need to be replaced, it will be burnt out. one thing is sure, i have a premature failure of the steering pump making my car dangerous to drive. i can't afford to fix it. nor do i believe, i should be responsible for the manufactures design failure. the car is not fit to drive as intended. why is bmw getting away with this? many thousands and thousands of drivers have this same problem. | |||
| 04/10/2008 | 45830 | ||
| 4/10/2008 airbag light on dash came on intermittently - mini dealer could not duplicate problem 9/23/2008 airbag light on dash came on and stayed lit - mini dealer found micro-cracks in oc3 seat mat fault code fc71 stored in mr55k checked faults replaced oc3 seat mat installed seat and enable seat mat with gt1 cleared faults summer 2011 - airbag light on dash came on intermittently october 2011 - airbag light on dash came on and stayed lit 11/15/2011 - mini dealer refuses to cover under warranty, despite known issues with this component having a history of being defective. | |||
| 05/08/2011 | 97005 | ||
| The steering wheel on my mini cooper has become hard to steer on and off for the last couple of days. at the onset, i was going at about 15 to 20mph and turning right. the steering got hard to turn and i was having difficulty staying out of on coming traffic. i pulled off to the side of the road, turned off the car and hood under the hood to see if there was anything to explain what was going on. i was not able to identify anything to explain this occurrence, so i restarted the car and it was back to normal. since then it has done this on and off several other times. i call the mechanic and was told these vehicles have lots of problems with the steering pump, cooling fan and rely switch. | |||
| 01/05/2010 | 30209 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. the contact stated that while driving approximately 10 mph the steering column shorted and caused the wiring harness and engine harness to ignite. the vehicle was towed to a dealer who informed the contact that there was a short in the steering pump causing the engine and wiring harness to ignite. the vehicle was repaired for the following components stated. the failure mileage was approximately 30,209. the vin was unavailable. tb | |||
| 10/12/2010 | 46000 | ||
| The power steering in our 2005 mini cooper has a recent history (within the past year) of intermittently failing, making the car difficult, if not impossible, for our small-sized drivers (about 100 lbs.) to maneuver. this has proved dangerous on the road, but injuries have so far been avoided, just when we were going to get it fixed, the problem appeared to self-correct. this week, however, the car has failed to start or take a charge to a one-year-old battery. our reliable and trustworthy mechanic cannot diagnose the source of the problem, but we are wondering if there may be a drain on the battery from this power steering problem. | |||
| 09/21/2010 | 42500 | ||
| 2005 mini cooper passenger light comes on with or without any passenger sitting. however, after driving for a while goes away. when the car is turned off and started again, the passenger light stays on again. this is not normal. i have seen other recalls for different years, why 2005 is not a recall? | |||
| 07/12/2005 | 4000 | 2 | 03/19/2005 |
| My 2005 mini cooper s automatic suddenly stopped twice for no apparent reason while driving. car was only 4 months old, about 4000 miles on car. i was actually in motion, and the car just stopped moving! i had to turn off the car and restart it. eml and check engine lights came on once the car stopped. the check engine light stayed on for a few days, then went off, so i assumed it was a fluke and nothing to worry about (otherwise i assume the light would stay on). the second time it happened was exactly the same scenario as the first. i have since learned that mini is calling this limp mode, but i had never received any recall notification from mini, or anything indicating that they knew about this problem. however, the did know, based on what i have read of others who complained to them about the exact same problems!! yet mini apparently did not notify dealerships, because the first one i called had no idea what the problem was which i described, and wasn't going to take me for service until 2 weeks later. i called a second dealer who immediately knew the problem, and said it was a voluntary recall. still i had not heard anything from mini usa. i took my car in and it was fixed in an hour--they reprogrammed the dme. this is a safety issue! i still haven't heard anything from mini about a safety recall for this problem! maybe they didn't notify me because i had it taken care of already, but had this happened on the freeway, rather than in my neighborhood, i could be dead now! why isn't mini notifying owners who purchased the 2005 automatics!! why aren't they issuing a recall? are they waiting for someone to be killed? *jb | |||
| 03/10/2005 | 2 | 10/07/2004 | |
| While accelerating onto the highway, the car lost power to the wheels and did not operate properly until i turned the car off and back on. the car was brought to the dealership and the problem was not found or corrected. a second incident occurred a few weeks later, again as the car was accelerating from a stop. this time, the power returned without having to shut the car off. *jb | |||
| 06/24/2005 | 79 | 1 | 06/23/2005 |
| Dt: consumer was driving home when people starting honking and waving at consumer. brake lights were not working. consumer had dealer come and get vehicle, dealer told consumer that it was an electrical problem. consumer said that vehicle was in her possession for 24 hours when brake lights failed. consumer bought vehicle new from dealer , who supposedly fixed it. but consumer had not been able to check to see if brake lights actually worked. consumer stated that it was significant that this happened after dealer had done the safety preparations for delivering the car. dealer said that the preparations were done, and they checked the lights and all the fluid levels.*ak | |||