Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | |||||
| SI-M61-01-12 | 01/01/2012 | 10043725 | Mini: after drive-away locking activates, it is not possible to unlock the boot. *kb | 04/24/2012 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | |||
| 09/10/2012 | 74450 | ||
| After driving one evening a short distance to the store and feeling a strange pulling of the car but not really moving as fast as it should, i took it to be checked out at the mini of the lehigh valley. i was told that it was a faulty transmission but that i could still continue to drive it short distances. this cost $138. so after a couple of short trips to work, i was on my way home on monday september 10th when it started to shut down, it was reving very loudly but only moving at about 20mph at the most. i had to pull over many times due to anxiety, fear and causing an accident. i had to find a back way home because i could no longer drive on any of the main roads since it was obvious that i was going to get hit from behind! | |||
| 02/04/2012 | 97610 | ||
| Generally, i love the mini cooper having purchased it in the after market. however, not long after the warranty ran out, i had problems for several weeks with my steeriing wheel seizing up but an incident in february 2012 sticks out most in my mind since i was on i-95 in the rain and could not adequately steer the car to take an exit. my 11 yr old daughter was with me at the time. i pulled to the shoulder and shut the car off and was able to restart and resume driving. financially, i could not afford to take the car into the dealer but the condition and work around continued intermittantly for a few weeks when i could afford the repair. in early may 2012, i took the car to the dealer for repair and it cost over $1300 to replace the power steering pump. at the time of the repair, it was noted that the cooling fan also needed repair for another $720 -- i just didn't have it. today, my 2-yr old battery failed apparently due to draining from the fan. for now, i replaced the battery for $249. i will be incrementally getting repairs done, however, in reading some people's experience with the steering pump, i understand that there may be some relevance between the pump going bad and an impact on the fan. i'd appreciate any insights you may have on that possiblity. i am reporting this not only for myself but for others who also may be impacted by the pump defect that i am learning is somewhat common. i look forward to the outcome of your engineering analysis. thank you. | |||
| 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. | |||
| 10/01/2011 | 100000 | ||
| Power assisted steering will cease working while driving, making the car very, very difficult to steer/control. this problem is currently intermittent, but when it does happen it is very scary. | |||
| 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. | |||
| 02/18/2011 | 38000 | ||
| The power steering pump is defective. i had a local firestone car repair shop diagnose an unusual noise emanating from the engine compartment that intensified when the steering wheel was turned. they noted the defective steering pump and that it would cost at least $1,223.39 to replace. they said if i did not replace it, i could lose control of the car at any point while making a turn. i researched the problem online and found hundreds of other people having the same or similar issues with the steering pump. the ones who left the issue unresolved ended up losing control of their vehicle mid-turn when either the pump randomly shut off, or if it had already failed, randomly turned back on mid-turn. these situations are dangerous enough, but there were also reports of the electrical components catching fire. in light of this, i could not risk the safety of my family or myself, and took it into a local mini dealership to repair the problem. they confirmed that the pump was failing and that it was good that i brought it in before it failed. the diagnosis and replacement cost was $1,417.49. they acknowledged that they were aware of the defect and were awaiting the results of the nhtsa investigation before committing to refund the cost of the defective part(s). thankfully, thanks to all the reports of this problem online, i was able to fix this problem before anyone was seriously injured. | |||
| 12/12/2010 | 59000 | ||
| 2005 mini cooper sudden loss of power steering. due to defect in design power steering cooling fan fails, causing pump to overheat and relay gets fried. mini refuses to acknowledge problem, and fix. cost for replacement of pump, fan, labor is $1300-$1400. vehicle has 59000 miles. curiously they have redesigned fan with cover to protect it and pump has also been redesigned. why hasn't there been a recall. | |||
| 05/15/2010 | 69953 | ||
| Over the course of about a month and a half, the power steering began to stick in that i could not steer right or left without physically forcing the wheel to the right or left, using all my strength to do it. i thought i lost control of the car. the first time, it was a terrifying event. then it would go back to normal the next day, but then stick again on various occasions with no rhyme or reason; there was no pattern as to when it would occur. but it did happen at least once a week. the steering wheel would stick no matter if the car was at a complete stop, or while driving. after checking with local garages, they suggested to have my mini dealership repair it as no one could find the cause of the problem. mini diagnosed the failed power steering, and installed a fan with protecting gri (part # 32-41-6-781-742 @ $222.43) and installed a repair kit, lower sect (part # 32-30-6-763-722 @ $186.63). mini service found the steering shaft knuckle seized up, making it hard to turn the steering wheel. mini replaced the steering shaft, and also found the power steering fan to be seized, so they also replaced the steering fan. included in this diagnosis, mini found the control arm brackets, which are part of the steering of the car, needs repair in the near future too. | |||
| 10/11/2010 | 67000 | ||
| The power steering has failed twice, once when i parked while running errands and once while driving at low speed. on-line, i read that this is a common complaint for minis produced between 2001 and 2007, but primarily those from 2004-05 and that it is related to the hydraulic power steering pump. my understanding is that the lack of heat shielding of the pump electronics permits flaking of carbon, that settles on the conductors and forces the pump to fail, until it cools off or until the flakes move on. mini usa is not offering any solutions, nor is the dealer that sold me the vehicle, two months ago. | |||