Mini power steering failures

I bought a brand new Mini in November 2003, and had to replace the power steering in May of this year. I sold it after this. Can I claim Mini for the cost of this?

I have now on my third mini, as a driving instructor I need a car that is reliable and safe. I do over 30K a year and have never had a problem with any of my minis, the car's are reliable, fun to drive and the service I receive from my dealership has been fantastic. I personally find your reporting on this issue biased.

i bought a mini one in October 2008 and the same night i took it out, i was going round a roundabout when my power steering went, i couldnt turn the wheel as it was just too heavy for me. i had to call my dad out to come and collect me. Im just glad i wasnt on a country road as this could have been alot worse!!
im just really scared this could happen again.
Emma from Preston

I have a mini cooper s works edition model, 54 plate (210BHP). It has just come back from the inspection 2 service at a BMW dealer, and it was reported to have a leaking power steering pump. Cost to repair £389.00. That is NOT an electrical fault!! Neil

My sisters 05 Mini goes into the dealer tomorrow for a new pump!! My Mini is 6 months younger than hers I'm a bit worried now!!!

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This problem happened with my Mini. It was only 5 years old. When I took it to my local garage I got a quote of £800.00 but they suggested I spoke to Mini direct as they had seen the problem before. Subsequently I took it into an official bmw garage in London they too quoted £800 but then I queried it as it was a common fault and they contributed 50% of the costs to fix it I'm now wondering if they should have paid 100%. I bought my car as new and when the steering went it was def too dangerous to drive, I couldn't make any quick movement and parking was like pulling an elephant through a vat of honey. Hope this is helpful! X

One web site on the internet shows 579 mini owners have had one power steering pump failure and that 66 mini owners have had two power steering pump failures!!!!!!

I have a 2001 Mini cooper and exactly the same thing happened to me on saturday. It was a very frightening experience as i was going round a round about at the time and lost control, now looking at a different car. Lucy, Glasgow.

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Had this on my 04 mini cooper convertable, very scary! happened one month after warranty ran out - but thankfully BMW honoured the £800 bill!

I have just had to have my power steering fixed due to this exact problem at a cost of £600. I understand that power steering is not a essential component but it is something that is listed that the car comes with when you purchase it and something that mini advised came with the car when i bought it. My power steering actually failed as i was driving the car and didn't fail 100%, it actually kept coming and going as i was driving. It is not a nice feeling to have no power steering as you are going around a round about wrestling with the steering wheel and the all of a sudden it kicks back in!! I nearly mounted the kerb many a time as i went around corners. I believe this is something that mini should look at reimburse people who have had to pay out for an error that they were aware of and could have had corrected whilst the car was still under warranty.

I got into our Mini a few weeks ago. There was an obvious noise. Within a few miles I had realised that it was related to the steering. It went into the garage a few days later and was fixed that day under warranty. No problem.

You would need to be totally insensitive or in denial of the problem to get caught out by this. Or have the radio on way to loud!

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the steering pump on my 53 mini one went in november of last year. i was quoted over £600 to replace the pump but mini bmw gave me 40% discount as a "gesture of goodwill". it was very frightning when the pump went and i only narrowly avoided crashing into oncoming traffic. maybe i should have had the whole cost paid.

I am on my second mini. it is a Sept 2006. My first mini was written off. A cause was never established for the accident. Does anyone know if the manufactures can identiy the models that may have a faulty component fitted?

My wife has an 04 mini, in Oct 2008 she parked the car and returned to find the steering pump had failed. The RAC advised it could be driven so we took it to a local garage to be fixed at a cost of over £500.00 When I asked the garage if it was a common fault they answered that the BMW dealer wouldn't keep a part that expensive on the shelf if it wasn't. my concern is whether the parts fitted will be upgraded or will this one fail also.

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i am the owner of another mini with powered steering problems. Mine failed on thursday evening after work. I heard from mini this pm and they told me it was the powered steering. I have tried phoning the number given but it is busy!

My steering failed in my 2003 Cooper S. I had to have the steering pump and rack and pump changed. My mechanic was told it was a common problem so Mini should have recalled them all. A tip which worked for me and got me home: if (when!) it happens to you, pull in somewhere safe; turn the engine off; turn it back on and the steering comes back; repeat if necessary until you have reached your destination.
Cost me over £1,000 in the end!

The powering steering on my 2003 mini cooper failed in June 2008.

I have been driving for 35 yrs and have never experienced anything like this before. It took all my strenght to turn the steering wheel. I could not understand what was happening. The car just would not steer. Thankfully this fault happened in a car park. I managed to get home safely. The following day the steering was ok, for a while, however the problem re-occurred. At this point I started to investigate and found information on mini2.com forum website. Here I found that others had experienced the same failure.

I challanged mini about this failure and managed to get my bill for a replacement pump reduced. I was given a 2 yr guarentee on the new part.

The car has been ok since the replacement.

I must add that I do love my mini and that this experience has not put me off wanting to buy another, a Cooper S this time.

I bought a 2001 Mini Cooper a few months ago. On the day after purchasing the car there was a loud whining noise coming from Power Steering. Was told by a few mechanics that the Power Steering Pump was failing. I was lucky enough that I had a warranty from the dealer I'd just bought it from. My local BMW dealership had said it was quite a common problem in Mini's and therefore they had many of these pump's in stock. I'm loving the Mini, but if I'd had to fork out the £800 it would probably be a different story.

You still can drive the car if the power steering pump fails(fact!). In the grand scale of things, the small amount of cars with this failure is so small compared to the amount of cars produced. BMW/MINI customer services as well as the dealerships will help and support you through any failure but the onus also has to fall on the drivers that take there car out of the network to independent garages that are not dealing with the product everyday, thus resulting in the negative response from BMW/MINI and the franchised dealers. In short, vehicles go wrong from time to time and if you ask for help and support from the BMW/MINI network they will bend over backwards to re-install faith in the product. I continually here people that do not follow guidelines and then have failures but are not prepared to take any responsability for there own actions. How long should a company take responsability for a product? That is what extended warranties are there for???? I say this as a ex BMW/MINI dealer employee as well as a BMW and Mini owner. Look how many comments have been made on this Blog compared to how many cars are still out there driving around without a problem!!!!

I have a 2001 mini one and in December the steering pump caught fire just shortly after parking. The local fire brigade had to attend to put out the fire. Luckily this did not write-off the car and the pump was replaced along with part of the wiring loom that was damaged. BMW would not admit that their cars have this problem but sell replacement pumps and part wiring looms as a standard parts replacement (seems like this does happen quite often then?) My concern is that BMW will not recall these cars and did not contribute to the costs of something that clearly happens a lot. The consequences of power steering failure are bad enough but catching fire is even worse - something needs to happen now surely!

I lost control of my car on a roundabout when the power steering failed. BMW quoted me £620 before labour for a new part. I ended up buying a reconditioned part and getting an independant garage to fit it, all for £300. If BMW were so bothered about helping, why did they insist on a diagnostic test at a charge of £90 before they would even begin discussing contributing to the cost of repair. Plus they would only contribute to the part not the labour!!

My mini's power steering went with my one year old daughter in the back. Fortunately it was at low speed just outside my home, thank goodness! I was unable to park it properly. My husband drove it to the garage and admitted that Geoff Capes would have had trouble with it. Mini dealership wanted to charge us £48 to diagnose the problem and £602 to replace the part. We asked 3 different garages for quotes and all 3 had the part in stock which I did find unusual as most parts have to be ordered. Mini Goodwill supplied the part free of charge but labour cost £99. We thought we had got a good deal until now!

I own a 52 plate Cooper-S. I only had him just over an hour after picking him up from the dealership when the power steering pump failed (luckily on a straight road) but then within seconds caught fire. The dealer gave a week's free insurance with the car so this covered £1200 worth of repairs and new parts consisting of a new pump and engine wiring loom and the £500 excess was paid by the dealer also as a gesture of goodwill. BMW acknowledged a fault with this age of car but said it was not a common enough fault to do a recall. They also advised that it was very rare for the pump to then go on fire. I still have the car and he run's like a wee dream but it's always in the back of my mind that this might happen again.

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My 05 mini one went in for a service on Fri. I was told there was a problem with the power steering cost to repair £300, but no parts available in uk at present as they are on back order from Germany. I had not actually experienced any problem with the steering but as it was picked up on a service do you think they are aware of the problem and are checking up on it. After tonights programme I am getting in touch with them to ask for a heafty discount.

I bought a Morris Minor so both my daughters would know what driving without power steering or brake servo's feels like.

All driving school cars should be able to switch off brake servo's and power steering to teach drivers how much more effort is needed.

Interesting to note that an ex bmw employee (look at the real picture indeed) should defend this problem so profusely! As an ex owner of a 2002 Mini One I also encountered this problem and did extensive research into other similar complaints. When you hear stories of mini owners around the world having two or three pumps fitted some on cars only six months old you have to accept the fact that the complicated electrically assisted power steering pump on early minis was a big mistake on BMWs part. Not only is it excessively noisy at low speeds but also prone to intermittently cutting out at any time. Yes a car can be driven without power steering but you do not expect nearly new cars to suddenly and without warning have such problems! It is also interesting to note that it is Mini Uk that refuses to accept this and other design faults with their product should be subject to recall whereas in the USA where people love to sue they are prepared to replace such faults on a specially extended 150,000 mile warranty! The other common fault being an issue with airbag warning lights coming on due to faulty underseat connectors and seat belt pretensioners which mini claim does not shut off the whole airbag system but will happily charge a fortune to fix time and time again. My mini also suffered from total failure of the entire dashboard and computer system due to another convenient electrical glitch similar in nature to the recently featured Ford Focus problem. Needless to say after spending in excess of a thousand pounds I have now replaced my Mini with another car......a fact that greatly saddened me because I loved to drive it! I would just like to say that there is no such thing as 'Mini Goodwill' and that you should expect far better from a so called premium brand.....a fact summed up in my local BMW dealership who basically implied that I should expect no better from a car that was not a 'proper' BMW!

I noticed that oil had leaked from my 2004 Mini One. When I took it to the BMW dealership I was told that the steering pump had failed. I was charged £800 despite the fact that the 3 year warranty had expired only 2 weeks before. I hadn't been able to drive the car because I had hurt my arm, otherwise I would have been able to return it to the garage within the warranty period. I wrote to the dealership with train and bus tickets as evidence that the car hadn't been driven, but they weren't interested. I also found articles on the internet which showed that this was a common problem. I had been a happy mini owner, but I felt cheated by the dealership. I am not sure that I would buy another mini. Now that Watchdog have publicised the problem, I am going to ask again for a refund.

The power steering failed in my 2002 Mini One in May 2008. I bought the car 6 months before. It first started to go about a month before and stopped as soon as I turned the engine off then on again. I spoke to a friend, who is a mechanic, and he told me to send it back to the garage where I'd bought it if the problem persisted. Which it did! Luckily, I'd taken 3 years warrantly out when I bought the car and so when I returned it to Arnold Clark their mechanics couldn't fix the power steering and the car then went back to my local BMW garage, at no extra cost, where they said it was a common fault.
I do love my Mini and I would definately have another. However, I have had a few problems with it that keep being referred to as 'common faults'. How many 'common faults' do Minis have and shouldn't we be made more aware of them?!

I am also a driving instructor \ advance driver trainer.. I have 4 minis on my fleet as well as other cars.. I have had the same problem with my mini "3 times".. the 1st it happen now and then but bmw told me sorry we cant find the problem (10k miles), the second time it happend and then flatend the battery so they chnged the motor(15k miles), the 3rd time it just didnt move so i sat at the show room until they sorted it out!! i have complained to mini gb and bmw uk.
Has anyone had engine coolant leak problem? iv had 9 of them!!

My 2005 mini cooper`s steering has failed twice, I am fairly strong but struggled to control the car. after switching of and trying again after getting out the steering worked again. Took it to BMW garage who only said" if it happens again bring it in", after second time took it in but by then once again working fine, they checked oil level and looked for leaks, nothing found so sent me on my way again. I fell very uncomfortable and now have heard of others problem now feel unsafe. A recall must be called for.

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My Mini is just 2 years old, and the this problem happened to me a couple of months ago I had just come out of the car wash and the steering seemed to freeze. Narrowly missing a brick wall, I had to gingerly drive home, fortunately, only one roundabout, right turn, and left into my drive!! The next day, the steering "freed itself" so I took it to my Mini garage. The mechanic jiggled the steering wheel, and said it was ok! The steering still seems stiff sometimes even now. I shall be calling Customer Services when it opens at 9.00 a.m. !

I bought my Mini One new in Jan01 and have done 28,000 miles. Last month the power steering went - I have never been so scared in my life! Luckly I was near home, but there was thick smoke coming from under the bonnet and a horrible burning smell. Cost for new steering pump AND battery - over £900. I WANT MY MONEY BACK!

The same thing happened to me Monday 2nd February, (the first day of snow!), and again in a five-year-old Mini.
I had great trouble parking in the weather conditions. The pump started working again after re-starting the ignition BUT drained my battering in the afternoon. By this time driving was TREACHEROUS even without the steering problems. I found another way home to be rescued by AA the next day.
A colleague at work advised me that he only had to pay for labour when the same thing happened to him but there was no such gratuity in my case.

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I have experienced this twice on my 04 mini one.Firstly the steering went coming round a bend into oncoming traffic.When I contacted BMW the letter I received back denied that this was a known fault , even though I had printedpages of comments from similar cases taht were on the internet.Luckily the car was under warrenty and the garage looked at it over a few days and couldn't find the fault. THe car was fine for a few weeks then started making a whirring noise when switched off.This eventually drained the battery and disarmed the alarm and remote key system.On this occassion the garage found it to be the pump and replaced it.
I did however write again to BMW and practically got the same response as before 'it was an isolated case '.I have written to watchdog and top gear recently with my experience and am glad this has been brought up.

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I own an 03 plate mini cooper. In May 2007 it had a steering pump failure. Cost of replacement at BMW was £800. The car had only done around 22000 miles at the time. Referring to 'lookattherealpicture' persons comments - he is bang out of order!!! Yes, you can cover all parts for a life time - but this type of failure, with so few miles on the clock, and with potential drastic effects should NEVER happen. BMW are well aware of how many of these pumps they have replaced - they even admitted it at our local garage. BMW should compensate all mini owners who have had this fault. The question is.... is my replacement going to pack up in the same way?? BMW use reconditioned pumps as replacements NOT new ones

My steering pump failed on my 2002 mini cooper S last year whilst I was on the A1. The AA man told me that it was impossible to drive and took me home on the back of a lorry. I just rang the dedicated line to BMW as noted on the programme last night. They stated that since I had not told the BMW garage at the time, they couldn't do anything! I told them that since the car was out of its warranty, there was no point since I had had no joy in the past when trying to complain about other things. I wonder if mini are going to wriggle out of this?

I have owned an 02 Cooper since new. Super car. Its power steering unit was replaced after 58,000 miles, cost £412. Previously its steering column had been replaced under guarantee, as had a front suspension strut and a boot lock. After 85,000 miles the windscreen wiper motor failed, cost £344 to replace. It's also suffered from 2 cracked windscreens, not from impact damage. All these 'design faults'. Never-the-less it's the best car I have ever owned.

The power steering on my 2002 Mini Cooper S (50k miles0 failed in March 2008 while I was exiting the M1 to join the M25 - a frightening experience. My BMW/Mini dealership replaced the power steering at a cost to me of £524 and told me that this was an uncommon failure and I was just unlucky. After these reports I don't think so.

I have a mini one (03 reg) which I bought second hand in April 08. The car only had 19000 on the clock so had not done many miles. I had the car for a few weeks and was told by BMW that I had to have my steering rack fitted. The car was just out of warranty, so had to pay for it. Then a few weeks later I had my MOT done on the car and the mechanic said to me that there was a funny whiney noise coming from the power steering and should get this looked at as I'd just had the rack fitted. So I went back to BMW who said there was nothing wrong with the fitting. The noise has continued. Then just last week, I went to start the car for work in the morning and the car would not start, so I called the RAC who had told me that I had a flat battery. When the RAC man charged the battery up for me, the car started making a funny noise. So something was draining the battery. Apparently the power steering pump would not switch off automatically and had drained the battery. Later I took the car to a BMW dealer where I had the rack fitted as I thought it had to do with the rack, but then they denied that it had anything to do with the rack and was a new problem. Not once did they say to me that this was a common fault, it obviously was as they had the part in by coincidence. Anyway I had to get this part fitted and also buy a new battery as the pump had damaged the battery too. After finding this report on watchdog, I'm appalled that a premium car manufacturer such as BMW had not recalled the cars back especially when so many people have had this part replaced. I will be calling the Mini complaints line to find out if I can get any of my money back as I've now spent over £1100 on getting this fixed.

This happened to me and was really scarey, it was dangerous as well as you have no control the car just does not go where you want it to not very helpful when you want to make a turning!! I am surprised someone has not had a serious accident due to this. We did a lot of research into this fault and discovered that other mini drivers had had the same problem. We put this to our local BMW Mini garage who disagreed. They did give us something towards this but it still cost me £300 - and yes we had to wait as they didnt have any in stock at the time which reinforces the fact that they replace these regularly. After this I sort of lost confidence in my mini and have since sold this. To now find that they have accepted this as a fault I would like to think they will reimbuse those that have had to dig deep into their pockets for a common fault. Do you know if this is something they will consider?

[Note from Watchdog: BMW have not commented on this. Best regards, web team]

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I was pleased to see the article of Mini power steering pump failures on last nights programme. In 2006 the power steering pump failed on my 03 Mini Cooper as I was negotiating a roundabout, and I too struggled to keep the car on the road. It is clearly dangerous when you are not expecting it. I'm just glad it didn't happen on a country road at a higher speed. Please keep up the pressure on BMW Mini who are clearly in denial, before someone gets seriously hurt.

I have a 2002 Mini cooper and this problem with the power steering has happened to me on several occasions. The first time it happened I only noticed the steering had failed when I was on a roundabout! What annoys me is the statement 'The car can still be driven safely without power assisted steering' ~ Ridiculous and completely inaccurate, I've driven cars without power steering with much more ease! I also have the problem of the whining noise coming from the pump. I've noticed that the steering fails when I'm stuck in traffic or driving slowly for ten minutes or more, the fan will come on and the steering fails. Normally what I have to do is turn the ignition on and off again to get it back working. I've had quotes of up to E1400 to fix this problem so I've started looking into breakers yards to find a replacement pump. The most important thing is to be able to drive the car without worrying when the power steering will fail and secondly for the car to be SAFE and roadworthy which it certainly is not with a fundamental part like the steering working correctly.

I have an 04 Mini Cooper. The power steering pump went in May last year when I was going around a roundabout. Luckily I managed to pull over into a layby and call my local BMW Mini dealer. I was advised not to drive the vehicle at all, contradicting the advice given on last nights programme. I paid over £350.00 for the fix, a new pump, which the service centre at BMW said would have been over £600.00 without BMW's 'goodwill' gesture! I also has to foot the bill for being towed 30 miles to the garage by the AA.

My daughter had a very similar experience with her Nissan Micra. Sudden failure of the power steering when driving round an island. Thankfully the roads were quite and she did'nt crash.

She was unable to drive the car any further and i went to her help and drove the car back home very slowly. To say that it is safe to drive the car after the failure of the power steering is crazy. The car can not be moved quickly to change direction and for women , who generally would not have the same upper arm strength as a man, it is impossible for them to steer the car at all.

There should be a failsafe mechanism so if the power steering fails the steering can be operated in a reasonable manner.

Steve F.

I contacted Mini this morning regarding the power steering pump, I have to say that the gentleman I spoke to was really helpful, after giving him my car reg, he told me that my car was not fitted with this type of pump, but he did say to still be alert for this problem. If you google 'power steering pump problems' it comes up with nearly all makes of cars.

In answer to onekingmalik yes I have had an engine coolant leak. That was the reason I took my car in to mini last week and they told me there was a problem with my power steering. I have also had problem with the run flat indicator which kept coming on. Each time I took it to mini they could not find a problem, even though every time I started a journey it came on after driving about 1/2 mile. In the end the next time it happened I drove there and left the engine running until someone came out to look at it to prove I wasn't seeing things.

Phoning the BMW customer services helpline you gave out resulted in a conversation of platitudes. The lady who replied hadn't even seen your programme, so I suggested she did a Google search! Clearly BMW don't see this as a problem.

I discussed the possible difficulties my disabled partner would have in driving the car if the power-steering failed and it was suggested that we made sure we had breakdown cover and paid for extended warranty should the PSP fail. No chance! On the limited mileage this car does we'll be looking for a 100% goodwill gesture from BMW should the part fail.

BMW are sticking to the "it's only a few incidents" line, and advised that our 06 registration Mini One would have been fitted with a modified PSP.

Hi, I have been having a problem with my 04 Cooper S power steering on start up, from time to time since November 08. I have made calls to my local BMW garage where I bought the car 18 months ago.
I have asked if the fault was a common one?
There reply was no. I have also had the system checked over by BMW and a diagnostic check done. For which I was charged £30.
They said I could change the pump at a cost of £519! But could not say if this would fix the fault.
I feel very let down by Mini in the lack of interest in this problem which has affected so many cars.
Some action needs to be done by Mini to sort this problem out, and not leave the owners to sort this issue out at there own cost.

I feel quite worried now after seeing the report on Watchdog last evening about Mini power steering failures. My Mini One is just five years old,in the danger zone. Presumably its keep ones fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Heather
Hampshire

I brought my Mini Cooper in Dec 04 and in Nov 08 my power steering pump went. I was stranded and had to call the RAC out, They did get it going again but my drive home was a very scary ride, The steering was so heavy i nearly crashed into the pavement at one point. My Mini has 24,000 miles on, so i thought this should never have happened. I then had to get it towed to a mini garage for repair which incurred a further cost and was then called and told it would cost me in total £775.41. Can i get this money refunded ? I WANT THIS MONEY BACK!!!!!!!!!

I have a Mini Cooper S 02 plate and the power steering went last year whilst driving home from work. It cost over £300 to repair, are Mini willing to put towards any of these costs now it is obviously a common fault?!

I was reversing into a tight space a couple of years ago when the power steering went on my Mini Cooper 51 plate. When I
switched the engine on again it had returned. The power steering went about once a fortnight after this until I had it sorted at a cost of over £400. I could still drive it but ended up with arms like Mike Tyson!

My Mini is 3 years old and my power steering failed a month ago, I paid a BMW garage ?1,000 to fix it. I will be ringing them and writing to them as I shouldn't have paid this.

I have had two power steering pumps fail on my first MINI which I bought brand new in October 2003. The first one went in December that year when I parked the car and refuelled. When I got back in a couple of minutes later I felt the steering to be very heavy but it was driveable. I took it to my dealer's who immediately booked it in for a replacement pump. After about a month the second pump failed. I called out MINI Emergency. The vehicle was recovered back to the dealers as I was at work 35 miles from my home and the MINI Emergency mechanic deemed the vehicle to be undriveable. A second replacement pump was fitted. I was lucky in that the pumps both failed whilst the vehicle was parked up but left for short periods of time. I now have another MINI which I bought in May 2006 and to date have had no issues with the steering in this one. I am now thinking of getting a third MINI which will be a diesel. I can understand how frightening it can be to have a steering failure whilst on the move and the steering is heavy on such a small vehicle. I believe MINI did know about this problem and I find the fact that they haven't ordered a recall somewhat baffling.

This happened to our 51 reg mini a year ago. After a few intermittent episodes where we lost all power and then it returned a few minutes later (very scary and I could hardly muster the strength to turn the wheel), it finally gave up on us- a strange noise started, we drove it straight to the BMW garage and they left it overnight so it drained the battery. Not only did it cost us £500 to get a new pump fitted the BMW garage also charge us for a jumpstart.

Having just called the helpline, I was informed that BMW are not offering refunds, however if they decide to recall the cars everyone will receive a letter and then it is more likely we will get compensation. I would therefore advise everyone to register your complaint with the helpline- they are logging all vehicle registration numbers and if enough people call it will put more pressure on them to do something!

We love our mini but whenever anything goes wrong it is sooo expensive!

I can't believe that this is such a common problem! I have an 03 plate Mini Cooper S and the power steering failed on my way to work back in December 08. I some how managed to continue to drive it and got to a local garage who reported that a new pump was required at a cost of £600. This was not good news just before christmas and needing my car for work had no choice but to have the work done.
I didn't even contact Mini as I thought it was an isolated case!!As it is a clear problem, I definately think that we should be some how compensated for this.

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Yep you've guessed it, my Mini Cooper 52 plate also succumbed to the dreaded Power Steering black death.
(November 2008)
I've contacted BMW UK customer services but their head in the sand reply was only too predictable.
Lets hope that the BBC revisit this issue with a view to embarassing this so called quality company into pulling their socks up and sorting what is evidently " a not fit for purpose" piece of sub standard kit"
Keep up the good work BBC.

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I have an 02 plate Mini & so spoke to the BMW customer services that to be honest didn't really offer much of a service. My Mini has occassionally lost it power steering when I try to park I explained this to them. I have been told that I should book it in to my local service centre and pay for diagnosis tests to find out the problem. If it is this problem everyone seems to be having they may consider paying towards repairs. Which by reading the comments and my own experience of BMW is not likely. I have had so many problems with this car, I quite naively thought buying a Mini would mean I was buying a quality car. How very wrong I have been.

I too had a 2003 much-loved mini whose power steering pump failed in busy traffic. I had to drag the steering wheel with my full body weight to get it to turn even a fraction of its rotation. How on earth do VOSA seem to think this is still safe and legal? It cost me over £400 to replace the pump and at no point did mini confess to any others having this problem. Scared of it happening again, I have now replaced my car.
If you have a mini in the 'danger zone' I would highly recommend getting AA cover - sounds like you might just need it...

Look forward to hearing an update from mini to confirm what exactly they intend to do about this...

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We have a 2004 mini cooper which we bought when it was 6 months old. Last week we had the steering pump replaced for the second time after 2 years and 4 months. Mini quoted us £780 for the replacement but when we collected the car we paid £117 for the labour as the part was provided as mini 'goodwill' - perhaps we too should be seeking a refund of this charge. The VOSA need to be looking at the safety issues as the car was near impossible to steer and could have caused a serious accident if we had been traveling any faster or have been on a sharp bend in the road. The local dealership advised that it was 'quite a common fault on older models and there is now a newer modification of the steering pump which "should" prevent this problem re-occurring'. Is it time there was a product recall by Mini before someone gets seriously hurt?!

I bought my '02 mini one in august '08, after reading all of the comments on here I'm now concerned about the problem occurring on my car. There is no way i would be able to drive my car with no powersteering. I really think BMW should step up to the mark and recall all mini's and replace the powersteering pumps at no cost to the owners.

This is obviously a far more common problem then BMW realise.

I must say though I love my mini and truely hope BMW do the decent thing.

My Mini Cooper S is an 05 and has suffered from a rubbing sound when the steering is turned probably 30 degrees from a straight line. Mini to be fair said that it was a gearbox problem, paid £3k for a new gearbox. The problem however hasn't been rectified. Strangely despite being willing to pay that huge sum they are unwilling to accept that it may be the power steering. We've replaced lots of other parts (like the cv joints) because we have tried to get to the bottom of the problem ourselves and all at our own cost. It was intriguing to hear that there are so many issues out there although both official Mini dealerships I've taken my Mini to say that there are no issues with the power steering on Mini's at all. All very strange and extremely annoying!

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I have a mini cooper 03 plate and the same issue happened to me at the beginning of this week, costing me £400 to get it fixed!
I think it is poor customer service that BMW acknowledge that this fault in the car is a problem but there is no effort made to correct it for all the customers who have had to shell out a small fortune to have it fixed.
Anyone who owns a mini knows that BMW monopolise on all the car parts and make it a very expensive car for owners to run.
On first buying the car I vowed to have a mini for life but now I'm not so sure!
Is there any way of getting the money back?

I rang the help line number today after a battle with Mini for 6 weeks - I was happy to pay for the repair but object to paying a £60 fee for them to tell me what is wroong with the car- i know what is wrong with it and they know what is wrong with it- Just a quick way to make £60 and losing sight of making £600 on a new pump!
No wonder they have had to make 1400 redundant, not really a customer service number

My power steering pump went on my 52 plate Mini Cooper which had only done 52K miles. Luckily it still had 1 week left on the warranty. Cost was £600 to replace. Car had to be transported to the local BMW dealer. Having looked at some mini forums, I realised this might be an issue and asked the local BMW dealer if this was a known problem. The answer was no.

My wife purchased her Mini Cooper in January 2002. Last month whilst travelling to work the power steering failed. Contrary to BMW's comments neither my wife or myself could safely drive the vehicle and it had to be recovered on a low loader. The replacement pump and recovery cost £650 but worse was the frightening and dangerous loss of steering.

In November 2006 I had a similar problem with the steering gear on my mini and this was repaired at a Mini Dealer and BMW made a 100% contribution to the cost of the parts supplied.

I have a '55' mini cooper and rang the helpline no. Apparently I have a modified steering pump so 'should' be ok.

My mini is 2007 - after they changed the steering pump to a new system! My steering pump failed 2 weeks ago, and my local mini dealer had another mini of the same age in for the same problem on the next day. One low mileage, one high...
The older pumps are semi-hydraulic, the new ones completely electrical... but they both seem to fail!

01 Mini Cooper - dream car - nightmare faults and costs.

Power steering failed two weeks ago, luckily in car park. Switched engine off, restarted, power steering worked.

Working up the courage and bank balance for yet another visit to dealership.

I have a 2002 Mini Cooper that suffered this exact problem in December. Having had a look on various websites and seeing that it was a fairly talked about occurrence, I contacted BMW to asked if it was a known fault of problem and they denied all knowledge of it. As a result, I had my car fixed at an approved Mini dealership costing over £1000!

Now it has been confirmed that it is indeed a known problem, I have been back in touch with Mini who have told me that it is the responsibility of the dealership to apply for a 'goodwill review' as they term it i.e to apply for Mini to pay for the repairs, if they feel it is appropriate. The fault was not widely communicated to the dealerships, in fact it was actively denied by Mini, and the dealership that fixed my car had not come across it before, therefore they obviously had no reason to consider applying for a 'good will' review. Whilst this increased publicity will help future cases, Mini is refusing to back date any claims so anyone who suffered the problem during the time it was being denied by Mini appears to be at a siginificant loss - given the fact that the man at Mini admitted to 10% of all vehicles over a 7 year period suffering from this problem, this is likely to be a significant number of people!

My Mini is a Cooper petrol bought brand new from BMW in 2003. My power steering failed going around a large roundabout about 30-40mph and I missed my turn off and ended up at a stop after crossing diagonally and bumping up onto the kerb. I stopped the car and another motorist got out and tapped on my window to check myself and my 10yr old were ok! I got the car recovered home. Although the car was off and key removed, there was still a cooling fan running even after over an hour later so all the electrics were still live when my partner had to disconnect the battery as we were warned by a mechanic that this electrical fault could cause a fire with the car sat static on our drive! When it was reconnected days later it sparked and was all live again and the electrics still wining. The BMW dealer told me they had never heard of this fault and that I would have to pay! I was FURIOUS, WE COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN KILLED! and they were denying any responsibility whatsoever! unbelieveable! I had to pay £100 for a bmw diagnosis even though we told them what was wrong as it was obvious, the car was sitting locked on their forecourt with the electrics making a racket. I told them to go ahead and fix it, then I refused to pay and luckily discovered the international mini2forum thread about this serious problem, so I rang VOSA as advised and they were very helpful but told me though they were fully aware of the problem, there was no recall yet. I GUESS SIMPLY PUT NO-ONE HAS BEEN KILLED YET! I told the BMW dealer that if they did not pay for the repair in full, that I would park my car in the road outside their dealership all day every Saturday with a big sign in the windscreen warning potential buyers of new BMWs. So they paid even though my car was well over a year out of warranty, which only confirmed to me that the part WAS FAULTY all along and they are fully aware of it. I am selling my formerly much loved Mini soon and I will never buy another new BMW again.

Thankyou Watchdog.

OK I'm another one. Power steering packed in autumn 2008 on my 52 Cooper. 760 to repair. I said I'd already heard that there was a problem with Mini power steering and the dealer claimed to have contacted BMW to see if they would contribute to the cost. He said that they wouldn't agree due to age and mileage of the car. I can confirm that driving a Mini without the power steering requires serious muscle ... it's just possible so long as you don't need to make a sudden extreme change of direction when moving relatively slowly. I'm actually amazed that it is even legal to drive a car in that condition.

My 2003 Mini Cooper developed an intermittent fault with the power steering last summer. I contacted two local dealerships and Mini customer services, who diagnosed it immediately as the PAS pump. I trawled the net for ideas after being quoted up to £800 for a replacement, and was dismayed to read how many others had encountered the same problem. I even had the pump removed, stripped down,cleaned and replaced, but it was the electrics within the sealed unit which were at fault. Disappointingly, I was offered no compensation from Mini, even though I had driven the car only 35,000 miles from new. I consequently had the pump replaced at a local garage for £450.
I think that the claim by Mini that the power steering is not essential on this expensive little car is completely wrong. When it failed, the steering was so heavy that basic manoeuvering, with the need to react to other traffic, was often impossible and so required me to stop the vehicle. I was very disappointed with Mini's approach to resolving the problem when it is so obviously a very common fault.

I was driving home from work on the North Circular, when my steering wheel failed, I could not steer my car, I managed to pull over into a petrol station, turned the car off re started it and it was fine, I continued my journey home, reached a round about and the steering stopped again, I nearly went into other cars, I managed to get home, I called the AA, they took the car to a Mini dealer, they charged me over £600 to get the steering wheel fixed!
BMW should take responsibility for this.

I have a 54 plate mini cooper s and after seeing this report I contacted BMW “so called” Customer Service, where I was told that my car does fit into the category that could fail but BMW weren’t going to have a recall on the cars. I find this hard to understand as its clear they know there is a fault with a part that doesn’t fall under “wear and tear” on a car and more importantly has the potential to cause a serious if not fatal accident, but BMW are still not willing to call the cars back in! What are they waiting for? Someone to die? I travel on the motorway everyday and watching the demonstration of the mini with out power steering worries me considerably. How would anyone fare travelling at 70mph on the motorway with that happening.

As for “look at the real picture’s comments he needs to remember that this isn’t the same as general maintenance on the car or a bulb or fan belt going. This is something the manufacture knows can happen and obviously isn’t something that they are willing to check on there maintenance runs. I called my local BMW garage and asked if they could test the car to see if it was likely to fail (I told them I was willing to pay), but I was told that there was nothing they could do until the fault occurred! So unless I buy a new car I now just have to drive in the hope that nothing goes wrong, in the knowledge that the likely hood is that is could and even the manufacture admits this? How can this be right?

I bought a 2004 Mini Cooper 3 years ago. I absolutely love my Mini, but before Christmas the power-steering failed, whilst on a busy road in central London. It was still possible to turn the steering wheel, but was certainly not easy, and I can definitely imagine circumstances when I would have been run off the road. It cost me £660 to replace the steering pump at a Mini garage - 3 days before Christmas! Apart from it being a huge expense, it was a scary experience. Presumably the pump will have been replaced with a similar pump, meaning the problem could recur?

I had a problem with the power steering Pump only 3 weeks ago. The power steering Pump was draining my battery. This was only 'diagnosed' after the second time trip to the dealer on the back of a flat bed truck, despite the 'we need to perform diagnostic testing before we can do anything' claims from my dealership. First time they replaced the battery, costing over £200 and told me it was repaired, one week later it was back again with a flat battery - again! What exactly happens during these diagnostic tests?

In total I'm out of pocket by more then £600 for an electrical problem that they did acknowledge exists in the show!

I have also had my power steering disappear on me before all this happened on 2 occasions and it is very frightening, definitely not safe or drivable in that state!

What are Mini going to do about this? I don't see why I should be out of pocket!!!

I have often had a problem where on starting my Mini there is no power steering, I have to turn the ignition off leave it for a while and re-start then it usualy is OK.

My beloved (03) Mini One inexplicity caught fire whilst being stationery on the drive for 2 days, the theory is that the power steering motor didn't switch off when the engine did causing it to overheat but this is only theory as the fire was so bad there was no evidence!!

I have contacted BMW in both Ireland and the UK and explained my situation with the power steering which was described as 'strange and not at all common'. They have offered to get in touch with a dealership to have the pump replaced. I will only recieve a 'contribution' to the cost. Surely the part should be replaced courtesy of BMW if the pump was faulty in the first place?

I think that the reporting of this issue on watchdog has not been very professional.

Most people seem to have panic'd when all the evidence suggests there is very little reason to.

The majority of other comments on here, somewhat unsuprisingly, seem to come from people whose interests lie more with recouping costs than the concern for safety.

This fault is being dealt with in the same way every other manufacturer of consumer products would deal with it. If the fault occurs within the warranty period it will be rectified at no extra cost. If it occurs outside of the warranty surely it is reasonable to expect to pay for the repair?

mini cooper 51 power steering stopped working replace with new one sceond unit failed crash car

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another steering failure this with a 51 mini cooper. My power steering has failed twice. This is nothing like driving an old style car without power steering. The car steering becomes so heavy it is almost impossible to steer,and is both very frightening and potentialy very dangerous.The Mini help line gave me a case number and a new phone number to call, asking me to leave this for a couple of days as they were so busy!!! I made this call leaving it for two days as suggested. Although polite the only advise was to take the car into a Mini dealer to be diagnosed. I was told that due to the age of my car i could not expect to receive any finacial payment towards cost of repair and that this problem was a failure in just a few Minis!! It seems to me that U.K. Mini are not owning up to what is obviously a wide spread fault and in my mind and many more a dangerous one at that