Issue ID | 897206 |
Internal NHTSA # | 10440083 |
Manufacurer | BMW OF NORTH AMERICA, LLC |
Brand | MINI |
Model | COOPER |
Model Year | 2004 |
File date | 08/12/09 |
Component | STEERING |
Product type code | VEHICLE |
Description of the problem | The cars power steering started failing for a few seconds while driving at slow speed. This has happened at least 20 or more times over the last 2 years. The steering of the vehicle becomes extremely hard. There is no warning that this will occur, so clearly it could result in an accident. In the last 12 months, the power steering has started to fail when the car is started, but started working again if the car was restarted or after a short period of time. This week, after 3 hours of driving, the car was parked for 15 minutes, when the car was restarted there was no power steering at all during another 5 minutes of driving. The care was stopped for another 20 minutes and when restarted power steering was restored. I am very concerned that this failure could occur during high speed maneuvering and could result in a major accident. I feel that i have been lucky to date that i haven't been in a situation that resulted in an accident, precise control of the vehicle is impossible without the power steering. |
Vehicle Mileage at Failure | 25000 |
Number of Occurences | 1 |
Source of the issue | NHTSA WEB SITE |
City and State | STATE COLLEGE, PA |
VIN pattern | WMWRC33444TXXXXXX |
Was vehicle invloved in a crash? | N |
Was vehicle involved in a fire? | N |
Was incedent reported to police? | N |
Was medical attention required? | |
Was part original equipment? | |
No. of injured persons | |
No. of fatalities | |
Date of purchase | 02/07/24 |
Was original owner? | N |
Anti-lock brakes | N |
Cruise control | N |
Number of cylinders | 4 |
Drive train type | |
Transmission type | |
Vehicle speed | 10 |
DoT tire identifier | |
Tire size | |
Location of tire code | |
Type of tire failure code | |
Was defective tire repaired? | |
Date of manufacture | |
Type of child seat code | |
Type of restraint | |
Dealer's name | |
Dealer's telephone number | |
Dealer's city | |
Dealer's state code | |
Dealer's ZIP code |