Suddenly lost power steering while driving and had substantial difficulty turning to get out of traffic. It happened a few times, then took it for repairs. Was told that the pump and fan were bad and that this was a known problem with 2004 minis.

- Ct, CT, USA

Last night while driving on a busy street in one of the largest cities in the U.S., I experienced complete power steering failure - which became evident to me only when I attempted to make a right turn and found that the steering wheel was nearly impossible to turn. Before this happened, no warning lights became illuminated on the dash & nothing about the car's performance suggested a problem with the vehicle - there was simply no warning of any kind. At the time this occurred I had been driving for less than 15 minutes @ approx. 35 mph & I had made several turns (right & left) during the course of this trip without any problems - the last of which had been only 2 or 3 minutes prior to this event. Though I was ultimately able to complete the turn without leaving the road by using all of my strength to slowly turn the wheel, my car traveled for approx. 1/2 block in the opposing lane of traffic before I was able to steer the car back into my lane. If there had been oncoming traffic on the street I turned onto I would have been completely unable to avoid a collision. Despite being restarted several times since this event, the vehicle's power steering has not returned or improved. At this time it appears that the power steering pump is the cause of the problem. This experience was extremely terrifying & could have easily resulted in the serious injury or death of myself and/or others.

- Houston, TX, USA

1. 04 MINICooper S power steering failure while driving. Occasionally while driving the pump will loose power and steering will be very difficult. Power steering fan stays on after vehicle is turned off which tends to drain the battery. 2. eventually the pump started leaking and fan stop working needing replacement. Loss all power steering while driving. 3. replaced pump and fan with new units and problem is temporarily fixed but problem has come back. Noticing the same symptoms from #.1 post happening again.

- Apopka, FL, USA

Sudden failure of power steering. Control of car was not lost. It will require a new power steering pump.

- Sandy, UT, USA

I drove my MINIcooper 2004 S with 95K miles on the freeway and noticed my steering very difficult to move. I arrived to my destination safely and searching on the web for steering problems with 2004 MINIcooper and found federal investigation in progress. I towed the vehicle to the MINIdealership and explained the problem. They found the power steering pump defective as described on the website and repaired the vehicle for 1500 dollars. The dealer/BMW offered no compensation to defer the cost. I contacted BMW customer relations and received a non response on if and how BMW would respond.

- Tracy, CA, USA

2004 MINICooper S, power steering failure. I have experienced intermittent failure of power steering in my 2004 MINICooper S. this has occurred seemingly at random and causes great difficulty with steering the vehicle. This creates an unsafe driving condition in which it is difficult to control the vehicle. This has happened several times in a given day or sometimes only once in a week. The failure has occurred at various times of operation, including immediately after starting the car in the morning, mid-commute, and at the end of a long drive. The only consistency is that it seems to occur just after putting the car in reverse, then back in 1st gear (though not every time). Power steering is almost always restored by turning ignition off and back on- not a safe action in most of my driving circumstances. On one occasion the power steering pump continued to run audibly after the vehicle was turned off, threatening to drain the battery. This lasted for about 20 minutes and was only resolved by driving the car again for about five minutes. When the car was turned off again, the pump finally shut off.

- San Francisco, CA, USA

Power steering pump failure on 2004 MINICooper S.

- Greeneville, TN, USA

The contact owns a 2004 MINICooper S. the contact stated that while driving and making a turn the power steering suddenly failed making the steering wheel difficult to maneuver. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer who informed the contact that the power steering pump failed. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 170,000. The VIN was unavailable.

- Washington, NJ, USA

The contact owns a 2004 MINICooper. While driving less than 20 mph, the contact lost power steering with no prior warning. The steering wheel became extremely difficult to turn. The vehicle was driven to the side of the road. The engine was turned off; and after restarting the vehicle the power steering began to function normally. The similar failure recurred on a different occasion. The dealer was notified and an appointment was scheduled for a diagnostic test. The failure mileage was 55,000.

- Durham, NC, USA

I was driving very slowly into the drive thru burger king and I lost power steering and it became very difficult to control the car I could not get it to go the direction I wanted it to go so I ended up crashing into the curb. Another time this happened was when I hit a patch of ice my car lost power steering a few seconds later and I had to restart my car, but it did come back on.

- Plainville, CT, USA

Intermittent power steering failure. Continues to occur almost daily. To date, I have not had trouble driving the car, but the power steering goes on and off with no apparent reason.

- Macon, GA, USA

During 2010 I experienced the power steering going on and off while driving throughout the year. Also, sometimes the power steering would not work right at the start up. I then had to turn the car off, and re-start it. My mechanic could not find a direct problem. 3 days ago, Jan 2011, the power steering failed completely, and my car was not drivable, it would not start. My mechanic examined my car and found that the power steering unit was completely broken.

- Cortlandt Manor, NY, USA

Our 2004 MINICooper S is loosing power steering randomly making it very unsafe to drive. Its very random, I thought it was some kind of sport mode but you cant even control the vehicle when the car kicks into "paralysis", totally weird...I've owned all foreign cars mostly Japanese, and german...this is the first time I've seen anything like this and I grew up in the car business driving everything you can think of.....it would be a shame if MINIlooses its reputation over something like a power steering problem just fix the problem its obviously a major defect on the engineering.....sounds like a recall to me....please don't join Toyota crash parade.

- Douglasville, GA, USA

My power steering failed in the middle left turn causing me to wreck right into a signal light. I have a 2004 MINICooper 5spd transmission non-S.

- Frisco, TX, USA

Power steering in my 2004 MINICooper went out while going around a turn and caused me to swerve off the road.

- Pearland, TX, USA

While driving onto a freeway on ramp, my steering became excessively difficult and I almost ran into a median. I pulled over and the steering resumed normal activity and then became very difficult again to the point where I could barely steer the car enough to take it to a repair shop three blocks from my house where they informed me that my power steering pump had failed.

- Palo Alto, CA, USA

I own a 2004 MINICooper. I've had a couple incidents with the power steering system. While driving the vehicle, the power steering will cease to operate. The result is a steering system that is extremely difficult to maneuver. This is a safety hazard that needs to be addressed by BMW. I've read a few online articles on this matter and now realize that my power steering pump is going bad. It needs to be replaced and I plan to do so. I was surprised however by the number of online articles I found on this topic. Operating a vehicle with a randomly faulty power steering system is extremely dangerous. I can only imagine the worst should the power steering fail on my MINICooper on a winding road with oncoming traffic. It is a completely random failure of the power steering system under all driving conditions. The problem first occurred a couple months ago and went away. Recently it happened multiple times on the same day. So far my solution has been to turn the car off and restart it. Based on internet research I know now that I need to replace the power steering pump.

- Cincinnati, OH, USA

The contact owns a 2004 MINICooper. The driver was driving at an unknown speed when the steering wheel became very stiff and difficult to turn. The vehicle was parked and shut off. Upon restart the steering wheel remained difficult to turn. The failure and current mileages were 60,000. The power steering pump failed internally. The power return line was leaking. Also, both struts were leaking. Updated evoq 02/02/11

- Burleson, TX, USA

Power steering failure during driving. Became sluggish/very hard to turn on the highway at speed.

- Powder Springs, GA, USA

The power steering pump failed on my MINICooper at high speed, curvy road at night without warning. I had to replace the pump and the cooling fan to the tune of $900. This happened just outside of warranty at 60K miles. Mechanic said that he replaces about 10 a month...all MINIs pumps fail under 80K miles.

- Santa Rosa, CA, USA