2003 MINI COOPER — Complaint #648859
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:HYDRAULIC POWER ASSIST:PUMP filed December 6, 2007
NHTSA complaint #648859 (ODI reference 10211079) concerns a 2003 MINI COOPER and was filed on December 6, 2007. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 15, 2007. The vehicle had 107,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:hydraulic power assist:pump, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same MINI COOPER cohort independently describe similar steering:hydraulic power assist:pump failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2003 MINI COOPER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
I WILL BE INSTALLING WHAT WILL BE THE THIRD MANUAL 5-SPEED TRANSMISSION IN MY MINI. SAME PROBLEM, SEEMS TO BE THE FINAL DRIVE BEARING IS FAILING LIKELY DUE TO LACK OF LUBRICATION. I HAVE RECORDS OF ALL SERVICE AND CHECK IT REGULARLY AND IT HAS NEVER BEEN LOW. THE BEARING IS APPARENTLY NOT GETTING A PROPER SUPPLY OF FLUID. PROBLEM NUMBER TWO, MY POWER STEERING PUMP FAILED ON ME ONCE. IT EXPLODED WHILE I WAS DRIVING. THE HOSES BASICALLY GOT TOO HOT AND BLEW UP. I FORTUNATELY WAS ABLE TO LIMP IT TO A SHOP WITHOUT ANY FIRE. ON ANOTHER OCCASION THE POWER STEERING FAN CONTINUED TO RUN EVEN WHEN THE IGNITION WAS SHUT OFF, NEEDED TO REPLACE THE ENTIRE PUMP THIS TIME WHICH COST ME $500 INSTALLED WITH A REMANUFACTURED PUMP. THIRD, I HAVE HAD TO PUT THREE WINDSHIELDS IN THE CAR. NONE OF THESE REPAIRS WERE WARRANTED! MINI NEEDS TO SUCK IT UP AND CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR THESE SHODDILY MADE CARS, THEY HAVE MADE THEIR MONEY AND DON'T CARE TO HELP WITH ANYTHING. I AM A LOYAL BMW CUSTOMER BUT I THINK
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 648859 |
| ODI Number | 10211079 |
| Date Filed | December 6, 2007 |
| Failure Date | November 15, 2007 |
| VIN | WMWRC33433T |
Similar STEERING:HYDRAULIC POWER ASSIST:PUMP Complaints for 2003 MINI COOPER
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 MINI COOPER. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 55 MPH, THE STEERING WHEEL SEIZED. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHO STATED THAT THE POWER STEERING PUMP FAILED.
TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 MINI COOPER. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 20 MPH HE ATTEMPTED TO MAKE A LEFT TURN AND THE STEERING WHEEL BECAME VERY STIFF. THE VEHICLE WAS DRIVEN ONTO THE EMERGENCY LANE AND
TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 MINI COOPER. WHILE MAKING A RIGHT TURN AT 10 MPH, THE POWER STEERING SUDDENLY FAILED. THE STEERING WHEEL BECAME DIFFICULT TO TURN. THE CONTACT PULLED OVER AND TURNED OFF THE
TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 MINI COOPER. WHEN THE CONTACT DROVE THE VEHICLE AT ANY VARIOUS SPEEDS SHE NOTICED THAT THE POWER STEERING WOULD SUDDENLY BEGIN TO MALFUNCTION WITHOUT WARNING. THE STEERING W
COURTESY COPY TO THE ADMINISTRATOR OF LETTER FROM KATHLEEN BIDDICK TO MINI USA RE STEERING PUMP SYSTEM OF MINI MODELS MANUFACTURED IN 2003 -2007. *NJ THE SUDDEN AND UNPREDICTABLE LOSS OF STEERING PO
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.