2003 MINI COOPER — Complaint #817378
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:HYDRAULIC POWER ASSIST:PUMP filed September 29, 2010
NHTSA complaint #817378 (ODI reference 10358248) concerns a 2003 MINI COOPER and was filed on September 29, 2010. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 2, 2010. The vehicle had 114,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Delaware 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
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 VEHICLE. HE WAITED 20 MINUTES AND RESTARTED THE VEHICLE WHICH PERFORMED NORMAL. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THREE LOCA LMECHANIC. ONE MECHANIC STATED THAT THE POWER STEERING HARNESS NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS ALSO TAKEN TO AN AUTO PARTS STORE WHERE THE CONTACT WAS INFORMED THAT THE POWER STEERING PUMP NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. ANOTHER MECHANIC VERIFIED THAT THE POWER STEERING PUMP HAD TO BE REPLACED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 114,000 AND THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 114,300.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 817378 |
| ODI Number | 10358248 |
| Date Filed | September 29, 2010 |
| Failure Date | September 2, 2010 |
| VIN | WMWRC33453T |
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. 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
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 AL
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.