The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States has upgraded its probe on BMW Mini cars for a potential steering problem linked to five minor crashes. The NHTSA posted on Monday this week that its engineering analysis covers nearly 60,000 units from the 2004 and 2005 model years. Generally, an engineering analysis takes place before a recall is issue. No word has come from Malaysian Mini owners and its dealers. Could this be an isolated US only incident? Most Mini’s sold in Malaysia are parallel imports and so warranty and recalls will not be claimable. But official units should be checked…..right?
The NHTSA first started to examine the matter last September. The agency said that 519 complaints have been reported and over 4,500 warranty claims have been filed related to a sudden loss of power in the electrically controlled steering system.
The complaints consist of five minor crashes and three fires that led to melted wires. So far, no injuries have been reported. The agency said that BMW believes that a temporary glitch may be the result of a faulty cooling fan or an undervoltage condition in the steering system. It also thinks that complaints of permanent steering problems could be related to internal electronics.
