UPDATE: Ended up taking it to the dealership. Turns out it WAS the USB port above the steering wheel. Some faulty wiring was causing a power surge which would knock the power steering offline. They fixed it under the car's warranty.

Hello,

I'm a new owner. It's a 2021 Mini Countryman S All 4. You guys seem pretty knowledgeable and I'm hoping I can get some input about a potential issue with the car.

I recently got this car as a gift for my Wife for Mother's day. It only had 3000 miles on it, so it's a new car as far as I'm concerned. She's a new driver and still a bit unsure of herself when behind the wheel, but she absolutely loves it and has been driving it around everywhere.

A couple of days ago, we were going to take the car for her first official road trip. No more than 15 mins after leaving the house, the car lost power steering. I don't need to tell you she freaked out, cause it also happened while she was trying to take a pretty narrow turn.

I was in the passenger seat and noticed on the screen the following message (Also attached picture):

"Driving Stabilization:

Drive Moderately. Initialization in progress. Driving stabilization will be available after automatic initialization."

We pulled over to the shoulder, and turned off the engine. When turning it back on, power steering was restored. So, we shook it off and attempted to continue on, but it happened again shortly after. We decided to head back home, and on the way back, it happened again. Three times in all, in about as many miles of driving.

The next day, I took it for a spin by myself to try to recreate the issue, but could not get it to happen again. Unfortunately, the wife is now terrified to drive the car alone. [img]data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7[/img]

I've sent a message to the dealership, but I have not heard back from them yet. Probably due to the long weekend.

I've tried to look up this issue in Google searches, but haven't found any mention of this message in conjunction with loss of power steering. Anyone ever experience this? Any thoughts?

 

If your car has a switch for DSC, I'd press and hold for 3+ seconds to turn off that system. You'll get a message "Dynamic Stability Control" with an OK.

Might not matter, but that system has a fair old bit of software, uses sensors at all FIVE wheels to help the driver, and I'd be curious if the problem occurs with all of that turned OFF.

Not a fuse of course, as it resets as you describe.

Just a thought.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Thanks for the input, I'll take a look at that. I also found another thread suggesting that it could be related to the USB port that's above the instrument panel. Apparently, connecting certain phones to that port for charging could cause surges or something to the power steering. Crazy if that's the case.