Well folks, another MINI bites the dust. Last night was driving away from a friend's house, estimated speed of 50-55mph, started into an uphill right hand corner and the steering wheel went soft to the right. Car drove across the oncoming lane into a drainage ditch, which it followed to to the bottom and impacted the driver's side front flipping the car which was listing probably 60 degrees due to the steepness of the ditch. Mini rolled up out of the ditch and landed on it's lid. No deployment of anything but the front airbags from when it struck the bumper. Rollover airbags and side impacts were left uninflated. Looking at the car upside down seems to show something amiss with the tie rod on the driver's side. Any advice on what should be done would be great.

thanks,

Scott

 

Get photos!!! If car has not been moved get photos! The police/sheriff should be able to tell what caused the accident if it was mechanical.

Sounds as if no one was hurt which is GREAT and thank God no oncoming traffic at the moment, like an 18 wheeler.

Come back and post once you have results.

Earl

 

Happy to hear you are okay.
Yes, get lots of photos and detail shots of everything; inside, outside, under the bonnet, under side, front end - you get the idea. Make certain the police report is accurate to the nth degree.
Stay well.

 

I would have a very professional independent mechanic look over the entire car and offer an umbiased report. Check around for one that has expert witness experience. I am glad you are OK. As much as we love our MINIs, they can be replaced.

 

As Rick said, "As much as we love our MINIs, they can be replaced". A human cannot be replaced. Glad to hear you are safe. Get lots of pics and have an expert mechanic review inspect the vehicle for anything amiss.

 

Didn't M7 have a tie rod failure recently while on a canyon run with a WRX? As I recall he claimed the end link failed and he ended up in the guard rail. Are these things really plastic?

Glad to hear you are OK. Cars can be replaced.

 

Peter did have an end link fail which caused the crash...maybe its a weak link in the mini suspension? Should report it to MINI.

Glad youre OK scott :smile:

 

Went back to the crash scene this afternoon, picking up pieces. Found something interesting though, picked up the heim insert from probably the tie-rod end...I'm not sure of the particulars of heim joint construction, but I believe they heat expand the outter portion of the end and put in the swivel. The insert was not scared in the least bit. I would think that you would be hard pressed to remove the inner part of the heim join without distorting or gouging it in some fashion. Just an observation. I'll post pix when i get them.

Thanx for the info...keep it coming

Scott

 

:smile: Cars can always be replaced....

Chow!

Donna

 

What were the weather conditions? Was there any water on the road? What about DSC... do you have it? Just curious... the only NON-mechanical thing that I can think of that would cause the steering to "go light" would be hydroplaning... this sounds awful! Glad you are ok, and please report back on what you find out!

 

Photos please.

Skiptical here...

 

No water, dry 2 lane county road... happened about 8:30 pm friday, temp was mid 60's. Yes, I did have DSC...the car was fully loaded minus NAV. Here's the link to my SD page, will post pix there when I can. http://www.sounddomain.com/id/scjohnson
skeptical of which part? conditions, flipping the car?
When pix get developed, will scan and post...need to try and find a way to get the video footage into my laptop or someone else's computer with a video card.
Should have adjusters take a look at it by tuesday. Payoff is 19,000.

Scott

_________________
'03 MCS DS/B w/stripes, Prem,Sport,Cold paks on order...Nice Christmas Present to me

 

I see you are here in South Florida too. (Bought my MINIs from the same dealer as well). Are you sure you didn't hit a pool of water and consequently the car hydroplanned?


What mods you had in it? Suspension wise?

Sorry to hear about your accident.

 

Also, until you get the car fully inspected you can't be certain that a "mechanical failure" caused your accident. Let your insurance company and MINIUSA investigate the circumstances and then take it from there.


The market value of your car is very likely well over $19K.

 

Cooper4us...I don't live in Fl. I live in the mountains of NC, it hasn't rained here since early last week. So, no, there was no water involved. Having been a MINI owner for over a year, I am very familiar with the way it handles, plus it had no trouble managing the curves in the road just a few seconds before the one where the incident took place. The car is completely stock, so your inference that there was something amiss caused by us tinkering with the vehicle is not applicable. Then only thing done was the stereo...and I doubt you're one of those Car company types who thinks if you take the dash apart the wheels might come off.

Scott

 

Wow, the car rolled and you just opened the door and walked away. That is great! I'm glad you are OK!

 

>>Wow, the car rolled and you just opened the door and walked away. That is great! I'm glad you are OK!

thats kinda what i thougt.

 

Uh, no...the car rolled and I crawled across the sunroof and out the passenger's side window that was busted out. If there's one benefit to windown tinting, it's that it'll keep a window from blowing itself all over the place. We rolled the window glass up like a crepe, and put it in the trash. Lucky for me, the sunroof didn't shatter. The roof held up fine.

 

Haven't there been reports of steering racks going bad and being replaced? Could yours have failed entirely?

 

Wow! I'm glad you came out OK.

Let us know what the results of the investigation are.
I'd hate to have that happen to me!!!

 

Gotcha. I was just amazed that you told the story about the car and made no reference to being hurt in any way. That says something for MINI safety.

>>Uh, no...the car rolled and I crawled across the sunroof and out the passenger's side window that was busted out. If there's one benefit to windown tinting, it's that it'll keep a window from blowing itself all over the place. We rolled the window glass up like a crepe, and put it in the trash. Lucky for me, the sunroof didn't shatter. The roof held up fine.

 

Well, I didn't come away unscathed. I did have powder burns from the airbag propellant, pulled neck and back muscles, and a charlie horse from my leg impacting the steering wheel. Some cuts on the forehead and bruising where my shoulder hit the top of the door panel. BUT, you are correct about me not making too big a deal of injuries. The car gave up 10 lives to keep me with my 1.

Thanks for the support ya'll.

Scott

 

I'll look into the steering rack failure threads. thanks.

Scott

 

>>I'll look into the steering rack failure threads. thanks.
>>
>>Scott
First of all Scott, glad you are mostly okay... Interesting to note here is the steering rack. I am having my steering column and rack gear replaced under warranty as we speak. I have noticed an audible and tactile click in the steering column when turning the wheel greater than 90 degrees in either direction. I currently have 37k miles on my MCS. Previous to this, I had my power sterring fan fail on a canyon run, causing me to cross the center median as the steering wheel got VERY hard in my hands. Fortunately there was a run off area and caused no issues. I do wonder if the 2 are related maybe?

Good luck to you...

Garth

 

Interesting...Thanks for the info Blue.

Scott