2018 MINI Countryman Steering Problems

The contact owns a 2018 Mini Cooper Countryman. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel failed to turn in the intended direction. The contact stated that the steering wheel was excessively difficult to turn. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was driven to the shoulder of the roadway. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with ECM failure. The contact was informed that the ECM needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. In addition, the contact was advised that the failure was a known failure with the vehicle while using the Click and Drive device. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The contact was advised to contact the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was 19,000.

While driving, the steering wheel gets stuck and very hard to maneuver. I have seen a recall for this car but when i entered by VIN, it was not included on the recall. The problem had happened several times. There was a time when everything was working fine, turned off the engine to put gas and when i turned it on to drive, i had a hard time steering. I had to park for a long time (since i was at Costco decided to come inside the store), when i turned on engine, it was gone and working properly like the problem did not happened at all. There were still times that when i turned it off for a little bit to pick up something from a restaurant, when i come back, the steering wheel looks like it was stuck and unable to make left or right turns. It does not happen only when car is turned on and off, it also happens while driving. When i was in a roundabout, steering wheel also has locked/got stuck. I have had our mechanic check this issues twice but he could not find any problem.

Steering is becoming stiffer. Seems like there is new or added restistance when turning the steering wheel while the vehicle is going slower.