Tens of thousands of Mini Cooper cars are being checked in America for potential power steering problems.

The government's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said today it had received 54 complaints about the loss of power steering in the cars from the 2004-2005 model years.

When the power steering stops working, it becomes more difficult for the driver to steer or control the vehicle.

The preliminary investigation covers about 80,000 Mini Coopers.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.