FORT MYERS, FLA-- CALL FOR ACTION found a problem MINI Cooper you may never hear about it until it happens to you.

Medical student Emily Pitts had no problems with her 2004 MINI Cooper

"I loved it. It was so fun . It was yellow and speedy. Just really a fun car," said Pitts.

That's until she made a call to 911 on June 9th.

"My car is on fire behind the target," Pitts told the 911 operator.

Emily was on her way to her rotation at a doctor's office, "I parked the car and got out and thought I smelled smoke. So I turned around and noticed black smoke coming up from the hood of the MINI Cooper."

As Emily called 911, flames started coming out of the hood.

"Please hurry! Please hurry!" Emily can be heard telling the 911 operator, "I'm just worried it's going to explode!"

Firefighters arrived and put out the fire, but Emily's 2004 MINI Cooper was a complete loss.

"The fire department had a fire investigator come out and he said it was probably a problem with the power steering in the car that caught on fire," said Pitts.

The report from the North Naples Fire Control and Rescue District cites the cause of the fire as "engine compartment fire due to a failure of some component in the compartment."

Emily started researching the problem, "When we did some research it looked like this may be a problem with MINI Coopers having this but there's never been a recall."

CALL FOR ACTION found several complaints filed with the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration about spontaneous fires related to the power steering.

Several drivers whose 2004 MINI Coopers caught fire told NHTSA their mechanics said the vent fan in motor compartment spontaneously caught fire causing damage to various electrical components and smoke damage.

Several other drivers didn't have a fire in their car, but their power steering pump failed leaving them unable to steer their cars.

A spokeswoman for MINI Cooper told CALL FOR ACTION they knew of some problems with the 2002 and 2003 models and there was a voluntary service action for those model years.

When manufacturers issue voluntary service action or technical service bulletins--it alerts their own service technicians about the problem.

But for you as an owner to get the complete information---you would have to buy the report from NHTSA.

It would only be a free repair if your car was still under warranty.

The MINI spokeswoman told us the company has changed the design of the vehicle since that 2002-2003 service bulletin--and this is not characteristic of any sort of pattern.

Emily's car is a 2004.

MINI told us their investigators listed the cause of Emily's fire as "undetermined."

"I'm just lucky I was parked and I wasn't hurt at all," Pitts told CALL FOR ACTION.

Emily's frustrated she can't get any answers about what happened to her car.

"I just hope it doesn't happen to anybody else," said Pitts.

CALL FOR ACTION is still talking to MINI--trying to figure out how they will resolve Emily's problem.

NHTSA has not issued any recall on the MINI regarding the power steering.

NHTSA told CALL FOR ACTION even though they have received several complaints, they have not received enough to open an investigation.

If you would like to file a complaint or look up recalls on your car, look for a link in the related content box at the top left of this page.