NHTSA Complaint #11542290 — 2020 MINI COOPER

When I plugged my phone cord into the USB port on the Click and Drive while the car was on but stationary, the screen indicated that the stabilization system was resetting. I promptly unplugged the cord and notifications started popping up on the screen. There were 4: steering assist not working, drive with care; stability control not working, drive with care; front collision detector not working; I do not recall the fourth notice. I was parked at a Starbucks 2+ hours from home so decided to try driving around parking lot hoping to continue journey. The steering was inoperable and all I could do was pull straight out of parking space and go straight back in. Turned car off, waited about 5 minutes and turned car back on, no change, no steering. Waited 3 hours for AAA tow and finally impatient, tried turning car on again. All notices cleared and I drove car home without incident (150 miles). My local Mini dealer said it was a wiring issue and they fixed it. Salesman at same dealer, who sold me the car 9 days before the incident, admitted he had heard of similar incident with Click and Drive once before, about a year ago. If I had plugged the cord in while I was driving I would likely have been unable to control the car in motion.