So leaving work tonight, my 2014 116i suffered what sounded like a catastrophic failure. First, the right side headlight failed and then an ominous crunching noise when turning the steering wheel. Gear grinding noise turning right, motor whirring noise on left. Total loss of power steering and a "stability control" failure message on the iDrive. Steering then jammed so I couldn't turn left and right. Lucky it didn't happen on the motorway or while driving at speed! I was still in the office car park, so was able to stop safely.
Called out the AA and they diagnosed that the two bolts holding the power steering motor onto the steering rack had sheared off leaving the motor sitting unattached.
Car is currently sitting in the garage to see what they can do by way of reattaching the motor. Has anyone seen this before? Seems like an odd thing to just break without warning (no issues last time I drove the car etc). What about other issues to look out for? Could it have caused other damage?
This is virtually the same issue as I've described, but with a different model of BMW https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1469927
I've contacted BMW UK for comment and any advice, so will update accordingly if/when I receive anything.