2017 Mini Cooper problems

POWER TRAIN

My vehicle has active VANOS failure codes (131401 and 130304). These codes are preventing my car from passing the New York State safety and emissions inspection, rendering it legally unable to be used on the road. BMW/MINI Corporate is refusing to honor their national extended component warranty bulletin because they are conditioning the repair on a valid registration - which is a legal impossibility while the defect remains unaddressed.

NHTSA complaint #11740812 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

My vehicle has active VANOS failure codes (131401 and 130304). These codes are preventing my car from passing the New York State safety and emissions inspection, rendering it legally unable to be used on the road. BMW/MINI Corporate is refusing to honor their national extended component warranty bulletin because they are conditioning the repair on a valid registration - which is a legal impossibility while the defect remains unaddressed.

NHTSA complaint #11740812 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

ENGINE

My vehicle has active VANOS failure codes (131401 and 130304). These codes are preventing my car from passing the New York State safety and emissions inspection, rendering it legally unable to be used on the road. BMW/MINI Corporate is refusing to honor their national extended component warranty bulletin because they are conditioning the repair on a valid registration - which is a legal impossibility while the defect remains unaddressed.

NHTSA complaint #11740812 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

ENGINE

The motor mounts have been replaced twice in the last six years and per the dealer, This is normal which I find very hard to believe on a 2017 Mini Coop of convertible, with 90,000

NHTSA complaint #11677354 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

The contact owns a 2017 Mini Cooper. The contact stated when the vehicle was started, the vertical aim headlights malfunctioned. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was confirmed that rodents had chewed through the insulation around and the electrical wires. The contact was informed that the insulation was made of soy, which attracted the rodents. The contact was informed that the electrical wires needed to be replaced. The vehicle was being repaired. In addition, the contact stated the repair had occurred previously and the current issue was the second occurrence. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue but provided no assistance. The contact was advised to contact the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 55,000. The VIN was unavailable.

NHTSA complaint #11672201 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

ENGINE

My 2017 mini coupe has 70,000 miles on it. I’ve had it 11 months… I was in a drive-through and it started making a hard knock sound no engine light or any other lights came on the vehicle. I had it towed to a shop where they informed me my engine was blown and it would cost $16,000 to replace the engine. My oil level was perfect. I reached out to Carvana. I missed my warranty by five days and they will not do anything about it. There is no reason why a car with 70,000 miles on it. The engine should be blown.

NHTSA complaint #11652692 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

SEATS

there is a leak which affected the control unit fuel pump. the leak is ongoing throughout many of these cars yet there has not been a recall to fix it. more than $3k in damages. It's something a modern car should not be facing.

NHTSA complaint #11647364 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

there is a leak which affected the control unit fuel pump. the leak is ongoing throughout many of these cars yet there has not been a recall to fix it. more than $3k in damages. It's something a modern car should not be facing.

NHTSA complaint #11647364 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM

there is a leak which affected the control unit fuel pump. the leak is ongoing throughout many of these cars yet there has not been a recall to fix it. more than $3k in damages. It's something a modern car should not be facing.

NHTSA complaint #11647364 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

POWER TRAIN

2017 Mini Cooper - Selector Lever Magnetic Shift Interlock Mechanism

NHTSA complaint #11610080 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

TIRES

Driver side front tire collapsed on side wall while driving. 4 days later the passenger side tire also collapsed while driving almost causing accident. Tires are relatively new installed in May 2022 and have only 14,500 miles of use. Losing TWO (2) tires the same week for sidewall failure is very very odd and pissible indicator of tire defect Barum Bavuris 5HM 215/35 17 size

NHTSA complaint #11548959 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

BACK OVER PREVENTION

The contact owns a 2017 Mini Cooper. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle a round quarter sized image was displayed in the in the center of the customer display screen and while the backup camera was activated the image caused a visibility hazard to the driver. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The contact was informed of the Manufacturer’s Extended Service Campaign regarding the failure however, the contact was informed that the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was 35,000.

NHTSA complaint #11526526 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

EXTERIOR LIGHTING

1. (Lighting) The front lights of the car kept turning off and on. We would always go to the repair shop every time the lights began to malfunction. (Engine) the oil was sticky which was not normal and the water entered inside. (Brakes) When you turned on the car, noises came from the brakes which were concerning and risky to drive in. 2. This car was risky to drive due to the problems with the oil and brakes. 3. Yes, this problem has already been confirmed by a dealer. 4. No. 5. No.

NHTSA complaint #11516980 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

ENGINE

1. (Lighting) The front lights of the car kept turning off and on. We would always go to the repair shop every time the lights began to malfunction. (Engine) the oil was sticky which was not normal and the water entered inside. (Brakes) When you turned on the car, noises came from the brakes which were concerning and risky to drive in. 2. This car was risky to drive due to the problems with the oil and brakes. 3. Yes, this problem has already been confirmed by a dealer. 4. No. 5. No.

NHTSA complaint #11516980 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

SERVICE BRAKES

1. (Lighting) The front lights of the car kept turning off and on. We would always go to the repair shop every time the lights began to malfunction. (Engine) the oil was sticky which was not normal and the water entered inside. (Brakes) When you turned on the car, noises came from the brakes which were concerning and risky to drive in. 2. This car was risky to drive due to the problems with the oil and brakes. 3. Yes, this problem has already been confirmed by a dealer. 4. No. 5. No.

NHTSA complaint #11516980 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

EXTERIOR LIGHTING

The contact owns a 2017 Mini Cooper. The contact stated that while that vehicle was parked, the vehicle was turned on that there was a message on the instrument panel stating that there was a taillight malfunction. The contact inspected the vehicle and noticed that the driver’s side rear taillight had not illuminated. The vehicle was able to restart. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the driver’s side taillight housing and connector needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired, and the VIN was not included in a recall related to the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

NHTSA complaint #11515234 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

POWER TRAIN

The contact owns a 2017 Mini Cooper. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the vehicle rolled backwards. The contact applied the parking brake. There was an abnormal scraping noise detected while starting the vehicle. The roll back warning light was illuminated. There was a message stating “Transmission, Not Secure” was displayed. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 43,198.

NHTSA complaint #11509250 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

EXTERIOR LIGHTING

Rear tail light malfunction due to defective ground, melting connectors to rear break lights and indicators. Lack of break lights and indicators is a risk to motorist safety as a whole.

NHTSA complaint #11507276 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Rear tail light malfunction due to defective ground, melting connectors to rear break lights and indicators. Lack of break lights and indicators is a risk to motorist safety as a whole.

NHTSA complaint #11507276 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

STRUCTURE:BODY

The driver door latching mechanism failed this past week. For days, I was unable to latch the door closed -- all attempts to close the door would result in the door simply bouncing off the body of the car. I spent hours unsuccessfully trying to get the latching mechanism to work again, e.g. by repeatedly attempting to close the door, holding the door closed and trying to lock all doors. To drive the car home from work and to the dealership for repairs, I was forced to hold the door closed with my left hand while driving and by tying the door closed with my seat belt (on the highway, no less). I eventually took the car to my local dealership and left it for diagnosis and repairs. I took a video of the door's fault, and left the car locked and with the driver's door tied closed with my seat belt. To my amazement, the dealership called a few days later and told me that they were unable to duplicate the fault; as far as I know, no repairs were therefore made. I shared the video of the door's fault with the dealership; they hypothesized that the latching mechanism may have intermittently failed because of the weather. I now feel anxious about driving the car. This is a major safety issue. There are reasons to suspect that this reflects a manufacturing defect: 1) door latches should never fail, irrespective of the age of the car, and force drivers / passengers to e.g. use their seat belts to hold their doors closed; 2) my car is low mileage (~36,000 miles); 3) my car was not involved in any preceding accident or incident that could have caused the latching mechanism to fail; and 4) this is the second time this has happened with this car -- the same issue occurred with the front passenger door ~2 years ago. I'd be happy to share the video that I took of me trying to close the door (already shared with the dealer). At this point, I'd like the NHTSA to investigate; initiate a recall, if necessary; and I'd like Mini to replace the remaining latches on my car.

NHTSA complaint #11483517 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

SUSPENSION

Front Upper Arm Bushing on both the Driver’s and Passenger sides needed to be replace after less than 25,000 miles. Bushing failure causes upper arms of suspension to whack against the body and greatly effect handling, could lead to accidents.

NHTSA complaint #11480935 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

POWER TRAIN

Transmission: secure vehicle against rolling. Warning is showing up. The battery died, and I put the car into neutral to roll it. Now this warning is showing up every time I put the car in park and turn it off.

NHTSA complaint #11475557 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

STRUCTURE:BODY

Per dealer, the front passenger door latch cable went bad (documentation available if needed) on a 2017 Mini Cooper S (4-door). Background: there was an episode a few weeks back when I was unable to latch the front passenger door. It just wouldn't latch when you tried to close it - the door would just swing / bounce off the body of the car (so to speak) on closure attempts. I fiddled with locking / unlocking the door, was finally able to have it latch again. Around 7/12, people washing my car accidentally opened that door. Unfortunately, despite again trying to fiddle around to get the door to latch for quite some time, I wasn't able to latch that door again. This obviously created a huge safety issue -- e.g. to even get the car to a dealership for repairs, people in my situation would often have to physically hold the door closed from the inside while driving. I figured out a way to hold it closed with the front passenger seatbelt; that thankfully held the door closed while I drove (including on the highway) the car to the dealership. The dealer eventually diagnosed the front passenger door latch cable as having gone bad (please see attached service report). First, the latching mechanism for car doors should never fail - customers should never e.g. have to hold their doors closed while driving or have to rig up their seatbelts to do the same. Second, it's also very unexpected that this issue happened in my car -- my car has always been well-maintained (it's regularly serviced), my car is just four years old, it's very low mileage (26k); and hardly anyone uses my front passenger door.

NHTSA complaint #11425998 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.