38 of the
2,854 complaints filed about the Mini Cooper
are about the body and structure —
1% of everything owners reported.
The worst model year for it is 2005.
Certain 2019 MINI and BMW models are equipped with older evaporators that are not lined correctly to prevent aluminum corrosion from the new R-1234yf refrigerant, causing premature leaks of the refrigerant into the cabin while driving. Exposure to the refrigerant can cause severe irritations including dizziness, sudden and uncontrollable pain in the eyes and bursts of tears while driving. This has happened to me multiple times, until I stopped using AC completely.
NHTSA complaint #11718564 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The problem/issue is with THE GLASS ON MY CAR ROOF/THE PANORAMIC SUNROOF. No insulation to protect me/others from heat or cold. The temp of roof gets 2-3 times the temp of the day. 200-300F. This can lead to discomfort/use of EXTRA energy/pollution etc. A child left in such car wd be in deadly danger. The car maker does not want to know or do anything about it. My Mini is not the only car. Almost all have the same design flaw, Tesla is the worst case with full glass roof no insulation at all, KEY PROBLEM/ISSIE Car makers hv remover insulation from car roofs and replaced it with glass but did not replace the insulation. Some as Tesla have nothing others just a simple net-like material with no insulation properties. Detailed analysis with proof attached. This is HUGE problem/issue/flaw that has serious consequences. I titled my analysis THE DARK SIDE OF GLASS ON OUR CARS,. Millions of these cars (Tesla esp over 2 M) are wasting 100s of Ms worth of energy both electric and fossil. Also contribute to additional environmental impact, for the wasted energy has to be made and then wasted by car engines to compensate for lack of insulation in car roofs. No house/homes wd be allowed to be built without insulation in attic/roof etc. So why are car makers allowed to do it with cars. Maybe the govt is not even aware of this. It is possible removing insulation from car roofs is illegal and/or against industry standards. The car makers did it and no one watched them. Many car owners think this is normal. It is not and should be stopped. Please look into this important issue. More details and proof in my analysis. Thank you. ps; I found solution for my car as shown on picture. I could not attach my analysis It is most important I send it to you. Pls send me an email where I can send it. The pictures show the roofs with no insulation and MINI with my solution for heat prevention.
NHTSA complaint #11613353 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The flap that protects the charging port would not open. I could not charge the car for 2 days. My husband was able to open it but now it won't close. The first time this happened was Nov 2023. Dealership told me it was the cold weather. But now it's July albeit very hot temperatures and this is happening again. Since bringing it to the dealership in Nov 2023 to fix this, the charging flap open warning light remained on even though the charging flap was clearly closed
NHTSA complaint #11601296 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The contact owns a 2011 Mini Cooper. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the contact started to lower the convertible top, and the glass shattered before the convertible glass closed. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 87,000.
NHTSA complaint #11546536 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Water coming in from somewhere to the driver side front and rear floorboard only I've checked everywhere and taking it to a couple of shops replaced heater core and crossover holes checked for air condition leaks all checked out good windows seals good so ot must be a defect somewhere. 03
NHTSA complaint #11533845 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
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.
Driving at approximately 10-15 miles an hour entering a parking lot when I noticed flames coming out of the hood scoop of my 2005 Mini Cooper S. After brief inspection from my mechanic, it is believed to have been caused by the wiring harness for ABS or possibly the power steering unit since the fire originated from the rear/right hand side of the engine and those two components. I have a claim opened with USAA but during simple research, I have found tens, if not close to a hundred issues with similar characteristics. I know I am not the first R53 Mini Cooper (2002-2006 run) with this problem and this should be considered a hazard and public safety issue. I have included the link to many of the cases captured by the North American Motoring Association (a primarily North American Mini car association) which details 24 pages of these issues. https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/stock-problems-issues/73527-spontaneous-engine-bay-fires.html?ispreloading=1
NHTSA complaint #11432141 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
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.
CAR ACCIDENT CAUSE PROBLEMS , HAVING PROBLEMS WITH CLUTCH / FLYWHEEL WAS REPAIRED ONE TIME DRIVE SLOW WON'T MOVE FAST. NOT STEERING , HAS LEAKAGE , DAMAGE DENTS ON RIGHT SIDE FRONT END PAINT DAMAGES, NOT RIGHT COLOR. BACK BUMPER DAMAGE SCRATCHES , HATCHBACK LOCK NEEDS BE REPLACED. WHEELS DAMAGE LT RT . ABS SYMPTOM LIGHT ON, AIRBAG LIGHT ON, FRONT REAR HOOD LIGHT ON PROBLEMS NOT CLOSING. IN MOTION STREET .
NHTSA complaint #11269812 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
MY 2018 MINI COOPER COUNTRYMAN S WAS INVOLVED IN A FRONT END COLLISION WITH ANOTHER DRIVER WHO WAS TRAVELING AT APPROXIMATELY 50-60MPH. WE WERE TRAVELING APPROXIMATELY 13 MPH AT TIME OF IMPACT AND THE FRONT, KNEE OR SIDE AIR BAG(S) DID NOT DEPLOY. I HAVE A VIDEO OF THE ACCIDENT AS A DASH CAM WAS IN PLACE AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT.
NHTSA complaint #11149854 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
THE SUNROOF SPONTANEOUSLY SHATTERED. THERE WAS NO ACCIDENT, THERE WAS NO EVENT, THERE WAS NOTHING TO CAUSE THIS TO OCCUR. IT HAD BEEN PARKED OVERNIGHT IN AN OPEN AREA, AS IT WAS BEING DRIVEN ON THE ONRAMP WHEN IT SOUNDED LIKE A WINDOW WAS OPEN, THEN ON THE HIGHWAY IT SOUNDED LIKE THERE WAS ICE CRUST COMING OFF OF THE BACK OF THE CAR, THEN THERE WAS A RUSH OF WIND - PULLED OVER AND SAW THE SHATTERED ROOF. THANKFULLY THE SUNSCREEN WAS CLOSED SO THE GLASS DIDN'T POUR ONTO ME.
NHTSA complaint #11072868 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2002 MINI COOPER. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WATER WAS ENTERING THE VEHICLE FROM THE SUN ROOF, WHICH CAUSED THE COMPUTER IN THE VEHICLE TO GET MOIST AND NOT OPERATE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A DEALER WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE SUN ROOF RUBBER CONNECTOR NEEDED TO BE REPAIRED. THE VEHICLE WAS REPAIRED; HOWEVER, THE FAILURE RECURRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 118,000.
NHTSA complaint #10956781 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
WHILE DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY ON A WINTER DAY, THE REAR PANEL OF THE PANORAMIC SUNROOF LITERALLY EXPANDED UPWARD AND SHATTERED. THE BULK OF THE GLASS FELL INTO THE CAR. THERE WAS NO IMPACT WITH FOREIGN OBJECTS OR CHIPS IN THE GLASS. THIS WAS A CATASTROPHIC FAILURE.
NHTSA complaint #10945531 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
DRIVING DOWN HONDA PARKWAY I HEARD POP SOUND. TPMS LIGHT STARTED FLASHING AND SMOKE STARTED COMING OUT FROM UNDER HOOD. I PULLED OFF OF ROAD INTO A GAS STATION. AT THAT TIME I DIDN'T HAVE ANY POWER BRAKES.THE CAR WAS FULLY ENGULFED IN FLAMES IN ABOUT 10 MINS. THE FIRE DEPT PUT OUT FIRE.
NHTSA complaint #10874841 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2015 MINI COOPER. THE CONTACT STATED THAT HE NOTICED THAT THE FRONT PASSENGER AND THE DRIVER SIDE CARPET WAS EXTREMELY WET. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN THE DEALER WHERE THE TECHNICIAN DRAINED THE TUBE LEADING FROM THE AIR CONDITION UNIT, BUT THE FAILURE PERSISTED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 4,500.
NHTSA complaint #10794369 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2014 MINI COOPER. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE RECALL NOTICE FOR NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 14V815000 (STRUCTURE) WAS RECEIVED IN FEBRUARY OF 2015. AFTER CONTACTING THE DEALER AND THE MANUFACTURER ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS, THE CONTACT WAS INFORMED THAT THE PARTS NEEDED TO REPAIR THE VEHICLE WERE STILL NOT AVAILABLE AND NO ESTIMATED TIME FOR RECEIVING THE PARTS COULD BE PROVIDED. THE CONTACT HAD NOT EXPERIENCED A FAILURE.
NHTSA complaint #10733953 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2014 MINI COOPER. THE CONTACT RECEIVED NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 14V815000 (STRUCTURE). THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE PART NEEDED TO DO THE REPAIR WAS UNAVAILABLE. THE MANUFACTURER EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE RECALL REPAIR. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED. THE CONTACT HAD NOT EXPERIENCED A FAILURE.
NHTSA complaint #10731217 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2014 MINI COOPER. THE CONTACT RECEIVED NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 14V815000 (STRUCTURE) HOWEVER, THE PART NEEDED TO DO THE REPAIRS WAS UNAVAILABLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE MANUFACTURER EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE RECALL REPAIR. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE CONTACT HAD NOT EXPERIENCED A FAILURE. UPDATED 8/10/15
NHTSA complaint #10716741 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.