Mini Cooper owners have reported 18 electronic stability control related problems since 1996. Table 1 shows the 1 most common electronic stability control problems. The number one most common problem is related to the vehicle's electronic stability control (18 problems). For details of each of the problem category, use the links in the table.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Electronic Stability Control problems |
Bought Mini from carvana a January 2020 and have had too many problems. Car overheated on 48, had 2 new cylinders put in, 2 weeks later, due to many notable problems this car has had, all coolant leaked out and was quoted by Mini dealership $9,000 to fix a problem that was caused by a recall not listed for my year.
Problem 1: clutch/transmission failed at 50,000 just after warranty. Unable to shift on highway, had to stay in low gear. Transmission was replaced. It failed a second time, was replaced at about 80,000. I believe it is failing again as the clutch is slipping in 1st and 2nd gears; Mini Cooper says they note no problem. Problem 2: timing chain. Parked, my car would not start easily; started on 3rd try. My car stalled, stopped on the highway as I was slowing down due to traffic. Restarted and continued. No engine light. Driving to Mini service, car stalled coming in; had to coast in. Found to be timing chain, valvetronic eccentric shaft, perhaps parts falling into oil pan. $2800 in repairs. When I asked about law suits or recalls over the last 3 years because I've had major performance issues, Mini Cooper stated no known suits even though there were. I find that there have been suits, and I "missed the window" for the timing chain.
Advised from mechanic that water is getting down from the front area below the windshield and is causing the body control module and other electronics to short out. Got to where the car wouldn't even turn over to try and start. Had to have over $3450 worth of repairs done and was told they spoke with Mini and this is a known issue, but they haven't done anything about it. Was told this will happen again if not fixed. Was told to take to Mini, but they won't do anything about it.
This is second incident that occurred with brand new Mini Cooper 2019 with same exact issue that again almost caused a near fatal accident. While driving on highway, at highway speed the car precipitously malfunctioned and car locked up and would allow me to maintain speed- nor accelerate. I was unable to maintain speed of the car therefore started to lose speed and decelerate. The vehicles behind me could not tell that I was suddenly losing speed and I was almost involving a near fatal collision again. I had been driving on the highway for about 5 -10 minutes prior to this precipitously occurring. This was the same situation I experienced with a brand new Mini Cooper 2019 model a week earlier. The car was towed to the dealership and they noted that the crank shaft speed pulse generator sensor was no good and had malfunctioned. As this is a repeat issue and very serious as it almost caused 2 near fatal incidents, I am concerned that the maker of the vehicle is not doing their due diligence to ensure that other 2019 models are safe. I have been told other Mini models were has experienced same malfunction. This incident and the other both occurred at highway speed which creates a very dangerous set up after the vehicles had been driven for a few miles on the highway and in wet conditions.
This is a brand model and brand new car that I had just purchased and was driving home from buying it- I had not even owned for a couple of hours. While on my way home vehicle malfunctioned and had near fatal collision. While driving on highway - at highway speed I was unable to control car and maintain speed. Engine seemingly locked up and as I was unable to control car almost caused a near fatal collision as car behind me did not realize I was losing speed. Taken to dealership and they noted the crankshaft speed pulse generator sensor had malfunctioned.
I own a 2004 Mini Cooper. I was driving and lost all power steering almost causing a accident. There is a open recall on this issue. I contacted Mini and they informed me that my vehicle was not included with the recall. I explained that my car was experiencing all the issues addressed in the recall, but they still would not help me out.
I was driving down hwy 16 (a straight a way 2 lane hwy) towards woodland when the display showed what appeared to be the water icon and I noticed white smoke from under my hood, so I pulled over and sat there thinking maybe my car was overheating. A truck coming behind me went by honking their horn and I looked in review mirror and noticed dark smoke coming from behind my car. . I then proceed to get out of my vehicle and couldnt get the drivers door open a gentleman came up to my vehicle told me to get out but I told him the door wouldnt open, he opened the door and was saying get out and away the cars going to blow up, that was my first acknowledgment that the vehicle was on fire. The police and fire dept was notified and came out to where the vehicle was at and proceed to extinquish the vehicle. I had to get the car towed by triple a off a friends of mines tow package that she has. Im contacting the fire dept and police today on getting some paperwork related to this today so all I have to show is pics.
64,000 miles - winter 2017 my 2013 Mini Cooper paceman sall4 was taking on water in the boot- didnt know if it was from melting snow etc. In car. Dried out. Water came back and flooded back seat floor. Brought to Mini- they told me I had a taillight seal leak which caused water to get down into the car which fried a computer system that controlled my awd and other things. Awd is not optional where I live. My warranty had just ended. The quote for the work was thousands of dollars. I contacted Mini corporate they offered to cover 15% of the bill. I denied that and claimed it on my insurance which now shows negatively against my car. I didnt even know a taillight seal could leak? then to have a computer get fried as a result of it. This is a Mini defect, I should not have had to pay for it. Not to mention my car was in the shop for several weeks of repair. They had to completely take the car apart to dry everything out, order parts and replace it all.
I drove an automatic 2013 certified Mini Cooper off the lot with 33k prior miles. After less than a week, and after only driving a total of 254 miles, the accelerator failed in the middle of an intersection. I did not loose all power, the gas pedal just quit responding while I was driving. All other systems in the car seemed fully responsive/operational with exception to the accelerator. The engine did not rev and the car did not respond to the accelerator even when it was pushed fully down. My car was manually pushed out of the intersection/traffic with help by the person behind me. After safely to the side of the road, I turned off the car. After about 5 minutes I restarted the car and the gas pedal was operational. The following day I drove the car back to the dealer without incident. They re-checked the certification items and were not able to diagnose the problem. Their error readers did not detect any codes. Perplexed- they sent the information to their technical engineering department. The engineers claim that it is a needed software update that caused the accelerator failure while the vehicle was in motion. The engineers are asking that the Mini service department update the software and drive a bit to test the vehicle. The situation that the needed software update caused is dangerous. I have seen posts from other Mini Cooper drivers who have/are experiencing this issue- yet there are no recalls or known service bulletins for the hazardous problem. I did notify Mini USA (corporate) of the accelerator failure. Notes: the car was very recently fully serviced/certified with no know problems, I had fuel, I was in drive, the car was in motion, I was attempting to make a left turn in a residential intersection, I was in the process of accelerating when the gas pedal failed to respond further- I was immobilized in the middle of an intersection.
I purchased my Mini countryman on February 14, 2015 from the local Mini dealership. At approx. 1447miles, 7 month into ownership, I began having trouble when turning on the car (the car was stationary) the warning lights came on for brakes, abs and traction control and remained on until car was turned of repeatedly or diven for a mile and then turned of. I took my car back to the dealership for repairs 10/02/2015 no faults in the electrical system was found and I was asked to return when it reoccurs. 12/03/15 a fault memory and faulty r/f wheel speed sensor was diagnosed, sensor was not in stock. 12/04/15 I returned with my car to have the faulty wheel speed sensor exchanged. 12/05/15 to 12/10/15 faulty relucter wheel on the r/f wheel hub, wheel speed sensor readings off, signal scoped and r/f wheel hub replaced. 12/28/15 and ongoing. On 1/05/2016 Mini USA has given me verbal assurance that I will get the car replaced with a new Mini of my choosing.
Driving PA turnpike when my 2007 Minicooper temp light came on, immediately followed the oil and engine light. As the lights appeared, the car was losing power. It lost power as I was pulling off the road. 3 minutes total. Smoke poured out. I opened the hold to see a 3 inch hole melted away. I closed the lid. Contacted Mini roadside service who would not honor the tow. Called aaa who did. Called Mini of pittsburgh, jason thompson, who only serviced my Mini for 4 years and 35,000 miles when he first diagnosed needing a new engine. I asked manager chris lasko about any recalls? could it be a lemon? no this is unusual for a Mini, was the answer. Before authorizing repairs I asked about the electrical system and the effects of overheating. No electrical issues where found. They felt confident recommending replacing a new engine & parts. I okayed to put in all new starter, starter core, engine, engine core, engine harness, collar screw, ping sensor, intake manifold, core return gasket, ignition coils, collar screw, screw with washer, core return with heat pr, srp belt, and coolant, a water pump pulley, and few other 20 some parts to get it back on the road. A month later, I received a letter revealing a potential problem with the durability of a vapor recovery diagnostic pump on 07. Federal emissions defect warranty covers 10year or 120k miles. I called the dealer, they said that it did not pertain to my vehicle. 2015 deja vu at 64k miles. I was driving, commuting when the engine light came on again. I drove 2 miles to my Mini dealer. They said they could fix it by putting in a new engine. I had it towed home. I have called & left email's with BMW/Mini customer service. I have had zero reply from then. They claim to be the ultimate driving machine. As an advertising associate creative director, I think the more honest and real claim would be the ultimate farse machine.
Dsc and brake light turned appeared on tachometer display in yellow and does not go out. Dsc button if pressed makes no changes to dcs/abs lights on displays. Immediately the following symptoms/issues appeared: steering started to fault like unaligned, brake pedal slightly eratic, blinker turn signal does now not turn off after activating and making a turn. Vehicle has jcw sport brake kit, installed at 30,000 miles, 3 months ago. Vehicle was recently aligned about 2 months ago. Vehicle was scanned with to diagnose falut and fault code was that the switch unit steering column/dsc is faulty. No missing sensors, all are connected in place. No pinched or broken cables. Replaced part #61319253769 msp $550. 00 and mechanic fee of $500. 00 (removal of part, installation, vehicle ecu recoding, and recheck ecu diagnosis. No more error codes and steering, dcs and abs back to normal. Unknown root cause.
Was driving normally on 4/8/14 , turned normally until I took a slight curve and steering wheel got very stiff & hard to turn from then on . Until now it remains very hard to drive .
Dear NHTSA, I nearly lost my life 3wks back, my car is filled with aftermarket prdt. My cars computer is failed also, which won't alert or record any incident. I tried talking to Miniusa&carmax, they wont listen. I have an heart condition now coz of the near death experience. I developed a low high bp 80/103 & fast heartbeat, which I am taking med. After the incident. I wrote letters&posted on their facebook page no response. I need help! I used to be a proud owner of 2008 Mini Cooper! now my car turned into a death trap! its nothing but a nightmare, so far 3 times car was turned off in the middle of the road & freeway, when it happened I applied my (all three times) break which went to the floor, didn't work, bought the car from carmax with a warranty (extended), also the car has 53,100 miles only! called carmax burbank office no response, then called carmax office of the president after a great deal got response from a rep. Now the car is with universal city Mini of noho! cars break sys. Is an after market prod. My car computer/dash display check engine light or signal comes on every 3-4 months, when it does, the light will stay on for a day or two, then it disappears, when I mentioned this to Mini dealership, car key records all the activities of the cars engine and incidents, when the rep. At dealership downloaded the car key, he couldn't find a single incident, then I showed him the pic I took. . He was surprised. . . " this car is nothing but a lemon" poorly handled by carmax and Mini. This car will kill someone, if you let it drive. Please save my life and others. Ltrs were sent to carmax&Mini USA ceo's tom folliard ceo of carmax,[xxx] and [xxx]. None of them, even bothered to reply, respond or tried to reach out to resolve this matter: [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).
While I was driving on the highway approximately 65 mph my steering gave out and locked up, almost slamming me into the gaurd rail. I was fortunate enough to stop before tragedy. Unfortunately I was blocking a lane of traffic until I could force my way of the roadway. The second incedent happened as I was turning into my own driveway. The steering locked up again causing me to miss my driveway and crash into the ditch. The other safety issues with my car is the windshield wipers will stop working at random and the reverse and tail lights will fail at random. The engine light stays on and the codes read emissions failure. When I talk to Mini Cooper customer relations they gave me an extended 100,000 mile warranty on the power steering and emissions. Mini Cooper claims they can't do the safety repairs due to a part shortage. They extended my already extended warranty to 150,000 miles and are wanting to charge me for diagnostics on these extended warrany issues. They will not offer any resolution and claim it is my problem as a consumer and claim the power steering issues are not safety related. When I asked about the electrical lighting issues they replied with thats not Mini Coopers problem.
Power steering failure--the power steering in my Mini Cooper s 2002 began "cutting out" and became more frequent over a few days. The "cutting out" happens without warning and is potentially quite dangerous as the vehicle becomes almost unmanageable when making a turn. This makes driving the vehicle very unsafe. Upon researching this problem, this is a very common problem which will eventually occur with most Mini Coopers even through fairly recent years of manufacture and often at fairly low mileage accumulation.
Very disappointed with Mini Cooper and the corporation of BMW on how they handled my issues with my 2004 Mini. I came to the dealership several times in ramsey, new jersey with the repairs that were recalled. I had printed the recalls as evidence that there were identical issues as the repairs needed to my car! the dealership ignored and refused to even look at the recalls on paper and to my dismay I was forced to pay out-of-my-own pocket! I had no choice because of my concern to drive a “safe� vehicle. To my disappointment I had to return back to the dealership with the same and additional issues that were no repaired! the next day the manager assured me that all was taken care of and the car was finally safe! wrong again! with additional calls to both the dealership and BMW I still did not have a solution nor a safe car! . The issues were: 1. Brake light being replaced multiple times and then caused a fire. 2. Steering 3. Stability control ultimately, I have contacted NHTSA several times to assist and the response was to contact the dealer. I'm at the point I need to now take this to a new level to resolve this situation.
My wife has been complaining of intermittent loss of power assist. I drive her car very little however I recently had the problem happen to me. One of my hobbies is sport car racing (most recently at summit point raceway in wv) so I do expect the unexpected however it is so intermittent it is often forgotten. It will be fine for weeks then it happens again. Thousands of reports in the uk and canada issued a recall. You don't lose your steering just the assist. Next time you are alone on a back road with a curve turn your car off and you will see what the described problem feels like. Lets not have a serious incident before BMW resolves this issue. This has been going on for years.