general problems of the 2006 Mini Cooper S

I was driving on the road my I turned the ac on and about 20min of me riding in the vehicle me and my infant son my my vehicle started smoking under the hood heavy white smoke under the hood of the 2006 Mini Cooper S. My car began to loose power while engine bay still heavily smoking I managed to get car in a nearby dealership get my son and I out of the car I put water on the side of the engine that was burning to keep the rest of the car from burning up. The rest of the car I had to call my insurance company the car wont do anything at all the electric system or the wires burnt under the hood.

Engine cranked but did not start. Aaa flatbed to Mini of allentown. Received call from dealer possible water damage to electrical, continuing diagnosis. Vehicle frm failure.

Frontal air bag lights stay on.

Airbag passenger seat sensor is bad $1500 to repair and no guarantee it will work correctly in the future. Why hasn't this been recalled??? BMW who owns Mini cooper recalled this sensor for their cars but why not the coopers? I'm so angry that they could care less about my families safety. Automobiles are required to have airbag systems but they aren't required to work properly??.

The passenger seat air bag light came on and will not go off. I was advised by an authorized Mini copper mechanic that the passenger seat air bag sensor is bad. It's my understanding that Mini cooper USA is not owning up to their responsibility to recall and repair what could possibly be a life safety problem. The leather seat is practically new and there's no excuse for this faulty air bag sensor seat/equipment. There was a recall for BMW's with the same issue. It's very disappointing.

On my 2006 Mini Cooper S coupe, the passenger airbag off sensor light on the roof came on as well as the airbag sensor light in the center console indicating that the passenger seat could not detect the weight of a person in the passenger seat and therefore would not alert the airbag to turn on. My husband and I have both sat in the passenger seat and the light remained on. We then had a garage that specializes in imports look at the code, which is stating that there is an issue with the seat mat sensor and it is no longer recognizing the weight on the seat. This is a huge safety issue and a costly one at that. The seat cushion must be replaced and potentially the entire seat. I have noticed this same complaint on this site as well as other sites for models dating anywhere from 2002-2006. There is also a trend with this issue occurring when the car is 7 years old (2013 for 2006 models) regardless of the mileage. I have called Mini and while they were very nice and helpful, there is nothing they can do to help with the cost of repairing this factory issue. When I called our local dealer they had mentioned a type of assistance or warranty extended on the 2003-2004 models, but not 2005 or later. Is it possible that this is just now becoming an issue and should now be addressed or added to the extended warranty? is there grounds for a recall? there seems to be a trend of how and when this mat malfunctions. Please help those of us who have had this problem and are bound to have this problem in the near future get this fixed! thank you!.

As I turn on the engine, battery light came on, 5 seconds later, engine started to smoke. I turned off the engine. Engine won't turn back on and lost all power, steering wheel won't turn. Before this incident, gear would shift up and down on it's own while I'm driving. Very dangerous!.

Driving at 55 mph on parkway. Engine made clunk and lost power. Pulled car onto shoulder and started with white smoke under hood, progressing to black smoke and flame. Exited car at first sign of smoke. Car burned in engine compartment, moved into cabin. Final damage was a total. Front end of car is completely burned. Fire in cabin melted dashboard, moved across and melted ceiling, and melted front windshield. Took pictures of final damages at garage following incident.

The passanger seat occupancy sensor is weak and prone to failure. Mini does not cover replacement and charges $1200-$2000 to replace the part leading many owners, including myself to drive the car in an unsafe condition (low speed or non deploying airbags).

Executing a left turn and all of a sudden the power steering went out. Was unable to control the car due to the fact that I was not expecting this issue. Damage front right side of car against curb. I have learned that this is a serious problem. This issue needs to be addressed on a recall!.

The contact owns a 2006 Mini Cooper S. The contact was traveling 60 mph when all of the lights along the dashboard illuminated and the vehicle abnormally accelerated. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where the mechanic confirmed that the tachometer needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was contacted and the vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was 54,000 and the current mileage was 55,000. . . Updated 07/11/12.

My 2006 r53 only has 40,000 miles and out of nowhere the steering became periodically stiff. After persisting for 2 weeks, it has become incredibly hard to move the wheel and the pump seems to have cut out completely. It is much stiffer then any car with manual steering that I have ever tried, rendering my Mini totally undriveable. . Read more...

Plethora of electrical problems. Heated seats are a major concern. They go on and off by themselves, seem haunted. Sometimes, they get so hot they leave burn marks in my legs. I am afraid of an electrical fire. The heated seats get so hot, they left burn marks in my seat. Aisin 6 speed automatic transmission, equipped with "lifetime" fluid, begins slipping gears at 70k the supercharger had to be replaced due to the "design" of the supercharger it could not be repaired, I was forced by bmwusa to purchase a remanufactured supercharger. I was told it was a "common problem" I have also found out from forums such as northamericanmotoring. Com this is a problem that BMW does not want to admit its at fault for however they are acknowledging the widespread happenings across the country. The availability of new superchargers is very low because of this problem, hence me purchasing a remfgd one. Rear wiper motor failed at 40k quoted hundreds to replace, not worth it!!!!!.

I have a 2006 Mini cooper. Recently, complete power to the vehicle has been lost while the vehicle is in operation. This has occurred twice over the past month. The vehicle was being operated on a paved city street at speeds of approximately 20-25 miles per hour when the power failures occurred. The vehicle was required to be brought to a complete stop before power to the vehicle could be restored. The vehicle was taken to an authorized Mini cooper repair center (niello Mini, sacramento, CA) on 07/26/11. The dealership could find no faults with the vehicle and had us drive the vehicle off the lot "as is" with instructions to bring it back in for further testing if the problem happened again. Next time could be too late as this problem could cause an accident to occur.

I was driving home from work and the charge circuit light came on and I smelled a heated electrical smell. The power steering had cut out, shortly after, the engine temperature began to rise. I turned the car off, then back on and drove home. After some research, it seems that this model Mini cooper have power steering pumps that fail around 70,000 miles. I drove to my job on Sunday, and the car made the round trip, except just before getting home, the failure occurred again. I have not been able to take the car to a mechanic yet.

Driving on highway about 60 mph. Extremely loud screeching burst of sound occurred. Sound was similar to smoke detector test sound, lasting about a second, but horribly loud, especially in a small enclosed area with the windows up. Nearly had an accident. Our ears hurt badly (I still feel some soreness a day later, as I now write. Similar occurrences for Mini cooper noted in web forums, referencing a possible stereo amplifier problem. Our radio was not on. Fortunately the dealer was open (on Sunday) and we have an appointment scheduled today. From what I've researched on the internet, we are not the only ones victimized by this issue. We are actually fearful and uncomfortable driving the car, worrying that at any time this could occur again. This is an unnecessary hardship and distraction that keeps us from paying full attention to safely driving the car. Until the dealer can specifically explain what the problem is and perform whatever work is need to guarantee it won't happen again, I do not feel safe driving this one-year-old car, being concerned that I'll have an accident if it happens again. This is without question a serious safety issue. If I still feel soreness in my left ear later today, I plan to contact my doctor.