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.

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.

Driving on the freeway when I felt the car jerk forward and then it felt as if the automatic transmission was slipping in and out of gears. Managed to pull off the freeway and drive to the local Mini dealership, which was luckily about a mile down the road. Was told by dealership the problem was transmission failure and was quoted $9,000 repair cost. When I asked the mechanic why the transmission had failed this early, told me they had no idea. However, when I asked another employee how many other cars had they seen with transmission problems, he reluctantly admitted "quite a few".

Was driving on highway at app. 60 mph, downshifted to pass and eml light came on and power to car was greatly reduced. Found out it was a broken crankshaft vibration dampner. Notified dealer and was told that there was no warranty or recall on this issue. Quite expensive to repair also. Contacted Mini of USA and was told that it had to be diagnoised by a Mini dealer for any possible assistance, but was not gauranteed that assistance would be provided.

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!!!!!.

The vehicle looses power at freeway speed and eventually stops running. The fuel cut off not allowing the vehicle to accelerate this is dangerous, not allowing the driver adequate time to get to a safe place on freeway as the vehicle has totally lost power.

I submitted a complaint today but want to make sure that the manufacturer is not contacted with my information. Thank you.