This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
BMW issued a Recall 15V-205 Safety Recall, to cover the Airbag sensor in the passenger seat of my vehicle, a 2006 Mini Cooper S. The failure error was in the airbag sensor in the passenger seat, and the system warned of potential hazard with the passenger airbag. My car had a recall fix in 2018 for this fault. Now some 4 years later the same fault has arisen in the same sensor and system. I returned to BMW Mini who carried out the previous recall to have this fixed again. They said that while their repairs and parts generally carry an 8-year warranty, they do not warrant Recall repairs. They wanted over $2,000 to fix this issue. As this is a repeat of the original fault, and the car has under 100,000 miles I believe it should be covered, as their repair and or part has again failed. The date below is when I took it for the recall and was refused the warrenty repair.
Upon starting my car, after being in a store, the passenger airbag light came on while a passenger was in the seat. The indicator stayed on after turning the car off and back on. I researched to see if there were any recalls for a faulty passenger airbag covering my year, make and model, and found NHTSA campaign number: 15V205000. I contacted my local MINIdealer and was told that there was no information pertaining to my car and that I needed to contact MINIusa directly. I did so and was told that they also could not find any information pertaining to my car and that they needed to open an investigation in order to determine the status of my vehicle. I was told that because my car was purchased through an overseas military program the systems were not the same and that a supervisor would have to try and find the information and manually add it to the MINIusa system. I was also asked, repeatedly, if my car was a Canadian spec vehicle. It was not ordered as such. After several weeks of waiting, I called MINIusa to inquire about the status of the investigation. I was told that I had already been notified that my car was not included on the recall for the airbag sensor issue. When I inquired as to why my vehicle was not covered for the exact problem for which the recall was issued, I was told that my case was now closed and if I had any other questions I needed to contact MINIcustomer service.
Vehicle recalled 2015 for front passenger sensor mat (recall 15V205) still not repaired. Local MINIdealer has serviced the car so they have contact information.
Air bag sensor in the detection mat of the passenger's front seat does not recognize passenger. The air bag light for the passenger in the front panel is intermittent, putting at risk of not deploying the air bag during an accident. The light will come up even when I have a purse on the seat or with a full grown adult (over 150 pounds). I recently called 2 local MINIdealers in southern California (July 2015) regarding this and both stated the same: That they have not received the spare part required for this recall and cannnot perform until MINIprovides them with an authorization letter. Called immediately the MINIcustomer service line for recalls (1-866-825-1525) to find out when this will be solved since this has been on ongoing issue since mid 2014. MINIs customer service representative stated that we needed to wait until a new re-design of this sensor in the detection mat is available from them in order to provide this spare part to the dealers. In the meantime, we are putting at risk any passenger who will ride in our cars for an issue that has been known by MINIfor over a year!
The passenger side airbag light will not turn off. Seat cannot detect passenger and disable airbag. There is a recall going on, but it did not include my VIN number. MINIusa representative gave no answer, no timeline, no additional information. Just told me to wait. I cannot believe that's BMW/MINI
- Chino Hills, CA, USA
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The passenger seat air bag light came on and will not go off. I was advised by an authorized MINIcopper mechanic that the passenger seat air bag sensor is bad. It's my understanding that MINIcooper 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.
Airbag light is on full time, after a period of intermittent activity. There are hundreds of similar complaints on the web. The high cost of repairs seems to have resulted in a thriving business selling replacement "emulators" that imitate the sensor pad electrical characteristics. This is the same passenger seat occupancy sensor mat failure for which there have been extensive recalls for BMW vehicles made by the same manufacturer. Owner called MINIwas stonewalled and told there was no interest in hearing about the problem, just take it to a dealer. Asked dealer service rep if it was safe to drive in this condition, was told "I'm not allowed to answer that." This is a safety issue that rises to the level of requiring a recall, as was done for earlier MINIyears. MINIdoes not offer the sensor mat as a separate part, instead requires replacement of the seat upholstery, a $600+ BMW part number which is back ordered with no certain delivery date or price. Including labor, the cost to repair is 10% to 20% of the current sales price of this year MINIPlease, there can be no excuse for not recalling vehicles with this significant and expensive safety design flaw. (TR
Air bag warning light and seat occupancy warning light came on. Took in for service- told seat occupant mat (front passenger seat) has failed and must be replaced. Replacement is cost prohibitive ($1700). Safety risk present because air bags may not deploy in event of crash. Dealer says there is no recall and will not replace the part under any extended warranty.
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 MINIcooper 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's seat mat airbag sensor has failed in my car and the airbag light remains lit at all times. This has happened twice now, the first time at 28801 miles and now again at 52300 miles. I paid $1200 for a full seat bottom replacement at the MINIdealership to correct the problem and now, 3 years later, the new seat has failed in the same manner. BMW has issued a recall for the exact same issue for their cars from the same year which use the same malfunctioning parts and MINIneeds to do the same for their customers. This is an expensive and recurring known safety issue that consumers should not be held responsible for. I have had 2 different MINIdealerships acknowledge that they have had to fix this problem in countless 2005 and 2006 model year minis, yet there is no offer to rectify the issue despite the fact that I already had to pay out of pocket once.
Passenger seat air bag warning indicator shows air bag disabled intermittently, even when seat is occupied by full sized adult (over 140 pounds). This means my passenger is at risk of severe injury in case of crash, as the air bag is disabled. In addition to the above, the light is off and on intermittently even when the seat is not occupied. Ditto if a 5 pound lunch box is on the seat. BMW/MINIrefuses to correct this significant safety defect in minis, even though they are making free repairs for the same problem in many bmws of similar years, and have even made an warranty extension of many years and unlimited miles for affected bmws.
The passenger airbag disabled light turns on intermittently, even when the passenger seat is occupied by an adult. The airbag might not deploy in an accident. The problem is caused by a faulty passenger seat occupancy sensor mat in the seat cushion. It failed once before and was replaced by the car dealer. Now the replacement sensor mat is also failing.
Passenger seat occupancy sensor illuminates at all times indicating no passenger even when passenger is present, thereby preventing the airbag from deploying in an accident. This incident is extremely widespread and found on countless blogs on the internet. At this point, people are completely disabling the system through a device found online just to turn the light off - meanwhile putting their passengers at risk. BMW (manufacturer of MINIhas recalled the same item on numerous BMW's and extended the warranty on those parts due to the inherent safety concerns. How this has not been recalled yet or looked past for the MINIis completely baffling. Somebody appears to not be doing their job! so along with the other multiple posts on this particular site, I would like to add mine and request please that somebody look into this safety issue that is repeatedly costing MINIcustomers large sums of money or their safety. This is ridiculous. Thank you.
My 2006 MINICooper air bag lights (passenger seat light as well as dash board air bag system lights) are intermittently coming on and staying on when I start my MINIThe dashboard light apparently comes on when a fault is detected in the airbag system, and as a result the system is deactivated. This is very serious since I'm now driving in a MINICooper with no airbag protection. The seat light indicates the passenger air bag is turned off due to someone of light weight sitting in the passenger seat. This light is now coming on with any average adult or no one at all sitting in that seat. I decided to check the internet for this issue and was shocked to see how many people had the same issue. Even more shocking was repair cost for this issue. Dealers are charging customers $1000 to $2000 to replace the passenger seat sensor which appears to be the most common culprit. Instead of replacing the sensor itself, the entire seat needs to be replaced. Even saw some customers had the same issue reoccur 1 to 2 years after this fix. Spoke to my local BMW/MINIdealership who acknowledged that BMW had the same issue which is now under recall, but MINIdoes not have a recall. This issue needs to be recalled and fixed... someone is going to get killed because of it! I love MINIbut am highly disappointed with how this issue is being handled. My daughter wants to buy a MINII will strongly recommend she does not.
The driver side headed seat only heats up in one spot and burned my leg. I have had to discontinue use of the heated seat as I am afraid of it catching on fire or burning through the seat into my leg.
The seat sensor is faulty. It reads that someone under 30lbs is in it (disabling the airbag) the dash light verifies it is off. This problem is intermittent to this day. So if a crash occurs the sensor won't read correctly if anyone is in the seat or not, the airbag may not deploy and if it does will do so possibly with too much force.
The air bag system warning light in the gauge cluster is lit at all times. The repair shop tells me that this is because the sensor mat in the passenger seat has failed and must be replaced. My research indicates that this is a very common issue that is unjustifiable expensive to repair. The repair shop also tells me that all of the air bags in the car are disabled as long as the warning light is on, putting all passengers in the vehicle in danger of sustaining greater injuries in the event of a crash. These cars are made by BMW, which apparently acknowledged the same problem in other cars they produced and made repairs. I feel that they should be required to address this problem in MINIcoopers, too, via a federally mandated recall campaign.
On my 2006 MINICooper 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 MINIand 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!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Pearland, TX, USA