2008 MINI Cooper problems
Owners have filed 155 complaints about the 2008 MINI Cooper with NHTSA. Air bags account for 28.4% of them — narrowly the most common, ahead of engine at 27.7%.
Complaints155
Crashes8
Fires7
Injuries15
Deaths0
What owners report breaking
Air bags 28.4% · 44
Engine 27.7% · 43
Engine and engine cooling 8.4% · 13
Power train 7.7% · 12
Electrical system 7.1% · 11
Seats 3.2% · 5
Steering 2.6% · 4
Unknown or other 1.9% · 3
Severity
Of those complaints, 8 describe a crash, 7 describe a fire and 15 report an injury.
Reading the numbers
Across the 10 model years of the MINI Cooper in this data, 2008 draws comparatively few complaints; 2005 is the outlier year.
Filings are rising — 17 in the last three years against 14 in the three before. For a vehicle this age that usually points to a wear-related failure owners are hitting now.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 57,875 miles.
In owners' own words
The weight sensor in the front passenger seat that determines whether to deactivate the airbag when a child is seated, or if the seat is unoccupied, is broken. This has caused the frontal airbag to become permanently deactivated at all times. There has been a recall of other cars for this issue, but bmw refuses to include my vehicle despite it being the same year and experiencing the identical problem. Air bags · reported at 45,000 miles
Srs computer and sensors are failing. No accident, no flooding just failing sensors and computer. MINI claims this is a "maintenance" item, yet there is no documented maintenance protocol for these items. Vehicle has less than 100k miles and air bag system components are failing. Hence we don't know if the system will work or not and the vehicle will not pass our state inspection. Air bags · reported at 90,000 miles
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) Airbag Warning Light has come on indicating a malfunction with this safety system and consequently that the airbag safety system may not deploy in the event of an accident. This problem is not unique to my specific vehicle and appears to be a very common issue amongst BMW Mini vehicles as evidenced by much discussion on forums across the internet. Air bags
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…