2006 MINI Cooper problems
NHTSA has received 247 complaints about the 2006 MINI Cooper, and 46% of them involve air bags. Next are steering (21%) and engine (7%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 247 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 46% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 13 and 12
- Injuries and deaths
- 11 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 70,000 miles 205 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 5 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 18 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 47 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 53 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 41 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 21 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 7 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 6 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 205 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 70,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 65,000 miles (92 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 13 complaints mention a crash; 12 complaints mention a fire; 11 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2006 ranks 7th most-complained-about out of 16 model years of the MINI Cooper with enough data (49 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Blindsided Drive side impact car ignited I was cut from my car suffering emence Injuries due to the malfunction of the airbags . No air bags deployed.
I was a passenger in a mini cooper 2006, my friend was hit head on by a drunk driver on a city street. My friend's mini cooper 2006 was totaled. The airbags did not deploy as a result of the front passenger mat sensor defect. I suffered multiple injuries to my chest, hands, arms, and neck that are very serious.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 mini cooper. The contact was driving 50 MPH and lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle started to sway from side to side and caused the contact to crash into a utility pole. The vehicle was destroyed and had not been inspected for the cause of the failure. The contact sustained slight injuries in the crash. The failure and the current mileage was 70,000. .. Updated 02-07-13 updated 02/13/2013
The right front occupant sensor for air bag appears to be defective. It had to be replaced. We have heard of several mini cooper's that have defective seat sensors. When this sensor fails, the air bags may not deploy as designed. This is a safety system failure. Cost to replace this sensor was over $1,400.00.
Passenger side airbag failed. Seat passenger detector failure is cause. A review of on line trouble sites show this to be a very common problem which manufacturer denies and delays repair. Though mini has multiple reports of this, they refuse to repair as they state "out of warranty". This is a basic safety feature which is flawed and should be subject to immediate and broad recall.