2009 MINI Cooper problems
NHTSA has received 193 complaints about the 2009 MINI Cooper, and 36% of them involve air bags. Next are engine (26%) and electrical system (13%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 193 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 36% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 2 and 20
- Injuries and deaths
- 5 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 68,000 miles 147 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 | 9 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 21 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 30 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 38 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 15 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 13 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 12 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 7 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 2 |
What the data shows
Of the 147 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 68,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 69,000 miles (56 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 2 complaints mention a crash; 20 complaints mention a fire; 5 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2009 ranks 4th most-complained-about out of 16 model years of the MINI Cooper with enough data (62 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.
The contact owned a 2009 Mini Cooper. The contact stated that after the vehicle was unoccupied and parked in the residential garage, she was putting her children down for a nap and 2 minutes later, the contact and her husband smelled smoke within the residence, shortly afterward it was discovered that the garage was engulfed in flames. The contact called 911 and evacuated her family of 2 dogs, and 2 minor children. The contact sustained injuries to both arms, both legs and her rear end up to her back.
Car was bought brand new and taken to the dealership for service. Infact it was serviced just a few thousand miles before this happened. My mother was driving on the high way coming home from work then it spontaneously combusted and exploded. Had she not noticed the flames she would have died. This is not okay.
My wife was driving her mini cooper hardtop with glass sun roof on the highway and suddenly the glass sun roof shattered and fell over her. There was no car nearby or any external object to cause the damage. The glass sun roof just shattered with a loud band. My wife was injured due to the glass falling over her and some of the pieces went into her and bruised her forearm. The glass sunroof was not tempered and the pieces were significantly large with sharp edges. It fell over her body and hit her head first.
The thermostat failed, the temperature elevated, the freeze plug fell out/broke out of place causing the head gasket to blow out. The coolant leaked into the oil and caused it to become "milky" therefore blowing out my engine. I was driving on the freeway at the time of the incident and the car failed to accelerate. Luckily people were kind enough to let me pass from the far left lane to the nearest exit and I did not crash.
Occupancy air bag light stays on replacement 2 times now on again hit a bump it could at times go off. Replaced the water pump and oil pump not even at 60,000 miles