Your MA is probably full of crap. I was astonished at the lack of brain power at our dealership. They tried to tell us, the club, that MINI wasn't switching to the turbo charger. Then they said the single hood scoop was being replaced with a twin scoop GTO style bonnet. Yeah.....oooook pal, whatever you say.

When Motoring File says that cloth seats are going bye bye thats the time to believe it.

 

The Pretensioners in our cars that work with the stock belts tighten the stock belts by around two inches in an accident to prevent submarining (sliding under the belt and then having your knees impact the knee bolsters).

The MINI specific Schroth Harnesses utilize the pretensioner, which again is there to prevent submarining.

Also, the MINI specific Schroth Harnesses are street legal without a rollcage.

The problem with harnesses on the street is when people choose incorrect anchor points which lead to spinal compression. Schroth addresses this for the MINI by using anchor points that are far enough back so as to not have a sharp angle to the seat back.

You can read more about this at the soloracer Schroth Harnesses FAQ

Agreed. That's exactly the point to get worried about it.

 

Thanks DiD!

Although I do not wear my harness on the street because I think it is annoying for daily use, your response answered a question I could not answer the other day about safety of harnesses on the street. . .

 

one of the MAs at MINI of St. Louis said the company that supplied the cloth seats went out of business and that they are currently looking for another supplier.

 

Well that time has come. Motoring File has confirmed the rumor about the cloth seats. STLMINI is correct in that the supplier is shutting its doors. The bulletin indicated that they are trying to find another supplier so if all goes well it won't be gone for good.

Matt

 

I think you have this backwards. Normal seatbelts prevent you from submarining. Running harnesses on street is somewhat dangerous, but heres the problems as understand them, (I'm not a safety expert, but I know a few). In a crash, as you are retained on one shoulder only, a three point belt allows the torso to twist, and retains you as the body folds over the lap belt. This is important as otherwise in a front impact, the body WOULD submarine. With a standard four point belt , if the shoulders are retained equally the tendency is to slide ride out of the belts by escaping through the lap belt. Some manufacturers, Schroth is one I know of, make 4 points with different stretch ratios on the harness so that the body will twist. If you install a four point harness other than this Schroth ASM style, you're at risk street or track. This problem is dealt with typically by having 5 or preferably 6 point harnesses which have sub straps that prevent submarining.

Second problem is possibly mitigated by the airbag, but with harnesses, as you're torso stretches the belts, is retained and then moves back toward the seat. The touble is that only thing holding you head on is your neck and its not particularly well designed for longitudinal loads. As your torso returns to the seat, your head (which now effective weighs a few hundred pounds or more depending on the G load of the crash) keeps moving forward. If the crash is severe enough, you wind up with a basular skull fracture, which means... you dead. My understanding is that this is the type of injury suffered by Dale Earnhardt and its the reason that many racers are wearing some form of Hans device these days. Safety is a system and its dangerous to go tweaking things in this area unles you or someone your working with really knows what your doing.

If your interested further, there is sled video around I think I could dig up a link on.

 

I think the most amazing thing about this is that we heard a MINI scoop before is was on Motoringfile!

 

My Schroth does not have "different stretch ratios", but it does have a plastic covered loop of belt that is designed to release in an accident and provide the same type of 'shoulder flop' that the stock belt does.

Back on topic - had I ordered a new one, I had planned to get the cloth, but after my current leather ones, and sitting a few demo models yesterday, I don't think I would now.

 

I'm sure Gabe knew about it, but for things like this that impact future owners ability to spec certain options he takes additional care in terms of getting confirmations before getting people spun up and calling their MA's and MM's about it. I would take it as a sign of his dilligence to be right, not as a sign that he hadn't heard the rumor.

 

I feel vindicated...

 

Thanks for keeping the faith Dave As you guessed, I had heard from a reader about the issue last week but didn't report on it until I heard from someone with MINI USA or via a bulletin. I'd hate to put anything on the site that turned out to incorrect later!

 

I'm still impressed as usually you get confirmation from a reliable source before anyone else even gets the rumor on the wind. I sometimes wonder if you don't have the MINI boardrooms all wiretapped or something. It amazes me that information from your site is generally earlier than and more reliable than information from the dealers, and I know the local sales manager (recently moved in from BMW to replce the old one) feels the same at times. It does seem kind of odd, but such is the way it ended up.

 

Wiretapped... now that's an idea No it's actually not the MINI boards where most the info comes from. Most of it comes from sources I've come to rely on and information from MotoringFile readers.

 

You make it easy to do with the excellent reporting.

 

well i saw it on motoring file first and was crushed. just ordered my car the other night hoping it wasnt true (although i knew it was!). And my MA confirmed that they are discontinued. Next day or so they greyed them out on the configurator:/

now the question is, should i spend all that money to get the english panther black leather or just get the leatherette???

 

Quote >> earthtoandy [now the question is, should i spend all that money to get the english panther black leather or just get the leatherette???]


I've got the leatherette in my MCS & it seems pretty nice to me & it's no cost!

Chuck

 

I just talked to my local dealership about ordering a new MCS and she said they hadn't been told that Space Cloth was being discontinued. I thought the announcement on Motoringfile was an official announcement.

 

Tell her to look at the recent MINI USA bulletins. It was sent out to all dealers awhile back.

Or just tell her to read MotoringFile

 

^^ She's calling back in an hour. I have Motoringfile open on my desktop ready to go.