It came with a bunch of other stuff for the rail system. There are two of them.

 

My guess is a clip for tie down.

 

it clips onto the center rails and gives you a hook to hang stuff off the side

 

Oh. Ok. Useless for me. I got the split center rail, so no place to put them.

Really disappointed in what the rail got used for. I just think for all the creativity Mini has shown in everything, the rail system was treated as a red-headed stepchild, and some of the accessories that did come with it are useless. The sunglass holder is inaccessable due to the handbrake and armrest, and only fits relatively flat glasses. I have some prescription Ray Bans that curve too much and it won't close. Or the phone holder which works great if you have an iPhone 4/4s, but not a 5 or many other phones.

The rear cup holders are decent.

 

It can also clip to the grab handles on the headliner to hold coat hangers.

 

Hah I asked the same thing when I got mine! I didn't even think about the full rail though, I guess that would make a little more sense. People said they hold grocery bags pretty well if you want to hang those off of it. I think if I put them all the way to the front of the rear split rail it might work to keep a bag from rolling around. Maybe MINI should mention them in the manual!

 

I'll have to try that. Thanks.

 

There is another item in that bag that I can't figure out:

a "large" plate...I don't even know how else to describe it (it's not the little tray piece that fits into the rail)...I'll try to upload a picture tonight. It doesn't fit anywhere logical that I've been able to determine thus far.

 

There are some other smaller black plastic pieces that were in the bag with the cupholders, sunglass holders, phone holder etc... They were sort of crescent shaped? Anyone know what those are for?

 

Rail dividers?

 

Yeah, I don't get those. Maybe if you have little kids fighting over the rail and you divvy it up so they each have an equal rail section.

 

I used the dividers to create a spot for change, a spot for all my store loyalty cards, and a spot for my garage door opener. I have the full rail with no armrest, so I actually use the rail a fair amount.

 

I went to do that on my2013, but the handles already have hooks for coat hangers.

I just stuck them in the ash tray attachment and put on a shelf in the garage.

 

I went on realoem.com to figure out my question: turns out it was the front license plate holder. Glad I get to keep that in the bag and not on the front of my CM!

 

I think the rail system is a very clever idea, but not developed fully enough. IMHO, they should have run a low-voltage current through the rail that could be used to power accessories (map light, phone charging, etc.).