Sat Apr 18, 2015 3:46pm EDT
(Reuters) - BMW (BMWG.DE) is recalling 91,800 Mini Coopers in the United States to replace a defective sensor that may prevent the front passenger seat air bag from deploying in a crash, the German automaker said on Saturday.


In documents posted on the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website, BMW said the recall of certain model year 2005 to 2008 Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S cars is expected to being on May 1.
BMW said the front passenger seat air bag may not deploy because of a defect in the occupant detection mat. The company said the mat will be replaced in the recall.


The automaker said it has received one report of a minor passenger injury possibly related to the defective mat.

 

Awesome, my airbag warning light has been on for over a year because of the passenger mat. I've always said it should be a recall if not warranty item. Glad they're manning up and taking care of this.

 

This recall will give me an excuse to have the dealer do a full inspection on my Mini and make overpriced suggestions for future service.

Last time the dealer's service dept. did an inspection, they found some important work to be done (along with lots of work that didn't need to be done or expensive quotes for simple fixes). I don't mind having someone double-check the condition of the Mini for me once and a while.

 

I wonder if this recall will also result or include an ECU update.

If so... what happens if one is running a tune? Mmm?

 

Good to know, maybe while they are at it they can find the rattle in my dash and check my tensioner...again....

 

I turned the airbag seat sensor off with NCS Expert. I wonder if they will reset it or reject the fix?

 

I had my sensor replaced when my car was almost brand new cause the light wouldn't go off. This was after I had a fairly large friend sit in the seat. Haven't had a problem since then though. A trip to the dealer with a 10 yr old car should be interesting. I should probably expect a $2000 estimate of what I need to have done.

 

I just sold one of two 05 MCS two weeks ago. Kept the one I ordered back in 05, as it only has 38000 miles on the clock. I can only imagine what kind of comments and suggestions will be made when they see this one roll in after all these years.

 

I had a rattle in my dash for a few months, I replaced the tensioner and it didn't fix the rattle. I turned out that my passengers side hydraulic motor mount was bad, replaced and no more rattle.

 

I had the passengers side air sensor go bad at 65k miles. The dealer wanted $2000 to replace the entire passengers side seat pan. I went on Minis Facebook page and complained this was a defective part, they had this same issue on some BMW modles. They fixed mine for free by replacing the seat pan. I see in this recall the are just replacing the sensor pad, that was not an option when I had the issue.

 

I am one of those who replaced the seat pad due to this issue, $1500 at an independent. It's a Checkmate with the blue leather, the new pad does not quite match (but close enough).

I'm curious if the recall uses a newer part or not, and if not how about reimbursement for the prior fix?

The driver's side butt warmer shorted out leaving burn marks in the fabric inserts, I would rather get that fixed.

Guess we will see in May when the recall happens...

 

I'm not able to find this recall on the NHTSA site, nor is my vin showing any results. I also had to resort to NCS expert to turn my mat sensor off. Curious to see what can be done about it.

 

apparently it's for '05-'06 hardtop / S and '05-'08 convertible / S.

my passenger airbag light has been on for over 1.5 yrs but guess i'm up a creek since i have an '08 hardtop....

source

 

Does this include 2006 non -S hatch back models? Do you have to call the dealer with your vin number? I also am wondering???? Do these cars like to run higher on RPM like Japanese cars and is it bad to lug the motor?

 

Enter either the full 17 characters or just the last 7 characters of your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) ? to see if there are any open safety recalls for your MINI...


http://www.miniusa.com/content/miniu...rt/recall.html

 

I called about my 2006 MCS and the VIN is not part of the recall and I am on my third seat sensor

 

I called about my 2006 MINI and got the same answer. I kinda got the impression that the recall hasn't happened yet. Has anyone been notified of the recall?

 

Letters should be going out by mid May. All the vin's haven't been entered yet.

 

I called today on my 2006 MCS and the dealer said it was included, but parts are not available. I also checked if I was added to the Mini official owners list (as I called it) so I would be notified, and he had to manually add me. He says Mini will mail me a notice when the parts are available.