Hello,

Was just wondering if anyone had been notified or knew about this safety recall. Searched here and at MINI2 but didn't find anything about it. Wonder what build date(s) this occurred on?

Below is the link and copy/paste of the details:

Dan

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http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/pr...callsearch.cfm

Make : MINI Model : COOPER S Year : 2004

NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number : 04V348000 Recall Date : JUL 06, 2004

Component: TIRES:PRESSURE MONITORING AND REGULATING SYSTEMS

Potential Number Of Units Affected : 1193

Summary:
ON CERTAIN PASSENGER VEHICLES, THE FLAT TIRE MONITORING SYSTEM HAS NOT BEEN CORRECTLY PROGRAMMED. IN THE EVENT OF A FLAT TIRE, AN AUDIBLE SIGNAL WILL NOT SOUND TO ALERT THE DRIVER TO A FLAT TIRE.

Consequence:
DUE TO THE LACK OF AN AUDIBLE SIGNAL, THE DRIVER MAY NOT BE AWARE OF A FLAT TIRE, WHICH COULD INCREASE THE RISK OF A CRASH.

Remedy:
DEALERS WILL REPROGRAM THE VEHICLE'S SOFTWARE IN ORDER TO ACTUATE THE FLAT TIRE MONITORING SYSTEM'S AUDIBLE SIGNAL. THE RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN DURING JULY 2004. OWNERS SHOULD CONTACT MINI CUSTOMER RELATIONS AT 1-866-275-6464.

Notes:
CUSTOMERS CAN ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION’S AUTO SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-DASH-2-DOT (1-888-327-4236).

 

I am glad that's the only recall for 2004. Ours was built during May 2004. I wonder if we are affected?

 

Watch your mail! However, since only 1193 vehicles are affected by the recall, the odds are fairly small that your's will be one.

 

Very good point. Thanks!

 

Should be very easy to test this system. Partially deflate one of your tires and drive down the road a bit until the system kicks in.

 

2004 MCS here. Build date is 10/03. I'll be contacting them later this morning to see if I am affected. Gotta grab my VIN number.

Edit:
Bah! Gotta wait till 9am EST. The Customer Relations center is not open till then. I'll let you know what I find out.

 

Spoke with a gentleman named Casey at MINI-NA Customer Relations. He had not heard of any recalls. Put on hold while he researched it some more.... Came back and he asked for the Campaign ID number, so I gave it to him. He saw the recall but insisted my 04 MCS was not affected. He said it would have indicated to him that a recall was issued when he pulled up my VIN.

I might call the local dealer later today just to be sure though.

 

Pebblecrusher - if it feels good, go for it!

 

OK, I have a 2002, and my flat indicator has gone on several times (the latest was yesterday afternoon)...and never had I heard an audible signal. Is this something that was added in later years and is subsequently broken in 2004s? Hummmm.

Somewhat related, I've been minorly ticked off before about the lack of audio warnings for the MINI's "warning" lights. For example, I think there should be a chime when the low fuel light comes on. Likewise, some sort of chime would be nice when the flat tire light goes on too. Is my MINI (and a handful of 2004s) the only car that DOESN'T give these audio warnings?

And yeah, I know...there's the crowd out there that thinks that all manner of warning lights and chimes are for sissys and that I should be checking my tire pressure and oil levels daily and filling my tank whenever it gets close to 1/2...but realistically, if they're going to give you a warning system, I think it ought to actually work.

 

I've gotten 2 flats so far...The first one the tire monitor went on immediately and second time it didn't go on until there was 0 air pressure left. But neither time did it "ding" or "beep". Mine is a 9/03 build.

 

This is one of the dealer programmable options. Good luck finding a dealer who knows anything about it, though!

 

^ Then I'm guessing that the chime for the flat tire light is also a programmable option. Seems kind of dumb that the default would be "no chime"...but I'll check with my dealer as they're pretty good about this sort of thing. If you ask.

 

my low gas indicator "chimed" the other day and I didn't what it was. I thought it was a cell phone! Good thing there is a red light there.

 

Since low tire pressure is a safety hazard, the warning chime shouldn't be a programmable option. It should always chime -- hence the recall...

 

As per another thread I just had a failure where the sensor never went off at all. I ended up driving many hundreds of miles on zero pressure and destroyed a tire. Only found out when it started to vibrate as the precursor to disintegration!


Switching to regular tires from now on. I'll have the dealer check the system at next service.

 

My flat tire sensor went off today and I heard a chime. I've got an 03 July build Cooper. I know that I've got a piece of wire or staple stuck in my rear left tire--I found it today while rotating the tires--but there was no loss of pressure.

 

First I heard about this recall...