As I was routing the cable for my V1 I noticed this mounted in the back of my glove box of the coop'deVille....Any ideas what it is, or how to use it?...

Thanks Jeffrey

It looks like your glove box has climate control.That is possibly the valve that allows air into the glovebox for cooling or warm air.

You have an air conditioned glovebox and that is the vent that you can use to turn on and off the air flow.

I never played with it, always figured it was another 12V outlet. Thanks guys!

Mini provides HVAC to the glove box, but doesn't put a lock on the glove box.

Anybody else find that bizarre?

Worrying about someone stealing your cold ones?

It's to keep you driving gloves nice and fresh, not all crusty and dried up.

Why do you need a lock, or why is it an issue? You might be able to get a convertible glove box assembly and swap in the parts, they have locks I think.

My 05 has a lock in the glovebox, but I'm the second owner so I'm not sure if it was a factory option.

Mine also has a lock...

For when the windows are down. The doors lock so that they can't be opened by reaching through the window, but the glove box is about a foot from the disabled door handle.

I doubt I'd use it often. It's probably safer to slide whatever you're protecting under a seat or throw it in the trunk.

I'm not necessarily complaining or upset by it, I just thought it was weird.

I wonder how hard it would be to fab something up using a second gas tank lock. I'm pretty sure the gas tank cover is unlocked while the ignition is on, right? Or does it quickly unlock when the engine shuts off?

You can still open the door my grabbing the inside handle twice...

No you can't...

At least not on my car.

Locking the car doesn't disable the interior door lever. If you have an alarm, the alarm would go off, but it doesn't physically stop anyone from opening the door.
As for the glovebox lock, it makes sense in a convertible, but otherwise, the whole car locks - why lock the glovebox instead of the whole car? The car conveniently allows you to close the windows with the key even if you've forgotten to raise your windows. For me, a locked glovebox would be an annoyance, as if it were locked and you wanted to retrieve something while driving, you'd need to remove the key from the ignition.

Yes it does, on my '05 Cabrio w/o alarm, if you lock the car with the fob, it disables the interior door handles! (I know this because I accidently locked my GF in the car once......only once! )

No alarm on mine. 04 with the MFSW, nothing else special. I can't raise my windows with the key though, only lower.

That sounds about right, I've never locked it internally and then tried the inside handle.

Interesting. I would think that would be a safety issue, but what do I know? Curious as to the method, as the handle (in the coupe) has a mechanical connection to the door lock.
I've (inadvertently) locked my car with the windows open, and it just set the alarm off when I opened it.

Don't know for sure how it works either, must just electronicly disable the latch itself somehow, I don't remember if you can feel the tension on the handle or not? (I was too busy covering up for my second mistake, checking to see that it really worked that way.....in front of her.....)