I accidentally rubbed my calf on the pipes once...now I am conscious of it and will not make that mistake again. Not sure if this is necessary for a recall...I mean where do you draw the line?

What if someone loves his/her MINI so much that they decide to pop the hood and kiss the engine after a long drive?

 

wow, so many people here that are so perfect and never do anything worng or hurt themselves because of their own stupidity.
I have two burns (scars) on my legs from my pipes. I just went out in the garage to look at them (cold) and see that they arent sticking out.
I can say that both times i was burned, i was leaning all the way into the car to get stuff that was up against the front seats with the rear seats down. i am 6'4 and have to bend my body to get in there.
I would seriously consider taking it in for the recall only if i knew exactly what they were going to do and what it would look like when they were done.

 

I can admit to neither a burned leg nor perfection. Alas, I am somewhere in the middle.
If they do have a recall, I will not want to attend.

 

Isn't that the wonderful thing about a recall? If you don't want it done, you don't take it in for the recall work to be done! Then we're all happy (except maybe the person who buys an unmodified one, and the recall period has expired, if it has an expiration date).

 

+1

 

Yes the melting hood scoop would be a much better recall than the tail pipes. Plus if you burn your self like that you deserve it.

 

That's harsh... I've heard of someone's little girl getting burned while trying to get her bunny out of the boot. That shouldn't happen...

 

I guess I care that my pants don't scratch my paint. I also care that I don't burn myself. Does this make me rude and intolerant towards those that willingly [or ignorantly] and literally walk into harms way?

I believe everyone was given a brain to use to keep themselves alive and well, not to point the blame elsewhere. I know that I give people too much credit sometimes to be able to do the right thing. This is a chance I have to express that it's your responsibility to not burn yourself. This isn't a case where the car is jumping in front of you and stabbing you with its exhaust tips, if you burnt yourself then you're the one that ran into hot exhaust tips. Yes, it's sad when kids burn themselves because they don't know better. Guess what? They will most likely never go near the tips again. They will learn their life's lesson the hard way, just as well they should. The best lessons in life are learned the hard way; it's the only way we internalize the wisdom.

 

This logic reminds me of the following quote:

"I make my cars with such good brakes, such good steering, that if people get into a crash it´s their own fault."

Although wisdom is gained from experience, the above statement is not true. For example, one doesn't have to try heroin to know it's bad.

BTW, the quote above was from Alexander Issigoni, the designer of the original Mini, when asked about the safety of his cars. I'm glad our current Minis are chock full of safety equipment-- despite Issigoni's ridiculous assertion. In the same spirit of continuous improvement, MINI could easily improve the safety of the exhaust tips.

 

tinker - I'll take pictures of my pipes both cold and hot tomorrow to compare to yours. It was too late today!

 

So by your example if someone told you that 50,000 motorist die per year in US car wrecks then you know driving is BAD and therefore off limits.
Or do you experience driving for yourself and determine your own limits and apply your own level of common sense towards driving safety.

We live in a country where the Wright Brothers could not attempt flight in todays lawsuit happy society, because no one is willing to take responsiblity for their own actions.

 

Isn't that a valid logic? If the steering and brakes didn't fail....and no "acts of god", such as rain or ice, were to blame ....wouldn't the fault be on the driver or another driver?

If I walk into a tree. It's not the tree's fault for being there, even if it is close to the sidewalk. Just as, when I burnt my leg on my exhaust pipe, I knew it was due to my own actions. I was probably tired and not thinking clearly so my leg touched the exhaust. It's hardly the car's design that is to blame.

How is the exhaust burn any different than getting your finger stuck in the door when you're closing it? Sometimes you're not paying attention and a finger can get caught in the door. It certainly hurts, and it sucks when it happens....but the car isn't at fault. It's just an accident on your part.

*I will stand corrected if someone shows OEM exhaust tips that protrude 6 inches past the bumper or tips that jump out in front of your legs at random. That would be a true design flaw*

 

My MC 2007 already has a victim

 

Or did you mean MINI OEM?

(ok those are a tad longer than OEM but not by much)

And no mention of a recall either
http://www.912registry.org/history.htm

 

Thank you for proving me wrong. By your assertion, it means you don't have to burn yourself with the exhaust tips to know they are hot.

 

People on NAM and MotoringFile have reported getting burns from their MINI. Have any of you experienced an exhaust burn from other cars? If it happens with MINI at a much higher rate than the average for all cars, I think it will be considered a defect.

 

The bottom line is, are people burning themselves on those exhausts? If not, no recall.

 

The first car I can think of is the 1st gen Viper. It's exhaust ran in the side sills and constantly melted shoes and burnt legs. No recall, no defect, just the way it is.

 

Well it was and *enthusiast* gathering so we were all smart enoguh not to touch it.

I also found this on google image search:




and youtube:

 

Mine just has the pipe off to the side,
but since I don't have anything to protect the bumper finish,
I have a bath towel hooked inside that I drape over bumper when loading or un-loading the boot.

Perhaps this would protect from those Hot Pipes as well.

 

My brother had side pipes on his 69 corvette. It was very easy to burn your leg on entrance and exit but I don't think they ever recalled the car because of that. He'd actually warn people that were unfamiliar with the car.

 

shorter tailpipes will work.

 

If this is true, it smacks of the early 1st Gen ('02-'04) problem with the poor PS pump/fan and wiring harness design leading to engine bay fires. In this case, you had a design defect that we're pretty certain has partially or totally destroyed dozens of MINIs (and likely many more unreported) and even people's homes--much more serious than a handfull of leg brandings. The original offending parts were eventually redesigned without much fanfare (as reported with pics in the well-publicized NAM thread on this topic). Don't try to go looking to buy one of the orignal PS fans from your dealer--this part has quietly disappeared from parts inventories (surprise!). All you can get now is the redesigned replacement with (surprise!) a new wiring configuration. Despite the strong linkages between this design deficiency and the catastrophic consequences, and lots of involvement by the NHTSB, a recall on this issue has never materialized (to date anyway).

Superficially, the corporate strategy appears to be:
1. Don't admit fault and risk assuming liability and the resulting financial impact
2. Quietly change the design in follow-on build cycles
3. Get the original offending parts out of circulation and make sure their replacements are backwards compatible

Good luck with your recall. I'm not holding my breath. The one thing you have going for you is that the thing causing the burns (the tailpipes) can't easily be argued away as a outlying fluke. It's unambiguous.

 

I believe they should improve the design a bit: my wife got the burn because there is no warning sign (she said); I hurt my back while unloading stuff from the car because I know it is HOT and bend my back too much to avoid being marked.

It's no big deal, but I won't park my HOT car if there are kids around.

 

Interestingly I never had nor heard of this problem in the 4+ years owning a Boxster S where the pipes come out of the middle as well. My MINI's pipes stick out about .5 inches and touch my leg before the bumper, but you should know they are there! My only concern is that my son (2 yrs. old) has been burned by them so given the option I would have them taken in.