Hey all. I recently purchased a 2012 MCS and have been loving every second of it. Everything has worked fine until a few days ago when the ignition system decided to have a "WTF" moment. When I went to turn off my car at the gym (I used the comfort access start with no fob in the slot), the button didn't turn off the engine and instead just gave a warning on the dash that said, "Attention engine start - Engine will start with the next press of the button, possibly without depressing the clutch or brake pedal". The only way I could turn my car off was to depress the clutch and push the ignition button. I have always just pressed the button to turn it off without pushing the clutch in, just a habit of mine I guess. Additionally, I cannot turn off the accessory mode (normally pressing the button once to kill the engine and pressing it twice turns off everything) without locking the car from the outside or taking the fob out if i started the car with the fob. Instead, if I go to press the button a second time, it starts the engine again (with/without clutch). A very weird issue, I know. Not the end of the world by any means, I can still start and stop the car, but it is annoying to have to press the clutch in to stop the engine and not be able to turn the car off completely until I lock it.

The interesting part is that I CAN start the car without pressing the clutch in, just like the system message says. I have been looking for some sort of explanation for a few days and I've found nothing. In fact, most of the posts or guides I found say that the only way to start the car without pressing the clutch in is to remove the clutch switch, which I have not done. Like I said before, everything was fine before a few days ago, and the only idea of what I might have done to cause this is putting the fob in the slot after I started the car without it. I am still new to some of the MINI's baffling problems so any help on how to reverse this would be greatly appreciated.