Mini News 2005 - 2006 R5X and to 2008 Convertible Recall - Seat Occupant Sensor

Discussion in 'MINI News and Articles' started by Nathan, Apr 18, 2015.

  1. Nathan

    Nathan Founder

    Mar 30, 2009
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    Report Receipt Date: APR 06, 2015
    NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V205000
    Component(s): AIR BAGS

    SUMMARY:
    BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain model year 2005-2006 MINI Cooper and Cooper S vehicles manufactured January 5, 2005, to November 28, 2006, and 2005-2008 MINI Cooper Convertible and Cooper S Convertible vehicles manufactured January 5, 2005, to July 31, 2008. Due to manufacturing, installation, and exposure issues, the front passenger seat occupant detection mat may not function properly and, as a result, the front passenger air bag may not deploy in a crash.

    CONSEQUENCE:
    An improperly functioning mat may cause the passenger frontal air bag to be inactive when the seat is occupied, and in the event of a crash, the air bag will not deploy, increasing the passenger's risk of injury.

    REMEDY:
    MINI will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger seat occupant detection mat, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin May 1, 2015. Owners may contact MINI customer service at 1-866-825-1525.

    NOTES:
    Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to Home | Safercar -- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
     
  2. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    Now they finally recall it. :lol: I have a OC3 mat simulator to work around this issue because I never trusted OC3 mat thing.
     
  3. ZippyNH

    ZippyNH Well-Known Member

    Jan 25, 2010
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    Hate to say, but this recall says so much about WHAT is wrong with MINI.....
    SLOW TO ACT TO SAFEGUARD OWNERS....taking 10 years to fix an issue that has been common knowledge for a decade in the community.....
    Congrats MINI....
    Think you are getting deaf in your old age....or acting the way GM/the big 3 acted like in the "old days" in the USA..after 10 years of owners spending $1500 on seat bottoms...they figure it out?! Any service manage could have told mini this was an issue in 2007.....not 2015.
     
  4. Zillon

    Zillon Well-Known Member

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    Wow, I remember this being an issue years ago.

    Took long enough.
     
  5. Firebro17

    Firebro17 Dazed, but not Confused
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    Can't wait to get my new passenger seat. Just think how great it'll look next to the driver's seat with all that patina...!
     
  6. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    Screw that just get one of these and don't let the dealership mess up your car.

    [ame=http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bypass-For-Mini-Cooper-R50-R52-R53-R54-Seat-Occupancy-Mat-Sensor-Airbag-Emulator-/161292351640?hash=item258dc5f898&vxp=mtr]Bypass for Mini Cooper R50 R52 R53 R54 Seat Occupancy Mat Sensor Airbag Emulator | eBay[/ame]
     
  7. Motoring Magic

    Motoring Magic New Member
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    Motoring Magic Owner, Ventura County's ONLY MINI s
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    ABOUT DAMN TIME!

    Bob Smith MINI refused to fix mine while it was still in warranty due to aftermarket parts on the car-what a load of BS! :mad5: I have never fixed it due to the cost of a leather seat bottom (currently over 1100!) Dave, I had no idea there was a simulator out there......
     
  8. Firebro17

    Firebro17 Dazed, but not Confused
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    Thanks I'll keep the alternative in my parts archives.
     
  9. Canusrufis

    Canusrufis RMW Powered R53
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    One advantage of being late to the mini ownership party. I'll probably take Dave's route however... crazy the stuff you find Dave... geniune minikipedia
     
  10. ZippyNH

    ZippyNH Well-Known Member

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    My suggestion...
    Get the free seat bottom...and then buy dave's item...
    Car foam tends to go flat and turn to dust in about 10-15 years.....
    so you get a NEW, FREE part...MIGHT be swabbable with the driver-side to "freshen" it a bit...if not...well..you can use the new bottom till the light goes on AGAIN...:D THEN install the "fix"...:biggrin5:
     
  11. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    They will not give you the part and they will only replace it for you. The dealerships get paid that way and have to log the parts they replaced so they can charge it back to BMW.
     
  12. wmwny

    wmwny Well-Known Member

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    Personally, I do not care about the little stuff...all I want is for my passenger [and that is usually my wife] to be safe. When she is driving her MCS, I would assume that the same applies...that her passenger is safe.
     
  13. Crashton

    Crashton Club Coordinator

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    I had the butt detector part of the face bag system on the passenger seat replaced under warranty. They did not replace the upholstery, just the butt detector. No worries about unbalanced interior patina. :D
     
  14. gomini

    gomini New Member

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    Question i got to put another head gasket on. I have no prob working on chevys or honda motors, will this be a hard job or not, and please let me know what special tools i will need. 2008 r56 93000 mls fIRST time post.

    Thanx Mike Smith
     
  15. vshore100

    vshore100 New Member

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    #15 vshore100, Jun 25, 2015
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2015
    This is now an issue on our 08 Cooper S as well. I saw where it stated that the S convertible was covered,but not the S hatchback. Will have to do more digging on this.
     
  16. Black White R53

    Black White R53 New Member

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    I did some research, here are the government agencies in charge of holding corporations responsible. I called multiple agencies (NHTSA etc.) After explaining the situation, namely that the day before the recall we could have had the weight sensor replaced (for a ridiculous $1000+) but the day the recall was announced all of a sudden the parts were absolutely unobtainable somehow. And the recall announcement was April 3rd, almost SIX MONTHS ago, with a planned start date of May 1st... Please call the following numbers and let's see if enough of us file a complaint maybe these two agencies will give MINI corporate a call and ask how that MAY 1ST 2015 start date for implementing the recall is going...

    Federal Trade Commission: Phone number: 1 877-382-4357

    For those in CA (I imagine other States have similar organizations, the info was given to me by the FTC, they probably have your states contact info as well) you can file an online complaint by doing a google search for "CONSUMER COMPLAINT AGAINST A BUSINESS/COMPANY" the form should be the first result to come up. Their phone number follows, but save your time because they will just give you the NHTSA number (NHTSA can only let you know that the recall does exist, but they do not take complaints for existing recalls) and tell you to file an online complaint.)
    Only open 9-12 and 1-3 PST Consumer affairs. number: 1-800-952-5225

    My thought is that it might be a ten year extended warranty and MINI is stalling as long as possible as every day more and more MINI's that would otherwise be covered fall out of warranty, or MINI is passive aggressively telling us all to take a hike (every few weeks I call MINI and the recall is unexpectedly delayed another, you guessed it, few weeks). It seems MINI no longer has any intention of following through with the recall. Despite the crazy $1000 the dealership gladly charged to fix the problem the day before the recall started (coincidentally this was the day before the problem became unsolvable at any price), the part is a simple weight sensor, it shouldn't be taking half a year with no updates whatsoever from anyone.

    Does anyone have any news since the letter they sent letting us know absolutely nothing, other than the passenger airbag sensor on our cars had an intrinsic defect (which everyone already knew) and we probably have realized that our passenger airbag light is constantly on, and shouldn't let passengers sit in the passenger seat until it is fixed. Are you kidding me? Nice way to solve the safety issue, just don't use the passenger seat and non deployment of the airbag won't be an issue. ah wow, thanks for the heads up. What a clever and frugal solution.

    Any info, anyone????
     
  17. rkw

    rkw Well-Known Member

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    The existing parts in stock are known to be a safety risk. They would be pulled from circulation and destroyed, to be replaced by a newly designed part.
     
  18. N2MINI

    N2MINI MINI of the Month

    Dec 4, 2009
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    That first letter was just to follow Recall Protocol. This way it buys them apparently ALOT of time while keeping the Feds off them... No reason it should take over half a year to make the part to fix it. They have known about the problem for at least a couple of years before deciding/being forced to do something about it..
     
  19. Black White R53

    Black White R53 New Member

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    Actually, the existing parts are NOT a safety risk, long ago MINI updated the part to be free of the defect for those that had the part replaced. The part was only installed on new MINIs for less than two years, several months in 2005 and 2006. I never wanted to pay over a grand, so have just had it broken all this time, many have paid up and are fine.
     

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