1st Gen R50 Cooper Extended Airbag warranty not honored by MINI USA!

Technically, MINI USA doesn't need to cover my repair, but I doubt that anybody reading this will agree with them.* So let's start from the beginning:

August 8, 2011:

My airbag light in my 2002 R50 (purchased used in 2007 from MINI of Hawaii) had been on for a couple of weeks and this was the date of my appointment to have it looked at.* Don't remember how long it was between the light coming on and when I booked the appointment.* Did some research and discovered that there had been an extended warranty issued for 31,500 2002-2003 MINIs that trigger the airbag light due to high resistance in part of the wiring harness.* More on the NHTSA/safercar.gov website at Search for Defect Investigations | Safercar.gov | NHTSA; look under the "Defect Investigations Summary" for campaigns PE5053 and DP05006.

Seattle MINI finds the airbag light fault is caused by the high resistance defect in the wiring harness (on the left side) and repairs or replaces the connectors with the high resistance.* Faults erased, airbag light off.

August 9, 2011:

Post this extended warranty fix at northamericanmotoring.com (Airbag warranty almost up for 2002-2003 MINIs! - North American Motoring) to help others out, since the extended warranty didn't seem to be common knowledge.* Helped a few people out this way.

June 5, 2012:

Posted on the previously mentioned thread that my airbag light was back on.* Again, not sure how long it was on before I posted.* End of school, end of Little League season, too busy to make an appointment.

June 25, 2012:

Make appointment with Seattle MINI; get confirmation on June 26th.* Appointment is for July 10, earliest day that I can get in.* Happen to have that day off from work already.

July 10, 2012:

Service advisor was Sasa Losic. *Charged $137.10 for diagnosis; "Tech found code for Right side front airbag.* Not covered by warranty in service day 06/09/2002.* Explained to customer that this repair is covered only for 10yrs or 150k.* Repairs declined by customer".* Of course I declined the repairs as it was something that should have been covered by MINI USA since I'm less than a month out of the extended warranty period; the light had been on since before the 10 year period was up and the other (left) side had already gone bad.* This was obviously one of the cars that ended up having bad parts installed.* Both the service advisor Sasa at Seattle MINI and Mark at MINI USA (888-275-6464) told me that the warranty is for 10 years from the date of the car being in service and not one day more and refused to budge on this.*

Mark even told me that he was a service manager there and that there was nobody else I could speak to about this. *Mark did offer to speak to the service manager at Seattle MINI, but said that was going to be pointless as he would also decline to repair this under warranty.

Was going to call back today (7/11) but thought better of it, as I shouldn't need to grovel to get safety related warranty work done. *Should I have given them a second chance? *I kind of thought I did when I called MINI USA. *If you have the little card in your glove department with "MINI Safety Tips", you need to go to the bottom and cross out the phrase "At MINI, your safety is a priority" since it obviously isn't.

You may remember seeing an infamous picture of Johnny Cash making a certain hand gesture. *That's obviously how MINI USA and Seattle MINI sees us early R50 and R53 owners now. *Well, same to you. *I'll continue to enjoy my MINI, PSMINI (our local club) and all the aftermarket suppliers. *However, I now see no reason to darken the door at Seattle MINI or any other MINI dealer.

Val

P.S.- I really didn't want this to be my first post over here, but you know how it goes sometimes. I promise I'm not a troll or a troublemaker, just too busy to post everywhere I read things or register. We're a two R50 family, and I have lots of technical tips to share, from changing a belt on an R50 to completely refurbishing one of the early clamshell type keys (I'll even do it for you!) so go easy on me. I'll be back more often. I certainly won't be killing time at the dealership anymore...

 

Seattle MINI Service Manager Ryan called this afternoon to discuss the situation. We're meeting on Monday at 11:30 am. I'll keep you posted.

Val