MINI USA is extending the warranty for specific air bag warning lamp issues on some MINIs sold in the US. This will surely come as a welcome surprise to anyone who has been greeted by the dreaded glowing airbag light over the years. Here’s an excerpt from the letter just sent out by MINI USA:
>”We have found and repaired cases in which a wiring harness connector for the side air bag and safety-belt pretensioner as partially loosened. When this occurred, the increase in electrical resistance causes a red airbag warning lamp to light up.”
>”In cases we have seen so far, the airbag and pretensioner would have operated normally, HOWEVER, ANYTIME AN AIRBAG WARNING LAP IS ON IT MEANS THE SYSTEM MUST BE CHECKED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.”
The last sentence is probably the most important one here. Those worrying that this will effect the safety of their MINIs need not be concerned. That said it would be irresponsible if MINI USA didn’t strongly encourage people to bring their cars in for the issue for a proper fix. That’s where the extended warranty comes in….
>”In the interest of customer satisfaction, we are extending the warranty coverage of the vehicle for defects that may occur, for this specific air bag warning lamp issue, on your vehicle for 10 years / 150,000 miles, whichever occurs first. Under terms of this warranty coverage, MINI will cover all necessary repair costs related to this action.”
Along with the letter MINI USA is also sending out a sticker to be placed on page 25 of your Service and Warranty booklet for your reference and for your service advisors reference. It’s worth noting that we do not know yet if this is intended for all MINI owners are just a specific build period. However it would seem that the issue has plagued cars from every model year since the beginning.
got mine Friday – for the MINI i traded in almost two years ago. may someday apply to the one i have.
Ah, I remember my airbag light coming on one morning, then never came back again. Could this be the same issue? Should I get it checked out?
the first time my airbag came on, i read up on it (here on MF and other forums), not necc. “urgent”, i blew it off for about six months but finally i took it in. took an entire day for them to find the problem and another day to fix it (new steering wheel); three weeks later, the light comes on again; 6 hours to find the culprit, but fixed. two days ago… yep. it’s on again! nice to see the warr. extended, but i hope i’m not taking it in every two months.
It’s like a little bit of deja vous reading this. My airbag light kept coming on for 6 years on my ’98 Z3 because of a short in the seatbelt pretensioner. Reset it and the darned thing would always come back on! It appears that BMW hasn’t learned anything since ’98.
You’d think MINI USA could afford a spell check 🙂
What years are affected?
This is a problem BMW has had for years. My previous car, a ’96 318ti had to have the seat belt sensor replaced 3 times, twice under warranty, once out of pocket. Every time it happened again I would just have it reset.
Scary thought to be driving around without the added protection of your airbags though.
the bmw references remind me of my 1998 318ti (a few issues with airbag resolved after three visits) and my 2002 325i (5 visits, replaced seatbelt sensor, then a control module, then the wireing from the seat to the dash)- don;t know if the airbag light cropped up again as the 325 was traded at 35,000 miles.
surprisingly, my x3 has been defect free for 18,000 miles.
the mini has been good to 5,000 miles. the brakes are starting to squeal a bit when i come to a stop.
its very good to read that mini is taking this seriously with a decent warranty that should help private party sales of used minis. we all know that an out of warranty trip to the dealer could be $500 just to access everything, run diagnostics, and push the connector back in!
My SRS light has been on somewhat permanently since I got the car last August but the dealer is so far away that I’ve been waiting to have it looked at with the oil service and the other faults that have developed.
I’d been worried about the bags but I am glad to see that I am probably ok if I have a crash, lol.
We already experienced this problem in our ’02 MC CVT on our way back from Hilton Head, South Carolina a couple of years ago (March 2004). All the way from the Georgia/Florida border down to Miami, the airbag light was solid on. Next day took the car into the dealership and lo and behold the problem was a shorted seat belt pretensioner on the passenger side airbag. Issue was taken care of under warranty.
The car had 21,588 miles when the airbag light problem took place. Not a problem ever since.
Here are the parts (and part numbers) that were replaced for reference:
1 61-12-6-937-521 Rep. Cable
1 61-12-6-937-522 Rep. Cable
4 61-13-0-141-326 Cable Strap
8 61-13-0-149-205 Cable Connector
8 61-13-0-149-206 Hose
2 61-13-0-302-824 Cable Strap
Tech comments: Belt Tensioner circuit passenger side WTY checked MRS fault memory F/C 03 belt tensioner front Passenger, resistance too high performed.
2003, mcs 38K, Feb 2005
Reporting SRS light on and Fixed:
`SOP #61-31-6-800-996 slip ring fault repaired, grounding out
Car out three days. Everthing OK now.
’02 MCS here with 70K — I’ve had the lights on 5 or more times… the wiring harnesses have been replaced bilaterally — and twice on one side — before they did the harnesses, I had had each female seat belt recepticle replaced, individually… Basically I’m just waiting for the light to come on again… as I fully expect it will. : ) I’m very glad to hear about the warranty though!
Something to keep in mind for those who have had problems – if you don’t get the letter you probably won’t be among those covered.
I got the letter for GBMINI#2 (although I never had the problem) – forwarded it to the current owner.
Strange that even though I traded #2 for #3 through a MINI dealership, the MINI USA database can’t keep track of the current owner.
Mind, I still get letters about the Lexus I traded when I got my very first MINI, nearly four years ago. I guess car databases just don’t work very well.
Just got my letter today. I’ve been staring at that light for the last 60K miles.
I thought it was pretty cool. Came just in time too as I’m getting closer by the day to the elusive 150K miles mark.
02 “S” with 30k miles, . Received the warranty but as of yet no problems. I guess I am lucky.
I had this problem with my 2003 mini cooper s. Had gone off 7 times and then I filed a lemon on it and got a new 2005 Mini cooper s convertable for a good price and had problems with dealer not putting the extras on right then sold it. Thinking about Buying another one.
Just got mine today, I have a 2002 MCS with about 46000 miles on it now, airbag light came on about 2 weeks ago..
First issue with this problem I’ve ever had..
2005 MCS 12000 Miles and my Airbag light is on. I wonder if it is the same sort of problem.
Are mini UK going to do the same. My Cooper S has recently just got to the end of its warranty. The airbag warning light came on about 3 weeks ago. Has previously been in to the shop three times for the same problem. If the warenty is going to be extending then I will take it in and get fixed not looking forward to have to pay for any repairs though.
My wife has an 02 Cooper. We had the airbag light come on whilst it was still under warranty and the UK dealer fixed it, stating it was a known and common problem. The car’s now out of warranty and it’s just happened again! I’d feel pretty hacked off paying for a repair that’s down to a design fault, especially as the car has only 25K miles on the clock! So, if anyone knows what’s happening in the UK or has experience of getting this fixed out of warranty FOC that I can reference, that would be fantastic!
Just this morning I was driving to work and my side airbags deployed and I was the only one on the road. They just imploded on me. After being completely and utterly shocked. I had road side assistance tow the car to the dealership where they told me my warranty didn’t cover what happened and that it looked like I was in an accideny. They told me my insurance needs to cover it. I am really upset and I hope this info can help me. A cop was on the scene as well and he was just a perplexed as I was as to what happened. Mini needs to be accountable for this.
Mine went in for the second time last week for this very issue. It was considered a ‘pre-existing’ condition, at my dealership, as it was first repaired under warranty. This time they replaced a 61-13-0-149-205 cable connector and a 61-13-0-14-205 hose.
September 26th 2006
Just had our Mini fixed for Airbag warning light problem. ’02 but only done 30k miles. Had to pay 50% labour (£40.00), Mini paid for parts (wiring loom). Got nowhere pointing out MINI USA extended warranty, got the impression USA is a different planet as far as Mini UK was concerned and their Mini’s come from outer space so the warranty rules are different. Utter tosh of course but who wants to bang their head against a brick wall for ever?
Have lost track of the number of times that our 2002 Mini has been in to have the airbag warning light serviced. The last time was two weeks ago and the light is on AGAIN.
Does this warranty cover all minis, or only certain years/models? I have 2003 Mini CVT with an airbag light on. Until last week, it’s been good for quite a few years. In the first 3 years I had it, the airbag light would come on at least once every 6 months.
I never got any notice about extended warranty on the airbag though. I’m the original owner and only moved once, less than a year ago. I have gotten more disillusioned about the competency of the dealer I bought the car from, though. I’m wondering if this isn’t applicable to me or if my dealer just ‘forgot’ to pass this along to me.
Mine went on for fourth time. I now have 119k miles and do not want to spend $700 to fix this just to sell it to get a new MINI. Never got the letter but I never got ANYTHING in the mail from MINI (ever). So I’m not sure if I’m covered. I emailed MINI USA with the problem. Does anyone know which years/models are covered under this warranty????
My lights on and waiting for parts .
Just called MiniUSA and they said that my MCS 02 with 102k was not on the supposedly recall list they have what a crack of BU*#sh^t!!! They acted as I was crazy can someone send me more info as to this issue I thought I had something wrong and my mechanic told me that it was the seatbelt clip maybe a wrong ERROR CODE
check this out from this site :
<a href="http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/defects/results.cfm" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/defects/results.cfm</a>
<p>I just bought a 2002 MCS with 46k and the airbag light came on. I expect that it is very likely the wiring harness under the seat, but my dealership pretends that there is no extended warranty on the airbag. It seems like if you were not the original owner you don’t have a chance of having a letter from MINI that would give you the warranty. I was wondering if anyone that has the letter could scan it and email me a copy? Then I could bring that to my dealership and they would probably have to do the work. I need that letter!</p>
<p>Just had the problem with my 2002 mini cooper. It has 36,000 miles. Thanks to this article the repair will be covered by warranty. The dealer had no knowledge of this extended warranty. Then they tried to tell me that my car wasn’t covered (it was) then they tried to tell me that the part wasn’t covered (it was). Finally the dealer agreed that everything was covered even the diagnostic service to find the problem. I suggest that if you have this problem take a copy of this article to the dealer.</p>
<p>Mine is a 2008, it’s now December 2011 and the problem of the airbag light STILL exists. It is apparent that the problem has NEVER been resolved, and that we should petition the NHTA to require Mini (US) to extend the 2006 air bag warranty which gives the car owner an additional ten years or 150,000 mile warranty. You might want to look at the petition made in 2006. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bmwminiukairbaglightpetition/signatures.html: </p>
<p>Same problem with a 2007 model. I tried the ipetitions link, but it didn’t lead anywhere useful.</p>
<p>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:</p>
<p>August 8, 2011:</p>
<p>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 <a href="http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/defects/" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/defects/</a>; look under the “Defect Investigations Summary” for campaigns PE5053 and DP05006.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>August 9, 2011:</p>
<p>Post this extended warranty fix at northamericanmotoring.com (<a href="http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/stock-problems-issues/215456-airbag-warranty-almost-up-for-2002-2003-minis.html" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/stock-problems-issues/215456-airbag-warranty-almost-up-for-2002-2003-minis.html</a>) to help others out, since the extended warranty didn’t seem to be common knowledge. Helped a few people out this way.</p>
<p>June 5, 2012:</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>June 25, 2012:</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>July 10, 2012:</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Val</p>