Owners have filed 113 complaints on the Mini Cooper Convertible, covering 2005–2006. The system named most often is Steering (79 reports). Worst years by volume: 2005, 2006; cleanest: 2006, 2005. 3 reports describe a crash, 4 a fire. On average the car was 7.5 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Mini Cooper Convertible
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 113 Cooper Convertible complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Steering 79 Read
Driving about 10 mph on a one lane street, I tried to negotiate a right hand turn and the steering wheel became very difficult to turn. The car ran off the roadway and collided with some shrubbery
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper convertible. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 mph, she noticed smoke emitting from under the hood. In addition, there was a strong burning odor inside of the vehicle with a sudden loss of power steering. There were no warning indicators illuminated at the time…
Parked at shopping mall and not running for at least 30 minutes, come out to mini cooper on fire. Smoke coming out of engine area, high pitch fan whirling, electrical smell. Power steering failed, shorted out, and caught on fire. Vehicle was not even on and parked when this happened. Appears to be a major failure many…
Air Bags 15 Read
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper convertible. While driving 35 mph another driver crashed into her vehicle. The air bags did not completely deploy. As a consequence sparks from the air bag short, caused her coat to catch on fire. She suffered 2nd degree burns on the right arm and the heel of the hand. The dealer…
Passenger airbag lights remain on
2006 mini cooper, faulty wiring on passenger seat mate sensor, the wiring harness that comes out of the floor and connects to the sensor mate in the seat is to short and becomes damaged when you slide the seat back. This causes an error in the air bag system making it thinks there is a small child or no one in the…
Electrical System 6 Read
My 2005 mini cooper convertible was parked in a parking lot after a short trip, not running. I came out of a store and saw smoke pouring out from all around the hood area. I raised the hood and the smoke began to subside. Smelled like an electrical fire. There was no previous warning of any kind. The repairs include…
Airbag warning light comes on when a passenger is in the front passenger seat. The dealer says the airbag sensor in the seat needs to be replaced. The cost is about $1000. In 2006 mini issued an extended warranty for 2002 and 2003 models with the same defect. Bmw's investigation of the same sensor under the passenger…
Per my research, this a recurring problem with the 2006 mini coopers. Numerous bulletin boards have the same questions for a safety concern if the airbag will deploy for the passenger seat. Took car to dealer for diagnostics and they gave us a repair price of $1200.00 to replace the lower seat for the occupancy pad is…
Power Train 6 Read
I bought my mini cooper two months ago. It is a 2006 model. I was driving home on the night of thursday january 7th when I heard a loud clunk. I live on a caliche road so naturally, I thought I had kicked up a rock or clunk of dirt and it hit the body of my car. The next morning I headed out to go to class and less…
While driving to work on hwy 270 going south between manchester rd and dougherty ferry rd in rush hour traffic sometime between 4:30 and 5:30 pm my 06 mini cooper convertible was revving up as I press the accelerator but yet barely moving. Right before the dougherty ferry exit it "kicked" into gear and began driving…
Hi, I'm writing to report that my 2005 mini cooper, with less than 43k miles is in need of a third transmission. I nearly did not make it home one evening because the jerking motion the car was making and because the engine just felt like it was going to shut off. I nearly stalled on the highway, while in traffic. The…
Latches/locks/linkages 2 Read
Trunk door opened while driving around 50mph. Items in trunk flew out. Another driver pulled up alongside me to notify me of the situation
Driver's side door would not open. Door would only open manually with a key from the outside of vehicle. I had to enter and exit the vehicle from the passenger side door
Engine And Engine Cooling 1 Read
The motor mount on the mini cooper is notorious for leaking hydraulic fluid and needing replacement after fewer than 20,000 miles of service. Mine showed fluid leakage at 18,000 miles, and many others on the internet report this defect in the neighborhood of 10,000 miles. The company has issued a technical service…
Structure 1 Read
The contact owns a 2005 mini cooper convertible. Whenever she pressed the button to open the sunroof or convertible, the drivers side opened but the passenger side did not. The dealer stated that it was a lapse in the cable and she'd the entire unit needed to be replaced at the owners expense. The manufacturer stated…
Suspension 1 Read
Noticed on brand new tires the tread on left tire was worn to the core and the was separating from the tire on inside, the right tire had every little tread left. There has been 216 complaints . Nothing has been done to correct the failure or repair or replace the parts. The tires had only 4000 miles on them when it…
Cooper Convertible years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 3 | 4 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 42 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.7 |
| Worst single series | 8 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 7.5 years |
A model average of 2.7 hides a worst series at 8. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Cooper Convertible?
By complaint volume, 2005, 2006 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Cooper Convertible years are the cleanest?
2006, 2005 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Mini Cooper Convertible have?
113 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2005–2006. Of those, 3 describe a crash and 4 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.