Air bag light above rear view mirror illuminates when a passenger is seated. I have researched this and found many others having the same issue, but have not discovered a recall or any information to make the necessary repairs. Seems it should be fixed as they did with the 2002 model, covering the repair to 10 years or 150,000 miles.
2006 MINI Cooper airbags complaints
Page 4 of 5: complaints 71 to 100 of 111, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Purchased car used. When passenger sits in front seat, airbag light intermittently goes on and off and then stays on. Have searched online and the passenger seat sensor is likely broken and is a $1500 fix at the dealer. This is a safety issue and should be covered by manufacturer.
Passenger side airbag failed. Seat passenger detector failure is cause. A review of on line trouble sites show this to be a very common problem which manufacturer denies and delays repair. Though mini has multiple reports of this, they refuse to repair as they state "out of warranty". This is a basic safety feature which is flawed and should be subject to immediate and broad recall.
During the past couple weeks, the air bag indicator light would come on. At times it would stay on for a long period, other times not as long. This week the seat belt indicator light came on after a passenger left the car and the alarm sounded for apx. 10 minutes until I stopped and shut off the car. The air bag indicator also came on. I took it for servicing today but the garage could not get any codes from the SRS control unit.
Passenger side airbag seat weight sensor began to intermittently trip passenger side air bag light and air bag light. Adjusting weight on seat would initially extinguish; however, problem is now constant. Cost prohibitive to replace.
Driving along at 30 MPH when air bag light illuminated and over head passenger air bag light came on and off. Had passenger seat bottom replaced only to have the light come back on 3 days later. I have had the system checked 3 times ( with light turned off when returned) only to have the light come back on a few days later.
Passenger seat airbag warning light won't go off. I do not know if the airbags will work in a accident.
Passenger seat airbag sensor failed and the airbag light stays on and the airbags in the front seat passenger and driver may be deactivated and not work in a crash. Mini is aware of this problem has chose to ignore it. It is a great safety hazard. My wife has refused to ride in the car or let anyone else ride in it.
My 2006 mini cooper had a air bag light just turn on about a week ago for no reason for what I can tell. I called my mini dealer and they told me it was probably a worn out passenger seat sensor. They said it would cost about $900-1000 to replace the seat and the sensor. Our mini only has a little over 50k miles and 50% of those miles there wasn't anyone ever sitting in the passenger seat to ware it out. I have seen on several other forums that this problem has been corrected by bmw but not by mini. I believe this issue should be a recall on all mini's as I have seen that hundreds of other people have the same issue.
The air bag warning light came on. We contacted the dealer where we purchased the car and they said there was nothing they could do because it was not under warranty and there was no recall. They had repaired this previously under warranty. We then contacted mini USA and they said our VIN# was not listed for a recall. I mentioned there are mini coopers in forums all over the internet with airbag light issues.
When I started my vehicle, 2006 mini cooper, the passenger airbag warning lights came on for no apparent reason there was no one in the passenger seat at the time. There was an august, 2008 bmw recall on 150,000 2002-2006 mini cooper's for this same passenger light airbag issue. Bmw extended the warranty to 10 years on all of these recailed vehicles by VIN#. I had this diagnosed by a bmw service center & a faulty passenger sensor pad in the passenger seat is causing the issue. The sensor pad is attached to the bottom of the passenger seat so both items have to be replaced which will cost approx.$1,200. I spoke to mini USA & my VIN# was not on the 2008 recall. I then asked mini USA how do I get my VIN# on the recall list & was to told to go to this website & file a complaint. After your investigation, mini USA told me that you can have my vehicle VIN# added to the august, 2008 recall. Mini USA was also unable to tell me if my passenger seat airbag will properly deploy in the event of a accident. I consider this an extremely serious safety issue (possible death) if the airbag does not properly deploy because of a faulty passenger seat sensor pad! Please help.....thanks
The airbag warning lights came on and stayed on. At first the lights were coming on and off now they just stay on. No incidents on a well maintained vehicle. Both a mini dealership and another mechanic both say it is the air bag weight sensor in the seat and that the seat needs to be replaced.
Passenger seat air bag sensor warning light is lighting up. This has been diagnosed as a result of a defective passenger seat air bag sensor. There was no incident that caused this. It just went bad. This appears to be a known issue for min and bmw but they are not taking responsibility to replace the sensor which runs anywhere from $900 to $1600 to be repaired. This automobile has been very well maintained has less than 60k miles and is a one owner. There was no reason for this to have gone bad other than the part must be of poor quality or design. This is a safety issue and mini USA should step up and resolve this for their customers.
The airbags light came on for no reason at all. Doing research I found there's a lot of people with the same problem! And apparently mini USA is not taking responsibility for any of it.
Air bag system diagnosis returned fault code 71. Tech check on SRS system found passenger seat occupancy detector fault. Passenger air bag system is disabled as a result. Estimated repair cost is $1200. Internet searches found this is a very common problem with mini cooper's and mini refuses to cover when out of warranty.
The passenger airbag warning light indicates there is a problem with the passenger airbag system. The light illuminates continuously whether a passenger is in the seat or not indicating that the airbag is turned off for the passenger. Mini cooper denies any problem with their safety airbag system, yet there are many people complaining about having the same issues. The problem occurred shortly after the warranty ran out.
Airbag warning light indicates system is either off or inoperative - it does not matter if someone is sitting on the passenger seat or not. The airbag light is always on. After reviewing numerous complaints on mini forums, it appears that the problem is common and due to a defective sensor under the seat cover. Since I rarely carry passengers, this condition is definitely not due to wear and tear. As it stands, I have no way to ascertain if the air bag will deploy in an accident situation. This could cause serious injury to anyone riding in the passenger seat or even the driver. A low mileage vehicle or even an older vehicle should not have this type of safety issue. Mini customer support offered no help due to car being out of warranty. Independent shop is doing the repair for $1210.00 due to lack of confidence in mini.
Our 2006 mini cooper hatchback's passenger side air bag indicator stays on with or without a passenger. Sometimes with a passenger, it will go on and off sporadically. If the light is on when there is a passenger it would be logical to assume that the airbag will not deploy. After researching this problem on the internet, it would appear that this problem is wide-spread and dangerous.
Our 2006 mini cooper hatchback's passenger side air bag indicator stays on with or without a passenger. Sometimes with a passenger, it will go on and off sporadically. If the light is on when there is a passenger it would be logical to assume that the airbag will not deploy. After researching this problem on the internet, it would appear that this problem is wide-spread and dangerous.
The right front occupant sensor for air bag appears to be defective. It had to be replaced. We have heard of several mini cooper's that have defective seat sensors. When this sensor fails, the air bags may not deploy as designed. This is a safety system failure. Cost to replace this sensor was over $1,400.00.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 mini cooper. The contact stated that while driving 15 MPH, he noticed that the air bag light was illuminated on the instrument panel. The light remained illuminated whenever the vehicle was in motion. The dealer was not notified. The manufacturer was notified and offered no assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 50,000. The VIN was unavailable.
The passenger side air bag started having intermittent failures starting about 55,000 miles and little over three years, seven months after purchase. Full failure occurred at 80,000. The seat was not commonly used. The car is used primarily to commute to and from work by one person.
The SRS light is on and the passenger airbag light is also on even with a passenger sitting in the seat. This is a known issue due to bad wiring harness under the seats but bmw, mini is refusing to rectify the faulty problems for 2005 and 2006 models of the 1st generation mini cooper. 2004 and 2003 mini coopers were honored with an extended warranty on the SRS system for 150k miles or 10 years. With the SRS light on, the airbag system and the seat belt activation system may fail on the passenger side even with a passenger in the car. The problem has already been reported with a service bulletin. The airbag warning light is on with a fault stored. The wiring under the seat may be pinched or damaged. Service bulletin number:sim-65-06-11 the federal safety agency item number:10039593.
The air bag light is on above my rear view mirror and on my dash. I have found on multiple sites that this is a common issue.
Airbag warning light comes on whether or not a passenger is in the front passenger seat. The dealer says the airbag sensor in the seat needs to be replaced. This cost us over $1500. 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 seats of bmw autos resulted in a recall of this part. The federal safety agency action number: ea08001. This is a serious safety concern. Message boards have instances of people paying for this expensive safety defect at the dealer, and the problems returning after 1 to 2 years in some cases. Someone with be seriously hurt or killed if the passenger airbag fails to deploy.
Airbag passenger mat seat sensor . This has been a ongoing problem from the 2003 to present. Seat sensor turns airbag light on and can disable air bag on passenger side and according to mini dealership, not on factory recall but they say get hundreds a year and charge to replace sensor at 1000.00. Safety issue! Someone really needs to have them fix a known issue at all dealerships and put peoples lives in danger.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 mini cooper. The contact stated that the passenger seat air bag sensor warning lamp was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the passenger sear air bag sensor was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 82,000 and the current mileage was 83,400.
Passenger seat air bag detector is faulty. When no one is sitting on the seat, the airbag light illuminates. This was replaced by the dealer at 44300 miles. The warning light has come on once again at 67000 miles and has stayed on.
Both the passenger seat belt light and the airbag system light illuminate while seat is occupied indicating the system is not operational and may not function in a crash. Internet research reveals many complaints to bmw concerning this problem in the 2006 mini. Manufacturer dealerships will not diagnose without a large fee.
Recently, I've been getting both the yellow overhead airbag off light (above the rearview mirror) and the red warning light on the center dash. The warning lights will go off occasionally, but always seem to return. It does not matter whether I am carrying a passenger or not. The problem appears to be a defective seat sensor or a defect in airbag wiring harness. Since this is a safety issue, I do not want to work on the system myself. Mini websites discuss similar problems with the airbag lights on earlier model minis. I am certain a recall was issued for '02-'03 models. Current recall does not include later build years such as my '06, but again, this is definitely a safety issue and should be addressed by the manufacturer.
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