2009 MINI Cooper: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Jan 23, 2025 · Electrical · 140,000 miles · AZ · fire · 3 injuries

The contact owned a 2009 Mini Cooper. The contact stated that after the vehicle was unoccupied and parked in the residential garage, she was putting her children down for a nap and 2 minutes later, the contact and her husband smelled smoke within the residence, shortly afterward it was discovered that the garage was engulfed in flames. The contact called 911 and evacuated her family of 2 dogs, and 2 minor children. The contact sustained injuries to both arms, both legs and her rear end up to her back. The husband sustained bruises right leg and back. The contact's toddler son sustained a bruise from running into the wall in the residence. No medical attention was sought. The contact mentioned that 1 of the dogs sustained abnormal breathing injuries. The police and fire departments arrived on the scene, and the firefighters extinguished the fire. The fire consumed the vehicle in the garage and resulted in damage to the residence. Police and fire department reports were filed. The contact does not have the fire report, yet, and was currently being worked by the chief of the fire department. The vehicle currently remained on the scene. The insurance company deemed the vehicle and her home totaled. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 125,000.

Filed Jul 21, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · MI · fire

MINI was totally destroyed by fire after driving for 15 minutes. It was parked in a parking lot and was in flames 5 minutes after my wife entered the store. This is comparable with problem requiring recall (with no remedy). No warnings

Filed Oct 20, 2019 · Electrical, Engine · 120,000 miles · WA · fire

Hello, yesterday afternoon I started my 2009 mini cooper and noted that my gauges suddenly failed. The tach dropped to zero. Suddenly I received a tire pressure warning light. I decided I would move the car to a more favorable location to look under the hood. As I placed the car in reverse I noted that my power steering had failed. I stopped the car immediately and popped the hood. I immediately noticed the smell of burning electrical equipment. I ran down to the basement to grab a wrench to disconnect the battery. When I returned I could hear pops and cracks and noted char on the hood interior. Though the keys were out I continued to hear pops and cracks and felt heat accumulating . I finally got the battery disconnected and the popping stopped. After some investigation I found that the wiring near the power steering module was completely burnt out. The car drove fine the day prior. My wife is 38 weeks pregnant and I am shaken by the idea that this could have happened while she was driving the day before.

Filed Feb 15, 2018 · Airbags, Driver assistance · 110,000 miles · CA · fire

I was driving down hwy 16 (a straight a way 2 lane hwy) towards woodland when the display showed what appeared to be the water icon and I noticed white smoke from under my hood, so I pulled over and sat there thinking maybe my car was overheating. A truck coming behind me went by honking their horn and I looked in review mirror and noticed dark smoke coming from behind my car.. I then proceed to get out of my vehicle and couldnt get the drivers door open a gentleman came up to my vehicle told me to get out but I told him the door wouldnt open, he opened the door and was saying get out and away the cars going to blow up, that was my first acknowledgment that the vehicle was on fire. The police and fire dept was notified and came out to where the vehicle was at and proceed to extinquish the vehicle. I had to get the car towed by triple a off a friends of mines tow package that she has. Im contacting the fire dept and police today on getting some paperwork related to this today so all I have to show is pics.

Filed Nov 4, 2017 · 34,139 miles · VA · fire

After sitting in the parking lot for 12 hours, the car spontaneously burst into flames. The car was a total loss.

Filed Nov 24, 2016 · Electrical, Engine · 65,000 miles · OR · fire

We parked the car and 3 hours later is was on fire. It seems to have emanated from the power steering pump area but cannot tell with all the fire damage. The car is most likely a total loss.

Filed Sep 21, 2016 · 124,000 miles · WI · fire · 1 injury

Car was bought brand new and taken to the dealership for service. Infact it was serviced just a few thousand miles before this happened. My mother was driving on the high way coming home from work then it spontaneously combusted and exploded. Had she not noticed the flames she would have died. This is not okay.

Filed Sep 16, 2016 · Engine · 67,890 miles · WA · fire

Turbo oil line leaks and drips on turbo manifold causing burning oil smell and smoke. The engine caught a small fire, lucky I was parked on side of a highway road up in the mountains. (no fire stations or very little traffic) I smelt something burning under to hood when it happened and caught the flames in time to extinguish the fire. 2 seattle area mini dealers state that this is a problem with all the turbo engines in this class. They want you to pay for this repair it's a $1300 fix. I believe that mini/bmw needs to take responsibility and repair/recall the turbo oil line because it poses a safety issue the car could catch fire and potentially injure someone cause an accident, or worse death.

Filed Apr 26, 2015 · Engine · 74,000 miles · MD

I took my mini cooper to passport mini in montgomery county maryland for the hpfp failing where they changed it and then told me that the turbo oil feed line is leaking and that the timing chain had stretched and was going to fail. After I told them that I know that they have had problems and complained some they said that they would cover 30% of the chain replacement and a complete detail of my car and that they were being "generous". I explained to them that I wanted my defective chain fixed not a car wash. After reading this website I am hoping to get the oil feed line replaced too. It to is very well documented. If it goes up in flames while my wife and daughter are in the car which one of the executives at mini or bmw will write me to apologize for this? This totally unacceptable behavior for a company. Lawyers wont help mini wont help bmw wont help. No one wants to do the right thing for the consumer anymore! All of us deserve to be treated fairly. This is why we have government, for times like this when the big companies run us over and laugh at us!

Filed Apr 11, 2015 · Engine · 66,586 miles · PA

I was driving on the road, and suddenly I saw the car start to stop in the middle of the road,and I saw the smoke coming out of engine .the diagnostic was the engine totally is collapsing,and need new engine.

Filed Nov 21, 2013 · Engine · 85,000 miles · GA · fire

I was driving home from work on 21 november 2013 when the check engine light on my mini came on. I called the dealer to schedule the appointment. By the time I got off the phone with the dealer, the light turned off. Around 5 miles further down the road the light came back on and then the car erupted in flames. I am unsure where else to file a complaint but I thought I would begin here.

Filed Jun 26, 2012 · Body, Electrical · 18,794 miles · CA · fire

I stopped at a grocery store on the way home from work at approx. 6:30 pm on 11/17/11. I parked the car, turned off the ignition and locked it. When I exited the store approximately 13-15 minutes later, I found the car a smoldering shell surrounded by firefighters. It appeared to have spontaneously gone up in flames. Firefighters could not determine a cause. There was no indication of any problems with the car prior to this incident (car performed "normally" and there were no alarm or flash indicators on the console suggesting a problem.)