Problems with 2005 MINI Cooper S AIR BAGS

On 2005 mini cooper s with 13,000 miles the passenger airbag warning light came on. mini diagnosed reason as failure of the sensor in the passenger seat, which would require $1100 repair. mini will not fix because car is out of warranty. mini did not state whether the airbag will or will not function. passenger seat has rarely been used. mini denies responsibility. *tr

I have a 2005 mini cooper. the airbag sensor in the passenger seat failed around 66,000 miles. i was told that the passenger seat airbag and both door sensors had to be replaced along with the battery cable at a cost of $4000.00. sounds as if bmw still has real electrical problems in their cars and are sticking it to consumers to fix it instead of fixing these problems themselves. the car has never been involved in any accident. *tr

Both my passenger airbag warning light and airbag warning lamp in the instrument panel is illuminated deactivating airbag deployment when an adult is sitting in the passenger seat and remains on when passenger seat is vacant while driving. there is also 2 technical service bulletins (tsb) i'm aware of relating to this malfunction: tsb: si m-65-02-06 airbag warning illuminated, fc55 for vehicles produced from august 31, 2005 - april 25, 2006. nhtsa 10026024 (my vehicle was produced in august 2005 as indicated on my driver door panel). tsb: 720106 airbag warning lamp for oc3 seat mat fault, airbag warning lamp illuminates together with the passenger airbag status lamp. nhtsa 10019981. i spoke with 2 service managers at mini indicating faulty detection mat, parts were in stock and will not be covered under warranty for repair or replacement estimated at approximately $1000.00. my only recourse is to repair it, feeling uncomfortable driving my vehicle or transporting passengers in the event the airbags will not deploy. in addition, bmw of north america, llc extended the warranty on passenger airbag detection mats to 10 yrs/unlimited mileage for specific bmw models ranging from my04 through my06, who owns mini of north america. i've read several forums relating to this issue, one of which states mini did extend the warranty on models prior to my05, but problem hasn't been resolved in model years thereafter as mentioned in my complaint and other nhtsa bulletins. i contacted mini of north america with no positive response. *tr

The airbag light is on and the passenger seat airbag detection light says off even when an adult is sitting in the seat. i took the car in and the airbag code read was a 71 indicating that the oc3 mat in the passenger seat is faulting. the dealership is telling me that the airbag may or may not work even if a passenger is in the seat. i was told by the dealership that it would cost up to 3000.00 for my car to replace the oc3 mat!!! no safety recall warranty available for this model year as there is on others! *tr

The airbag sensor light on the center dashboard and "airbag off" light above the rear view mirror turn on when a passenger is in the car. it appears as the passenger airbag sensor is failing to properly detect the passenger's weight. *tr

Dash light indicating a passenger airbag problem lights up. *tr

The red airbag warning light in the speedometer area came on at approximately 99,450 miles. it came on after driving across a city railroad crossing at low speed. i took the vehicle to the dealer and asked about the light, and they indicated that it would require additional investigation but could be a faulty seat sensor which would cost approximately $1250 to replace. they also indicated that they were not sure whether or not the airbags would deploy properly in the event of an accident. further research indicates that this model and year may also have problems with the wiring harnesses and connections, and that only the dealer can reset the warning light. as of december 2 2010 the vehicle has 113,000 miles on it and the warning light is still on. i believe this is a safety related issue that should be addressed by the dealer as a warranty issue as i am not comfortable with the current situation but do not want to pay for an expensive safety related defect. i am the original owner of the vehicle and still have it. thanks. *tr

Defect initially occurred at night time in rush hour traffic: dash-lights went out, turn indicator not functional, heater blower stopped working (causing fogging of windshield/windows), air bag lights went on, seat belt light on consequently had to pull on the side of road (limited visibility, no speed indicator, could not operate vehicle safely). a couple of attempts at ignition cycling partially restored functionality. after initial defect, problem could be reproduced intermittently (all/some of the component listed above failed during course of normal operation of vehicle). vehicle inspected by mini/bmw dealer, root cause: interference on k-bus of one of the audio component, resulting in failure/malfunction of other components on the bus. ultimately component (mini i-pod interface) had to be removed -- part is available if needed. request to have repairs covered was rejected by mini/bmw customer relations on grounds there was no recall (vehicle is 5 months out of warranty --- 41k miles). *tr

Passenger airbag system failure--passenger airbag off light illuminated and won't go out. according to web-forums, part failed is a seat sensor. dealer wants close to $2k to replace it, but it failed a long long long time ago. i would think it should last longer than 2 or 3 years. can find tons of the same problems at http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/stock-problems-issues-9-2.html. *tr

Srs warning light (passenger airbag off) blinks on and off in a 2005 mini coopers with less than 60,000 miles on it. the warning light only triggers when there is someone sitting in the passenger seat. was told by mini dealership that it would cost $800 for the part and +$200 in labor to fix this safety issue. not an acceptable answer. *tr

Passenger side airbag is disabled when passenger is in seat. if passenger shifts in seat, the airbag may or may not enable. have been told the fault lies with the airbag sensor mat under the seat. this is a common issue for several bmw models and an extended warranty has been offered. for several mini models, the issue has been reported and an extended warranty has been offered. so far, the 2005 model has not been included. *tr

My airbag light came on. the dealer said i had a defective seat sensor but the airbag would still work... my dashboard looks like a christmas tree. later i heard about the warranty extension for this fault. i drove 200 miles round trip after making an appointment. they looked at it and said it is not covered by warranty. the dealer has given me alot of misinformation... doi trust them on this? no, of course not. although they have a bmw dealer adjacent, the bmw dealers are not like the ones i am accustomed to dealing with. i am disappointed that mini has such poor service while most of its bmw dealers are so stellar. the heated seats work only a few minutes. the dealer said i need a new fuse, in spite of what the manual says. it says if it blows more than twice, the vehicle should be returned to the dealer for service. i did and their diagnosis was that it had a blown fuse. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a bmw mini cooper s. the air bag cover emblem has a defected edge. if the air bag were to deploy, it could cause serious injuries. the dealer replaced the cover three times, but the defect is still uncorrected. the current and failure mileages were 20,000.

I have a 2005 mini cooper s and the passenger airbag light keeps coming on and after some research on forums see that there is a common problem with this. turns out the airbag sensor in the passenger seat is a common problem and that dealerships even carry extra parts because of this. i see that something very similar just happened with other bmw's. i think this should be added to the recall list. it appears that in an accident the passenger airbag will not deploy. *tr

I have now had a second failure of the passenger airbag sensor (sensor mat in passenger seat). the first mat failed at 3 months after purchase and the replacement lasted just over 2 years (warranty on part is 2 years). *tr

Passenger airbag off light illuminated. *tr

The airbag light on the dash and above the windshield for the passenger seat used to go on and off without a passenger in the seat. starting in 2011, it continues to stay on, meaning the airbag is turned off. the dealership said the airbag sensors were bad and the entire passenger seat needs to be replaced at an estimate of $1,000. the dealership could not confirm that the airbag would or would not deploy if the car faced impact and someone was in the passenger seat. this is a serious safety issue and no fault of the car owner. please recall this problem before someone gets injured or dies. *tr

Airbag light comes on (indicating airbag system malfunction/inop.) and auto manufacturer has no fix, definitely a safety problem. 2005 mini cooper. *tr

Passenger airbag light illuminates intermittently as inoperative with or without a passenger. this could cause a loss of airbag protection in the event of a qualifying crash for the passenger. *tr

The air bag light comes on for no reason. this has been happening since i got the car and i read that it had to do with putting bags on the seat. i later discovered that it does not matter if there is a bag, a person or an empty passenger seat. *tr

Airbag cover on the drivers side has a defect edge on the mini emblem which could cause additional injury to the driver in the event of a deployment. *tr