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2016 Mini Cooper

Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations

Similar to other model years

Owner complaints for the 2016 Mini Cooper do not stand out strongly from the model-year median of 40.5.

About this comparison →
28Owner complaints

Model-year median: 40.5

1Recall campaigns

View recall details →

0Investigations

View investigation details →

How this year compares

Owner complaints by model year

Other model years Selected year
47
201334
201456
201528
201628
20178
201812
2019
Compare all Cooper years →

Counts vary with age, sales and reporting. They are not failure rates.

What owners reported most

Engine
10Electrical System
8Exterior Lighting
8Power Train
6Air Bags
2
All reported categories
Equipment
1Fuel/propulsion System
1Seat Belts
1Seats
1Service Brakes
1Steering
1Structure
1Suspension
1Unknown Or Other
1

Tap a category to read its complaints. One report may name several components.

When problems were reported

Mileage at the reported incident

Limited mileage data: 2 of 28 reports include usable mileage. There isn’t enough coverage to show a useful chart.

NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.

What to inspect

Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.

  • Engine. Review the 10 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Electrical System. Review the 8 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Exterior Lighting. Review the 8 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

2 crash reports0 fire reports3 injury reports

Steering complaints

1 reports
Clear category filter
Mileage unknown · Aug 24, 2021
EnginePower TrainSteering

The harmonic balancer aka crank damper went on my 2016 4dr hardtop 1.5L Mini Cooper. Has 73,000 miles on it. It has been sitting at a garage now for almost a month waiting for bmw to have the part in stock (tentative date avail. Sept.20, making it 2months wait time) tried every possible 3rd party parts dealer & not 1 harmonic ba…

Read full complaint

The harmonic balancer aka crank damper went on my 2016 4dr hardtop 1.5L Mini Cooper. Has 73,000 miles on it. It has been sitting at a garage now for almost a month waiting for bmw to have the part in stock (tentative date avail. Sept.20, making it 2months wait time) tried every possible 3rd party parts dealer & not 1 harmonic balancer is to be found. I was told this part had already needed to be upgraded & modified making it a faulty part to begin with. Was told by garage it’s a common part to go on these cars. 1st my warning light came on saying the battery wasn’t holding a charge. Beings that I was 2 blocks from my house I drove there & as I was getting to my house another warning came on saying “carefully pull over & let engine cool” so I parked it & had it towed to garage to avoid any other issues.

NHTSA ODI #11430245

Official recalls

1

15V628000 · Air Bags:frontal:passenger Side:inflator Module

Oct 7, 2015

BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain model year 2014-2016 MINI Cooper S and MINI Cooper two-door vehicles, 2015-2016 MINI John Cooper Works and MINI Cooper S and MINI Cooper four-door vehicles and 2014-2015 BMW i3 vehicles. Due to a manufacturing error, the passenger frontal air bag may not deploy properly in a low speed crash. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 208, "Occupant Crash Protection."

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: In the event of a vehicle crash, an air bag that does not deploy properly increases the risk of injury to the front seat passenger.

Remedy: MINI and BMW will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag module, free of charge. The recall began on November 25, 2015. Owners may contact MINI customer service at 1-866-825-1525 and BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417.

Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗

NHTSA investigations

0

No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.