The 2006 MINI Cooper Convertible has 1 NHTSA recall campaign affecting an estimated 91,800 vehicles. Recall repairs are always free at any authorized dealer. Owners have filed 38 complaints with NHTSA, most often about the air bags. Last updated July 5, 2026.
Recall campaigns
AIR BAGS15V2050002015-04-0691,800 affected
Defect
BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain model year 2005-2006 MINI Cooper and Cooper S vehicles manufactured January 5, 2005, to November 28, 2006, and 2005-2008 MINI Cooper Convertible and Cooper S Convertible vehicles manufactured January 5, 2005, to July 31, 2008. Due to manufacturing, installation,…
Consequence
An improperly functioning mat may cause the passenger frontal air bag to be inactive when the seat is occupied, and in the event of a crash, the air bag will not deploy, increasing the passenger's risk of injury.
Remedy
MINI will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger seat occupant detection mat, free of charge. The recall began on October 12, 2015. Owners may contact MINI customer service at 1-866-825-1525.
Complaints by component
AIR BAGS
12
STEERING
10
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
5
SEATS
5
POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
2
AIR BAGS:FRONTAL
1
AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION:FRONT PASSENGER
1
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
1
POWER TRAIN
1
Total complaints38
What owners report
Verbatim reports filed with NHTSA, lightly edited for readability and with personal
information removed.
“Power steering pump grinding. This was a recall on the 2002-2005 model but not the 2006. The same issue is happening with this car that happened with the recall vehicles and I would expect bmw to fix this problem. Thanks”
“Power steering pump went out while driving the car. Car was extremely hard to steer. Almost hit a guard rail. Had the car towed home and then to a garage. This is a known problem with mini coopers from year 2002 to 2006. Websites and mini cooper forums are loaded with power steering pumps failing.…”
“The contact owns a 2006 mini cooper convertible. The contact stated that the front passenger’s seat occupant detection mat was replaced under nhtsa campaign number: 15v205000 (air bags) three years ago; however, the front passenger's side air bag warning light had been illuminating…”
“I drove the car earlier and it was fine. I returned home and then hours later tried to pull out of my driveway to find I couldn't turn the steering wheel. Thank goodness I wasn't driving when it went or I wouldn't have been able to turn the wheel. Apparently after reading online quite a bit this…”
“Passenger air bag light went on and I took it to mini dealer who diagnosed that ht passenger seat matt sensor failed and recommendedreplacement of seatmatt sensor I called mini about safetyrecall nhtsa15v20500 of 4/6/2015, and they informed me my vin/vehicle was not part of thatrecall”
“Power steering goes out while driving down the road, without any warning. Very stiff. Hard to control. Can't turn. Scary!!!”
“Power steering randomly when out while in motion. Thankfully, I was on a local road going slowly when it happened. Pulled over to the side, turned off the car and turned it back on. Power steering came back.”
“The passenger airbag disabled light turns on intermittently, even when the passenger seat is occupied by an adult. The airbag might not deploy in an accident. The problem is caused by a faulty passenger seat occupancy sensor mat in the seat cushion. It failed once before and was replaced by the…”
Recall, complaint, and investigation records from official NHTSA datasets (FLAT_RCL,
FLAT_CMPL, FLAT_INV), synced weekly. Counts reflect NHTSA records for the 2006 MINI Cooper Convertible as of
July 5, 2026. Complaint narratives are consumer-submitted and unverified. This page
contains ads and affiliate links. Full methodology.