2006 Mini Cooper S Convertible

No clear pattern

0% of complaints about the 2006 Mini Cooper S Convertible arrived in its first year of service. That is an unusual figure for a 2006 vehicle, but with only 53 complaints on record the sample is too small to call it a pattern — the margin of error covers the range where ordinary vehicles sit. The figures below are reported without a verdict. The most-reported system is air bags (19 complaints), typically at 7.6 yr or about 60,000 miles.

Complaints: 53
Median age at failure: 7.6 yr
Median mileage: 59,000 n=51
Crash / fire / tow: 3.8% of reports
Safety recalls: 1

Safety recalls — NHTSA campaigns

15V205000 2015-04-06

Air bags:frontal

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, and exposure issues, the front passenger seat occupant detection mat may not function properly and, as a result, the front passenger air bag may not deploy in a crash.

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.

In owners’ own words

Air bags 60,000 mi 6.1 yr in service

THE PASSENGER SEAT AIR BAG WARNING LIGHT IS ON ALL THE TIME, INDICATING LESS THAN 25 LBS IS ON THE SEAT, EVEN THOUGH THERE IS NOTHING ON THE SEAT. *TR

Air bags 40,000 mi 6.3 yr in service

PASSENGER AIRBAG LIGHT IS ON EVEN IF LESS THEN 25 LBS IS ON THE PASSENGER SEAT. *TT

Air bags 53,650 mi 6.3 yr in service

WHILE DRIVING MY 2006 MINI COOPER CONVERTIBLE THE POWER STEERING FAILED WHILE MAKING A TURN ON THE OFF RAMP OF THE HIGHWAY. THE PASSENGER AIRBAG WARNING LIGHT STAYS ON INDICATION THAT THE AIRBAG IS NOT TURNED ON. *TT

Other Cooper S Convertible model years

How to read this

This is what owners reported, not a reliability rating. People file with NHTSA about alarming failures, not routine ones, and complaint volume tracks how many cars were sold.
Failure ages come from the incident date on each complaint, populated on about 83% of records. Mileage is shown where reported — NHTSA’s 2021 system change cut mileage capture to roughly 15%, so it thins out sharply after MY2020.
Every rank compares this vehicle only against others of the same model year. A 2025 car has not had time to accumulate five-year failures, so comparing early-failure share across years is meaningless.
Fourteen make-months distorted by media storms and mass recalls — Toyota in February 2010 ran 11× normal volume across 33 models — are excluded.
Recalls are manufacturer actions and authoritative; complaints are not. A recall listed here may already have been performed on any individual car. Check a specific VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

2006 Mini Cooper S Convertible

When each system is reported — middle 50% of complaints

Safety recalls — NHTSA campaigns

In owners’ own words

Other Cooper S Convertible model years

How to read this