Problems owners report
Complaints filed with NHTSA about the 2015 MINI Cooper S, by the system named in each complaint. One complaint can name several.
- Exterior lighting3
- Unknown or other3
- Engine3
- Fuel/propulsion system2
- Structure2
- Electrical system2
- Air bags2
- Service brakes1
- Fuel system, gasoline1
- Power train1
NHTSA ODI complaints (public domain) · updated 23 Oct 2026 · 0 injuries and 0 deaths reported
Compared with other years
NHTSA ODI complaints by model year
Registered new in Europe in 2015
19,848 new MINI Cooper S cars were registered in the EU, Norway and Iceland in 2015; the largest markets were the United Kingdom (7,627), Germany (6,077), France (2,537).
- Average mass
- 1,317 kg
- Average power
- 139 kW
- Fuel type recorded
- Petrol 100%
European Environment Agency, CO₂ emissions from new passenger cars · averages weighted by registrations; CO₂ is the type-approval value; fuel type as recorded at registration, where many non-plug-in hybrids appear as petrol · re-use permitted with acknowledgement
MOT test results in Great Britain
In 2023, 7,777 of these cars first registered in 2015 took their annual MOT test. 83% passed first time; among all cars first registered in 2015 the figure was 75%.
| Failed on | These cars | All cars from 2015 |
|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 6.3% | 6.6% |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 4.2% | 7.7% |
| Visibility | 3.6% | 3.9% |
| Brakes | 2.8% | 5.1% |
| Suspension | 1.5% | 6.4% |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1.4% | 2.1% |
DVSA anonymised MOT tests and results, 2023 (Department for Transport) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · first tests only; a fix made at the test station within the hour still counts as a fail
In Finland
51 of these cars first registered in 2015 were in use in Finland on 30 Jun 2026, with an average of 117,000 km on the odometer at their last inspection.
Traficom (Finnish Transport and Communications Agency), open data on vehicles in use · CC BY 4.0
In New Zealand
23 2015 cars are on the New Zealand register; 91% arrived as used imports, 9% were sold new in New Zealand.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, Motor Vehicle Register (March 2026) · CC BY 4.0
Crash-test ratings
NHTSA 5-star results for 2 variants; not yet fully rated. Rollover risk is the estimated chance of rolling over in a single-vehicle crash.
| Variant | Overall | Rollover risk |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 Mini Cooper S 2 DR FWD | — | 0.0 % |
| 2015 Mini Cooper S C FWD | — | 0.0 % |
- Electronic stability control
- Standard
- Forward collision warning
- No
- Lane departure warning
- No
- Best overall rating
- —
NHTSA New Car Assessment Program (5-Star Safety Ratings), api.nhtsa.gov · US federal work, public domain
Fuel consumption
Official Canadian test results for 10 variants: combined 8.1–9.0 L/100 km (about 26–29 mpg US), CO₂ 186–207 g/km.
| Variant | City | Highway | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooper S Coupe · Two-seater · Premium gasoline | 9.2 | 6.8 | 8.1 |
| Cooper S Coupe · Two-seater · Premium gasoline | 9.1 | 6.8 | 8.1 |
| Cooper S Roadster · Two-seater · Premium gasoline | 9.2 | 6.8 | 8.1 |
| Cooper S Roadster · Two-seater · Premium gasoline | 9.1 | 6.8 | 8.1 |
| Cooper S 3 Door · Subcompact · Premium gasoline | 9.2 | 7.0 | 8.2 |
| Cooper S 5 Door · Subcompact · Premium gasoline | 9.2 | 7.0 | 8.2 |
| Cooper S 3 Door · Subcompact · Premium gasoline | 10.0 | 7.0 | 8.6 |
| Cooper S 5 Door · Subcompact · Premium gasoline | 10.0 | 7.0 | 8.6 |
| Cooper S Paceman ALL4 · Compact · Premium gasoline | 9.5 | 7.7 | 8.7 |
| Cooper S Paceman ALL4 · Compact · Premium gasoline | 10.1 | 7.8 | 9.0 |
Litres per 100 km. Natural Resources Canada, Fuel consumption ratings (open.canada.ca) · Open Government Licence – Canada
Recalls in Canada
3 Transport Canada recalls for the 2015 MINI Cooper S.
| 2015306 14 Jul 2015 | Structure Certain vehicles may not comply with the side impact protection requirements of United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 214, which is voluntarily-ad… |
| 2014561 11 Dec 2014 | Powertrain Certain vehicles may fail to conform to Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (CMVSS) 114 - Theft Protection and Rollaway Prevention. During service appointment… |
| 2014506 6 Nov 2014 | Airbag On certain vehicles, a defect in the seatback adjustment mechanism of the front seats could allow seatback(s) to move out of position in a severe impact, increa… |
Transport Canada Vehicle Recalls Database · Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada
Recalls
BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain model year 2014-2015 MINI Cooper Hardtop 2 door vehicles manufactured February 25, 2014, to May 16, 2015, 2014-2015 MINI Cooper S Hardtop 2 door vehicles manufactured March 28, 2014, to May 9, 2015, 2015 MINI Cooper Hardtop 4 door vehicles manufactured October 17, 2014, to June 2, 2015, and 2015 MINI Cooper S Hardtop 4 door vehicles manufactured November 24, 2014, to June 11, 2015. During a service appointment, the affected vehicles received replacement front passenger seat cushions (which contain integral Capacitive Interior Sensing (CIS) functions). The CIS functions may have been incorrectly calibrated, and if so, would cause impaired occupant classification and thus inappropriate air bag activation/deactivation.
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."
BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain model year 2014-2015 MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S Hardtop 2 Door vehicles and 2015 MINI John Cooper Works Hardtop 2 Door vehicles. The affected vehicles do not meet the side impact performance requirements for the rear seat passengers. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 214, "Side Impact Protection."
BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain model year 2014-2015 MINI Cooper Hardtop 2 Door, and Cooper S Hardtop 2 Door vehicles manufactured January 6, 2014, to October 17, 2014. During service appointments, dealers may have inadvertently reprogrammed the transmission control unit with software that may allow drivers to exit the vehicle when the transmission is not in Park. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 114, "Theft Protection and Rollaway Prevention."
Whether a recall was fixed on a particular car is known only to the manufacturer: check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
NHTSA recalls · summaries in NHTSA's own words
Service bulletins
What MINI told its dealers about the 2015 MINI Cooper S: known faults, fixes and updates.
| Bulletin | Summary |
|---|---|
| 10244507 | MINI electrical systems have continued to develop over the past few years. As a result, the demand on the batteries has increased. Breakdowns due to an empty battery or problems in the vehicles electrical system can have various causes, most of which are not due to the battery itself. For this reason, a battery replacement will permanently eliminate the problem only in the rarest of cases. The energy diagnosis test module helps to localize these causes. This document covers important information for the dealer on how to handle discharged battery complaints. Without performing the energy |
| 10242535 | ?The panoramic roof sunblind does not close, or jams while closing. |
| 10242534 | ?BMW AG has issued a Delivery Stop: REPLACE CHARGE AIR LINE. |
| 10234353 | The 3G network in the US has been shut down. This means that only the 4G network will be available. In the 4G network, voice calls will be transferred via Voice over LTE (VoLTE) function. For this purpose, the SIM card must perform an IMS registration in the mobile communication network. Due to a production error, the telematics control units were delivered without an IMS configuration. The Connected Drive voice services (Concierge Call, MINI Assistance and emergency call voice) can no longer be used regionally in the US in vehicle with telematics control units ATM-1 and TCB-4G. Voice cont |
| 10234352 | The buttons on the gear selector switch (GWS) do not work, or the function indicator lighting has failed. |
| 10234351 | Oscillations in the electric drive can occur. As a result, the 12 V positive battery cable may rub against the battery box cover. |
| 10233170 | Ambient lighting changes color after the vehicle goes to sleep. |
| 10228447 | During the service life of the vehicle, the high-voltage battery may unexpectedly not provide power to the vehicle. |
| 10228445 | During a vehicle inspection and/or while addressing a customer's concern, the engine stabilizer bar/link appears to be worn. |
| 10216787 | Service Action: Program Vehicle to Activate Speech Recognition |
| 10216784 | XM Satellite Radio Recekption - Audio, Navigation, Monitors, Alarms, SRS |
| 10216782 | Designates changes to this revision - The blower motor is faulty |
| 10216777 | The customer states that there is a grating or scraping noise when the steering wheel is turned. The noise comes from the area of the steering column switch center. |
| 10216776 | ROOFLINER MAKES RATTLE/GROANING NOISE NEAR B PILLAR WHEN DRIVING ON ROUGH ROADS |
| 10216771 | Service Action: Kprogram Control Units (DME) |
| 10216766 | B38, B46 and B48 Engines: Engine Replacement Procedures |
| 10216765 | Service action: B46 AND B48 ENGINES - CHECK AND REPLACE CRANKSHAFT GUIDE BEARING |
| 10216764 | Service action: B46 AND B48 ENGINES - CHECK AND REPLACE CRANKSHAFT GUIDE BEARING |
| 10214271 | The Check Control message "Door open" appears in the instrument cluster (Kombi) even though all vehicle doors are securely closed and locked. |
| 10212534 | Vehicles with total mileage below approx. 12,500 may experience premature wear of the left rear brakes. In some cases, there also may be visible damage due to thermal overload. |
| 10206757 | Any or all of the following CCM ID code 14/15/16/17 door open appear in the instrument cluster when the door is properly closed and locked. The locking operation of the door is not affected by the incorrect display. |
| 10206696 | New RDC wheel electronics will be introduced with future generation MINI models. The new wheel electronics are identified as Huf Generation 5. These new wheel electronics will need to be programmed using the new tool when replaced or when depressurized (0 psi) for more than 2 minutes. |
| 10206695 | When the vehicle is on a lift and wheels are manually spun, a clanking noise is heard from the transmission area. |
| 10206694 | In situations when the fuel tank vent line becomes blocked, the on-board diagnosis (OBD) may not detect the blockage. |
| 10204665 | The Headunit High (HU-H), also called NBT came in vehicles with option 609. This uses map North America NEXT. The Headunit High 2 (HU-H2), also called NBT-EVO, superseded the NBT HU and came in vehicles with option code 609. This uses map North America EVO. The ENTRY Media/Navigation (HU-B) is the low line business version of the navigation system and came in vehicles with option 6UM. This uses map North America ROUTE. The ENTRY NAV EVO (HU-B2) replaced Entry Media/Navigation as the low-line business version and came in vehicles with option code 609 or 6NP . This uses map North America WAY. |
NHTSA manufacturer communications (public domain)
NHTSA investigations
BMW Safety Act Violations
NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation