Home · 2016 Mini Cooper Hardtop · Complaints

What 38 owners told NHTSA about the 2016 Mini Cooper Hardtop

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (38)Crash / fire / injury (4)Lights (11)Engine (9)Electrical system (7)Transmission & drivetrain (7)Brakes (3)Airbags (2)Body & structure (2)Equipment (2)Seat belts (2)Seats (1)

7 of 38 complaints match · Transmission & drivetrain · clear filters

Jan 17, 2025Transmission & drivetrainEngine

Drivetrain error occurred. I pulled codes and found P0015. I added oil, cleared code. The next day the drivetrain error popped back up. Pulled codes and found P0366. I took the vehicle to mechanic for diagnostics and to find the issue. They found faults: 130F11 and 120408. When replacing engine oil and filter, they found metal shavings in the oil; bearing material. They are recommending replacing the engine. Doing research, it appears this has been a common occurrence with these vehicles/engines. Is there a current recall on some of these engines, or a possibility for a discounted replacement due to the issues being widespread? The car has less than 74,000 miles, and the mechanic said it looks like it may have been going on a while. I purchased this car from a used dealership less than 3 months ago, and have already encountered so many unexpected issues. I really expected more from the Mini brand. Thanks.

NHTSA ODI 11636617

Dec 23, 2023Transmission & drivetrain

Error signal "Secure vehicle with parking brake when stopped" Mini dealer says "common problem" with Mini transmissions and always due to fluid leaking thru shifter onto gear shift mechanism. Lots of forums stating this is common. Unclear why Mini not taking responsibility for this due to poor design. How many cars ever get a failure such as this? None that I can find except MIni and BMW with similar transmissions.

NHTSA ODI 11561607

Aug 16, 2023Transmission & drivetrain

About two days ago I noticed my MINI started showing an error every time I got into the vehicle saying "Secure vehicle against rolling" I have seen numerous different discussions online but none seemed to come to a solution or single cause of this error. Everything still shifts completely fine in the car, the parking brake engages, and the car shifts into park fine. Seems to be a common problem, it's a shame MINI has not addressed it as a recall.

NHTSA ODI 11538855

Apr 1, 2023Transmission & drivetrain

"Secure Vehicle from Rolling" comes up in instrument cluster and millions of Mini/BMW's have this problem due to a faulty gear shifter selector knob going bad due to a spring in the gear selector box. Annoying because the part fails over time and dealer wants $3000 for the fix. Please help!!

NHTSA ODI 11514968

Oct 17, 2022Transmission & drivetrain

I purchased this vehicle on 9/03/2019 with 29,871 miles. I had to replace the clutch on 5/11/2020 at 39,690 miles. I am now having to purchase yet ANOTHER clutch on 10/17/2022 with 58,850 miles. Two clutches within 3 years is just unacceptable!

NHTSA ODI 11489667

Aug 24, 2021SteeringTransmission & drivetrainEngine

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

Jun 7, 2017Transmission & drivetrain

DRIVETRAIN MALFUNCTION LIGHT FLASHES FOR A FEW SECONDS AND THEN GOES AWAY. DRIVING ON I-85 S JUNE 5, 2017 WARNING APPEARED FOR A FEW SECONDS THEN DISAPPEARED.

NHTSA ODI 10993700

Working with the data? Download all 38 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 27, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2016 Mini Cooper Hardtop verdict →