No-start or intermittent start failure on the 2005 MINI Cooper S
Only 2 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
There are 2 reports of no-start or intermittent start failure on the 2005 MINI Cooper S, 2 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 20th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 58,913 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $200–$1,800 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure, every year of the MINI Cooper S
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I was driving my 2005 mini cooper and took a sweeping right turn onto a freeway on ramp. During the turn the power steering stopped working and it took an extreme amount of force on the wheel for me to avoid hitting the side of the overpass as the car wanted to continue going straight.. It proceeded to cut out again as I tried to get it home. Luckily I was able to control it and park it. When I turned the car off the pump continued to run and drained the battery overnight. The car would not start in the morning. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated the vehicle would not start. She contacted roadside assistance which jump-started the vehicle. The vehicle resumed normal operation. The failure recurred the next day and she was able to have the vehicle jump-started a second time. The dealer removed the battery and there was excessive water surrounding the battery box. The vehicle resumed normal operation for a while until the failure recurred. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the contact was informed that the battery was entirely encased in water and exhibited corrosion. In addition, the dealer advised that the bst cables and fuse assembly would need to be replaced. The dealer was unable to provide an explanation for the excessive water in the battery. The contact was concerned that if the vehicle was repaired, the failure would only continue to recur. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer would not provide any assistance. The current and failure mileages were 28,326.
Also reported on the 2005 MINI Cooper S
Other steering problem
Power steering pump or fluid leak
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Loss of power steering
Seat belt or retractor failure
Cooling fan failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 2 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 2 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does no-start or intermittent start failure happen on the 2005 MINI Cooper S?
Across 2 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is no-start or intermittent start failure on the 2005 MINI Cooper S?
2 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed