Other engine problem on the 2012 MINI Cooper
1 crash 4 fires 5 of the 10 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2012 MINI Cooper report other engine problem at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 55,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 75,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 66,572 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
44% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7,228 miles | 10,800 miles | 56,000 miles | 56,000 miles | 73,800 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
Of these reports, 1 a crash and 4 a fire are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 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 on other years
The same failure is reported on 14 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2002, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 80,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 19; the 2012 has 10. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 mini cooper s. The contact stated that the turbo charger was not properly shielded and the hood did not have any insulation. As a result, the hood would become extremely hot. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who referred the contact to the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 22. Updated 03/14/12*bf the consumer stated the dealer provided additional heat shields. However, it did not completely correct the problem. Updated 05/10/10
Purchased a certified pre-owned mini next 2012 clubman 6-speed with 6,498 miles on it 08/2013. * 10/14/2013 around 9k miles lost power on the highway and went into limp mode, maneuvered to side of highway and called roadside assistance. Towed car in to dealer who replaced 4 spark plugs said all was ok. * 10/17/2013 I pick the car up, get 3 miles from dealer on interstate and the car does it again so I maneuvered off the closest exit and called roadside assistance. Towed back into dealer and they kept car until 26th. They said the dme was bad and replaced it and 4 fuel injectors. * 10/30/2013 car did it again and I drove home in limp mode, car was shaking and sounded like a 1970 vw beetle, nearly died at every idle, rough, acceleration and I called roadside assistance and they had car towed from my driveway back to dealer. *11/5/2013 dealer still has car. *tr
Tl* the contact owned a 2012 mini cooper. While driving approximately 20 MPH, the contact crashed into the preceding vehicle after it stopped without warning. The vehicle was merged into a parking lot, where the contact noticed some minor damage to the front of the vehicle and smoke appeared under the hood as a fire started. The fire department extinguished the fire. The vehicle was destroyed. There were no injuries. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 66,000. The VIN was not available.
Also reported on the 2012 MINI Cooper
Other electrical problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Water pump failure
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
Overheating
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 10 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 other engine problem happen on the 2012 MINI Cooper?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 55,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2012 MINI Cooper?
10 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.9 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