Hey fellow Countryman drivers,

I had a pretty scary thing happen yesterday when I was driving my Countryman (2011, S, AWD) that I wanted to share. I was driving about 25mph in downtown San Francisco when I started to smell something funny and then saw smoke coming from under the hood. I pulled over and popped the hood and found flames in the engine bay.

I didn't have an extinguisher in the car and there wasn't a hose in site, so it burned for a few mins before a bystander stopped and gave me an extinguisher. SFFD came shortly after and doused the still smoldering engine compartment with water.

There were no warning lights on in the dashboard before, during or after this fire. My Countryman, built in April 2011 and purchased in May, has about 5700 miles on it and has otherwise been a pleasure to drive. The dealership in San Francisco said mine is the first engine bay fire they've heard of for the Countryman. Has anyone else heard of this happening?

I did some research last night and there was an engine bay fire issue in 07-08 Minis but couldn't find any reports of similar issues on the Countryman.

If you're not already carrying an extinguisher in your car, think about buying one!

-Alan

 

I have seen the other threads about engine fires in MINIs and was SOOO hoping that it didn't apply to the Countryman. I am picking my 2012 CM up next week and when I travel I leave my dog alone in the car briefly.

Is your CM a manual or automatic?

I am sorry to hear that this happned to you but glad that neither you nor anyone around you got injured.

 

I would not accept anything other than a new car to resolve this! Do not let them fix it and give back to you.

 

MINIs of all description have experienced spontaneous engine bay fires since day 1. I believe that NHTSA has opened a file. Keep us informed.

 

I just ordered an extinguisher.

 

i viewed the photo....that really sucks. glad your okay. this is where the govnt highway transportation/safety agency needs to act swiftly...although it appears they dragged their feet on the chevy volt fires.

 

Holy cow, that is very scary. Glad you were driving slowly enough and in an area where you could easily stop.

Off to shop.

 

Must have been scary, glad you're OK. I don't know how long it was cooking, but it looks like the wiring loom is fried. You're probably going to be shopping for a new car...

 

oh my god.. glad ur fine.. hope they give u a new car

 

im seeing that the actual box that all the wires go into is not burnt. thats wierd. im a firefighter and have seen hundreds of car fires. you are VERY blessed that it wasnt worse. i know plastic loves to burn once it gets going and there is alot of plastics under the hoods of cars these days. since you say no check light came on, i wonder if maybe oil or fuel leak caused it? im very interested in knowing what the problem was. i have been a firefighter for 14 years and never been to a mini fire. mostly american cars

 

Please keep us informed of any findings.

 

Thanks all, will post an update as soon as I hear back from the dealer. @meindc - mine is a manual.

AW

 

I'm so glad you were not hurt. I agree that this warrants a new car from MINI. I can't imagine how they could restore a car with damage that extensive and even if they were able to do so mechanically, there would still be a fire smell in the car. What really worries me about these spontaneous fire reports is the possibility of it happening while the car is in the garage. The car burning up is horrible, but nothing compared to the house burning with it, not to mention the threat to everyone in the house. It's very scary. There is someone in my neighborhood who had an S hatchback that's always parked in the driveway and I've passed by when his garage was open and it was relatively empty and certainly could have fit the MINI in it. I'm going to have to ask him if this fire thing is why he parks it in the driveway.

 

This is really disturbing. I'm a 2012 CMS ALL4 owner and a former 2009 Cooper S Clubman owner. My 2009 Cooper S Clubman had an engine bay fire back in August, which is how/why I now own the CMS ALL4. I've been considering posting the details of this whole episode for a while, and while I haven't been reluctant to do so (more just a time/priority thing than anything else), I've wanted to be careful about how I present it because overall I've felt that BMW NA has been relatively reasonable throughout the "transaction". I was REALLY hoping that because of the change in engines from the 2011+ model years, this would no longer be an issue.
Anyway, will post more details later. As someone who knows (almost) first-hand what you went through (actually happened while my wife was running errands), and definitely knows first-hand what you WILL be going through (can give you some details/pointers there), I'm really sorry you went through this and an glad that you're OK.

 

Unfortunately this is between the insurance company and has nothing to do with Mini. If they total it then it's whatever the insurance company's fine print will replace or settle payment with.

 

I can speak from direct experience that, at least in my case, this is not necessarily true. I do highly recommend keeping BOTH parties engaged (your insurance company AND BMW USA) highly engaged throughout the process. In my case, both were very responsive until BMW confirmed that it was a "component failure", at which point, appropriately, my insurance company disengaged with the collective understanding that BMW would handle all repairs and expenses as a "warranty issue".

 

Insurance will investigate this and report it to the NHTSA if they find fault with the contruction/design of the car and MINI will be involved. If the fault is found with the car the insurance company will sue MINI to pay for the car if they do not step up. My bet the car it totaled.

BTW, engine fires should NOT be common on new cars if they are theres a BIG problem with MINIS. I will loose my deposit and move on to another vehicle.

 

If this is a manufacturer's defect then it will be covered under your MINI vehicle warranty. If some idiot sabotaged your car or something similar then it is an insurance matter. If it is a defect then if there has been no other fires in a Countryman to this point then MINI will most likely work it out so they give you a new one just so they can actually study the car to see why the fire happened.

 

Since reading this post, I now use my Porsche track day fire extiq. for an everyday Mini FE. Secured in the boot! I also have installed a Smoke/Fire detector in my garage with an extra large FE close by.

Please keep us informed and thanks for sharing!

 

Oh my....something else to put in the trunk next to the slime kit.....

So what was the cause for the fire in the 07-08 Minis?

 

This is scary, 75% of the fires have started while the cars were parked and off . These all happened on the 1.6 turbo motors and a lot of the design has not changed since then. This is making me rethink my order with the other pile of problems I have heard about. I do not trade my vehicles every 2 to 3 years and Im in the long hall with the car so maybe I made the wrong choice, I guess its not too late for me.

"Most of the complaints came in the past year, NHTSA said. Eight allege fires had occurred while the vehicles were parked with the ignition off, NHTSA said."

http://news.yahoo.com/safety-regulat...132335711.html

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/10/17/n...-engine-fires/

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/10/...-engine-fires/

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?se...mer&id=8396428

 

"All happened on the 1.6 turbo motors?" Not true. Spontaneous engine bay fires go back to day 1 (2002) and I think include naturally aspirated, supercharged, and turbocharged.

 

You're more likely to get hit by lightning than your Mini spontaneously bursting into flames.

 

Knowing that it's very unlikely isn't much comfort if you're the guy who gets hit by lightening.

 

The causes were??

Yeah I think the lighting comment is a little off base considering the 12 fires in the NHTSA report. How would it feel if it burned your house down because it was parked in the garage when it caught fire. A car can be replaced easily not so much a house.

Colorado has a lot of lighting strikes a year, I think Florida is the leader in the US with Colorado close behind. Im just saying!