So on August 19th, my car (2012 Mini Justa) acted out while my brother was driving it to work. Per his explanation, it seemed like the sudden acceleration issue that had made the news w/ Toyota Prius. He called the Mini roadside assistance and had them take the car to Southbay Mini. On that day, I angrily posted a message on NAM about the incident and got a contact from BMW corp. a day or two later. The dealer tried to give the car back to me saying that there isn't anything wrong but I refused to take it since.. WHAT IF IT HAPPENS AGAIN!??!?!? So the BMW corp. guy said that they'll send out an engineer and have him take a look at the car.

It's been about a month and a half already and what do I know about the car??NOTHING!!!! I called the service advisor several times but still don't have any updates! Per my service advisor, they are not allowed to talk to the corporate engineers.. Umm.. WTF????

Have you guys had to deal w/ the corporate engineers? How long did it take them to give you any kinds of updates? UGHHH!!

 

This issue you have may be experiencing could be life threatening, so things are taken much more seriously! Manufacturers are tight lipped when it comes to a serious problem for fear that the SA could pass sensitive information to the customer and you could only imagine the damage that can do to everyone involved. With that said one time shortly after I purchased my MCS I started her up and the RPM raced to 6000 rpms all by itself and stayed there for about a second, then it never happened ever again. Scared the crap out of me!

My Mini has been at the shop for three weeks waiting for the thermostat housing so I feel your pain!

 

So what did you do when it happened to you? Did you take it to the dealer? I'm just more worried and frustrated because it's taking so long. When I first spoke with the BMW representative, he said it'll take about 1 - 2 weeks.

 

I'm not being confrontational but let me ask two questions:

1.) Could it have possibly been driver error?

2.) What should they do to resolve this?

It is very possible that they will never be able to replicate this and will never find a root cause.

 

It sounds like a software problem...my guess is if its taking this long they may have found something.. But I would be shocked if they would ever tell you..

 

To answer your questions,

1) No it could not have been driver error. He's been driving for 10+ years with clean records.
2) What should they do to resolve this? I think they should let me know why this happened. the BMW representative said that the engineer will download the data from the car and will be able to figure out what had happened. And that is exactly what I would like to know.

 

Sounds like a driver problem. Never heard of an "acceleration problem" that was car specific.

 

I wouldn't have taken it in unless it happened to me, Twice!

What did you tell the dealer? "My brother said that it suddenly accelerated." ?

If I was the dealer, I'd put that right at the top of the "fix it now list"

Dave

 

I remember back in the mid-80's when Audi 5000's had the acceleration problem, My neighbor at the time drove through his garage, he swore that his foot was on the brake. Turned out that all the instances were driver error combined with poor spacial design of the pedals (obvious difference was these cars were still drive by cable).

I've been driving a whole lot longer that 10 years and I consider myself a good cognizant driver BUT I still make mistakes. People do everyday that is why we still have accidents.

Pure speculation on my part but I believe that BMW does not know what happened, that there is no smoking gun so to speak. It would be nice if they communicated with you better but as another poster pointed out this is a serious accusation with serious consequences and they have to approach the problem accordingly.

Personally, if it had happened to me directly, I also (agreeing with the other poster) would have waited for a 2nd occurrence before bringing it into the dealer. This will probably never duplicate.

Keep the thread updated on what happens and I'm definitely not envious of you or your position and feel free to vent all you want, it has to be frustrating.

EDIT: My brother used to work for BMW and they would make jokes about when the Mothership would send out engineers to solve problems that the dealership technicians could not. More often that not the engineers would end up swapping parts until the problem went away - i.e. their troubleshooting sucked - they were just glorified part swappers. Don't know if this has changed recently or not.

 

I also think driver error,However the engineer should completely check the car out and drive it for say 30 days. In the mean time they should give you a loaner. I would call the Attorney General in your state report the dealer and MINI. Something will happen then you have to stop sitting on your hands and act out get mad and make them respond to your problem