BMW Hit with New Mini Cooper Class Action Lawsuit

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A proposed consumer class action by Laurie Saltmeris says that BMW of North America, LLC has misrepresented that its Mini Cooper Class Vehicles are equipped with “lifetime” transmission fluid that does not need to be replaced.

According to the Mini Cooper class action lawsuit, BMW failed to disclose that neglecting to replace the transmission fluid leads to sudden and premature transmission failure in the Class Vehicles.

The plaintiff is seeking to represent all persons in California who purchased or leased a Mini Cooper “S Model” or “Class Vehicle” defined as any of the following:

• 2002 through 2206 R53 Mini
• Cooper Hatchback S model vehicles, 2005-2008 R52 Mini
• Cooper Convertible S model vehicles, 2007-current R56 Mini
• Cooper Hatchback S model vehicles, 2008-current R55 Mini
• Cooper Clubman S model vehicles, 2009-current R57 Mini
• Cooper Convertible S model vehicles, and 2011-current R60
• Mini Cooper Countryman S model vehicles

The plaintiff may amend the Class definitions if investigation warrants expansion or modification.

BMW introduced the Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S in the United States in 2002. The Mini Cooper S was intended to be a higher performance  vehicle which features certain upgrades to the standard Mini Cooper, including turbocharge, 181 Horsepower and certain upgrades to technical details such as engine internals and cooling systems. BMW also represented in its service and warranty information that, unlike the standard Mini Cooper, the Class Vehicles contained “lifetime” transmission fluid that did not need to be replaced.

According to the class action lawsuit, BMW marketed these Mini Cooper vehicles with “lifetime” transmission fluid for two reasons:

First, BMW Groups wanted to present its Class Vehicles as high-quality, low-maintenance vehicles that required little repair and replacement of parts.

Second, BMW Group wanted to market its service and warranty program as a selling point for the Class Vehicles, while avoiding responsibility for the costly and complicated process of changing of changing transmission fluid.

The class action lawsuit also claims that “BMW instructs its authorized dealers and services not to change the transmissions fluid in Class Vehicles, causing its transmission to fail suddenly and prematurely.”

The class action lawsuit explained that sudden transmission failure is a serious safety issue, placing the driver and passengers at risk of serious bodily harm. When transmissions fail, they do so without warning, and in the midst of operating the vehicle, drivers are suddenly unable to engage gears. Consumers have reported that their Class Vehicles have hesitated, stalled or stopped completely in the middle of traffic; they have unexpectedly surged forward while accelerating; and they have jerked and stumbled while attempting to accelerate. Drivers are essentially unable to keep up with the normal flow of traffic or control the movement of their vehicles, exposing them to the risk of collisions.

The Mini Cooper class action lawsuit contends that had they been informed that the transmission fluid would need to be changed, and that failure to do so would cause premature transmission failure, they would have had the fluid replaced at regular intervals, rather than allowing their transmissions to degrade and fail.

This is not the first time BMW has been hit with a class action lawsuit over alleged Mini Cooper problems. Just recently, BMW settled five class action lawsuits accusing the automaker of concealing a design defect in the Mini Cooper that causes the Continuously Variable Automatic Transmissions (CVTs)  to prematurely break down and suffer mechanical failure.

As early as 2011, a federal class action lawsuit accused BMW of installing “shoddy” automatic transmissions in first-generation Minis that are prone to premature failure and cannot be reasonable repaired, forcing consumers to spend thousands of dollars to replace them.

Saltmeries, on behalf of herself and all others in similar situation, is requesting the Court to certify the Class; order that BMW is financially responsible in notifying all members of the Class; award restitution and disgorgement of BMW revenues to Plaintiff and members of the Class;  award declaratory and injunctive relief as permitted by law or equity; direct BMW to identify, with Court supervision, victims of its conduct and pay restitution and disgorgement of all monies acquired by BMW by means of any act or practice declared by the Court to be wrongful; order BMW to engage in corrective advertising; award interest on the monies wrongful obtained from the date of collection through the date of entry of judgment in this action; award attorney’s fees, expenses and recoverable costs reasonably incurred in connection with the commencement and prosecution of this action; and other relief that the Court may deems just proper.

The BMW Mini Cooper Transmission Fluid Class Action Lawsuit is Laurie Saltmeris, et. al. v. BMW of North America LLC, Case No. CV13-7560R-FFM, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The plaintiffs are represented by Roland Tellis, Mark Pifko, Natasha Mehta, Baron & Budd, P.C.