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A California federal judge has indicated he will grant preliminary approval to a proposed class action settlement involving allegations that BMW of North America LLC concealed a transmission defect in its MINI Cooper automobiles. If approved, the class action settlement would pay thousands of drivers as much as $9,000 for vehicle repairs.
U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez requested more information about the class size and suggested some revisions in the MINI Cooper class action settlement notice. Plaintiffs’ attorneys indicated that approximately 1,200 MINI Cooper owners had their transmissions replaced at BMW dealerships. However, it is unclear how many drivers took their MINI Coopers to a third-party facility for repair.
The plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit alleged that BMW hid the MINI Cooper transmission defect from customers at the same time it issued bulletins acknowledging the issue to BMW dealerships. The transmission defect can cause significant delays in acceleration, loss of forward propulsion and total transmission failure while driving. Even more concerning is the tendency of the transmissions to fail without warning. These transmission defects can contribute to traffic accidents that may lead motorists to experience serious injury or death.
In their class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that BMW sacrificed the quality of the MINI Coopers in an effort to keep the vehicle prices low. Therefore, the company manufactured cars of substandard quality that put consumers at risk. The plaintiffs accuse the car company of prioritizing profits over customer safety.
Since the first MINI Cooper transmission defect lawsuit was filed in 2011, four similar class action lawsuits have been filed. The plaintiffs’ attorneys estimate that the number of Class Members in these consolidated class action lawsuits could number in the tens of thousands.
Judge Gutierrez has said that he will wait to approve the MINI Cooper transmission defect settlement until he receives an updated estimate of the number of likely Class Members.
Under the terms of the proposed class action settlement, BMW will reimburse drivers under the eight-year/150,000 mile warranty for all of their out-of-pocket expenses associated with the transmission repair. The plaintiffs have estimated their repair costs to range from $6,000 to $9,000. The proposed class action settlement will also provide a maximum of $4,100 to Class Members who had their MINI Coopers repaired at a third-party facility and up to $2,000 to consumers who sold the vehicles at a loss due to the transmission defects. BMW has also agreed to cover all future repairs for MINI Coopers up to 150,000 miles and eight years.
Owners of MINI Coopers who replaced their vehicles’ transmissions after the warranty expired will receive a three-year/50,000-mile parts warranty, according to the class action settlement.
Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit are represented by Roland Tellis and Mark Pifko of Baron & Budd PC and Payam Shahian of Strategic Legal Practices, among others.
The BMW MINI Cooper Transmission Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Aarons v. BMW of North America LLC, Case No. 11-cv-07667, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
UPDATE: Judge Gutierrez preliminarily approved the MINI Cooper Transmission Class Action Settlement. Details on how to file a claim will be available soon
UPDATE 2: Notices and claim filing instructions for the MINI Cooper settlement are being delayed by disputes between the two parties. Both sides asked the Court to intervene to expedite administration of the class action settlement benefits.
UPDATE 3: Claim filing instructions are now available! See how to file a claim for the MINI Cooper class action settlement here.
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114 thoughts onJudge Will Approve Mini Cooper Transmission Class Action Settlement
My 2004 MINI COOPER is on its 3rd 5sp tans @141k miles. Although the factory original lasted 102k miles, the 2nd dealership-reman only lasted 26k more. They covered the $2,000+ parts but I paid $880 labor to replace it the final time. While I do drive-it-hard, I do not power-shift! I’ve driven manual sticks all my life and knew these failures weren’t my fault. Also the failures were 1) synchronizer failure and 2) reverse gear linkage. These failures did not arise while-in-motion. They both arose upon trying to back out of a parking spot.
I bought an 06 mini cooper S automatic for my wife. Used with 103,000. Had the car for only one MONTH and the Transmission DIED. Was a present to her and had to watch it sit while we saved up the money and Spent $5k replacing it… Frustrated to say the least…
AMY GILBERT:
OMG. Me too…
Had a 2008 Mini Cooper S, Clutch and Flywheel had to be replaced at 22K miles, Spent 3700.00 on this repair, who can I talk to to get in on this Class action? Look me up on NAM. Eusey.
WE DO NOT QUALIFY under the current class action. MINI fixed it and split the cost with me, cost me $1,000 out of pocket. DMF and Clutch Bullshi*
I have a 2003 CVT that had to have a new transmission at 77k in 2008. I am a Seattle WA resident but I trailered my car to the dealer in Portland OR for the repair (they had superior tech service). I bought a refurbished CVT and they gave me a 2 year warranty on it. Now I am living in SoCal but I have not transferred my license yet. Trying to figure out how I can benefit from this. The refurb’d tranny has close to 50k on it and we are worried about it going out again.
I recently had to replace my transmission as well on a 2006 convertible with only 38,000 miles. I believe it is the same issue as this. Unfortunately this lawsuit only covers people in California it would appear:
“The MINI Cooper defective transmission class action lawsuit seeking restitution, damages and other relief for a proposed class of all California residents who, at any time prior to the filing of this complaint, purchased or leased a 2002-2006 MINI Cooper Coupe or 2005-2008 MINI Cooper Convertible in California.”
I have a 2006 Mini Cooper convertible. How do I become part of the class action lawsuits?
does this affect manual and automatic transmissions?
My 2004 Mini had transmission failure around 80k miles. No warning, just died. $6500 later, I was broke & driving this piece of garbage around. Transmission died again a year later. I surrendered the car & have nothing to show for it. Shame on BMW for duping the public into buying what could have been an excellent car. The company skimped on quality to save some money & in the long run, just screwed themselves.
Had a 2008 Mini Cooper S, Clutch and Flywheel had to be replaced at 28K miles, Spent 3700.00 on this repair, who can I talk to to get in on this Classaction?
47000 miles and need a new transmission on my 2008 mini convertible How do I get it covered