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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
Is the gear shift selector part of the problem. It started to get stiff and I have noticed that it is begining to become somewhat slugish in certain gears
Hi from Hungary in Europe, This problem is in every kontinent. I have 2005 mini one CVT mit 54Tkm ~ 40 Tmiles , and cvt is crasy. In a MINI is only the price and the servicecost from BMW. All the parts are chiep shit. There is a psichologie that bmw knows, with this car will driven max 15 tkm a year, so in 8 years there are not many problem. But after 8-10 years will everything broken. BmW makes a lot profit, and said sorry the 8 years has gone.
Got my wife an 03 non S mini two years ago as a 40th birthday gift. Car was in mint condition with only 60,000 miles on it. She drove the car for 6 months and 3000 miles then the clutch just went out. No warning no symptoms just gone. This piece of crap has been sitting in our garage for a year and a half because I refuse to pay Mini $2800 to put a clutch in it and have it fail again. Something needs to be done about this. There’s no way we are all abusing our cars
What happens I someone who buys a mini cooper 2003 with 117000 miles and after a few days notices a slip in the transmission, (1-18-15) Take to mechanic which has worked on his cars for over 30 years and is told the transmission will probably need to be changed at the tune of approx. $8,000 . OMG do we have any recourse with any dealer since it I under 150,000 miles.
AS I Have been reading this has been an ongoing problem, what can we do. Please Help
Thank yo
I have a 2002 Mini cooper. About 2 months ago I noticed a leak of transmission fluid. It will cost me over $6,000.00 to fix. I don’t have that kind of money. My car has been sitting in my drive way for 2 months now with a dead battery. Please update me with the transmission law suit. Thank you
2004 Mini Cooper 5spd Hardtop with 96,451 miles. Transmission just gave out while trying to go into reverse. I have had the car less than a year and paid $4,000 for it. Looks like I’ll need at least that much to fix it. Please update me on any progress with including the manual transmissions in this law suit.
Thanks.
I bought a used 2005 Mini Cooper S with an automatic transmission with 110k miles on it I barely got to drive it and now the transmission went out so my car is sitting in my garage i took my car to a mini cooper dealer for repairs, is Goint to cost me $10.500 dollars to fixed i will not pay that much money to fixed
how can i get connected to this settlement.
thanks for your help.
I have a 2005 Mini and it has been sitting there for 6 months because the car won’t stay in fifth, Took it to dealer only to be told it needs a new transmission at a cost of over $10,000.
I am completely disgusted in them for knowingly putting sub standard parts in the Mini.
Count me in if this is still valid.
Thanks
I have a 2007 Mini Cooper S Convertible with 71,000 miles on it. The automatic transmission has failed (not CVT) and I’m being quoted $11,500 by dealership to replace it and my car isn’t worth much more than that. (Meaning my car is essentially “totaled” with 71K miles on it!) I thought I read somewhere that the CVT class action lawsuit was being extended to include regular automatic transmissions. Has anyone heard about this? Should I apply to be included in this lawsuit?
Bought my daughter a 2003 Mini Cooper for graduation. Was using it to get her back and forth to school before she graduated. Has 120+ miles. I bought it from a local dealership. Transmission will not let me shift into reverse or drive. Please put me on the list.