Sorry about that usually I take this off to the side but I am in a hurry
Monthly Archives: October 2010
Mini Cooper kept mum. So what if our manual is incorrect. no keys for you
Alas the possibility that a car company could do anything other than suck at customer relations remains as rare as rocking-horse poop.While everyone understands our position and regrets they can’t do more the fact is the Mini Cooper manual says that the car can’t start without the keys in it.
Mini dealers and the Mini helpline say it can. Ergo you lost they key and you need to buy a new one. No one is concerned that the car starts without a key in it which is rather alarming. It’s not alarming the car didn’t give a warning that there was no key.
So what we have here is a car that can be started sans keys in the car. It looks like any elevation of the key greatly increases the distance at which the car can be unlocked and driven away and the sun roof is likely a big factor. So for fun some experiments will follow.
P.S. Letting us buy the key at cost was rejected. Ok so for the sake of losing NO money. Result. That’s one less 2012 Clubman sold plus way more public noise about their customer relations being poor. Nice going Mini.
This family thing, it’s a brand. while they hadn’t fooled me with their story I would have expected they’d at least pretend that they were able to do anything than quote manuals ( incorrectly ) 
to me.
PPS Anthony’s managers You have no fucking brains. Seriously what the hell makes it in your interest to deny a reasonable request ( key replacement at cost) based on your erroneous manual which some telephone dick told me to go read and understand. What happened to, ah I see that’s in error , let me find out rather than being a total cock about it?
an Inconvenient access truth. More about mini cooper s FOB :
First they tell me to read the manual, you know cos I’m not as cute,or as fast, as a Mini and am more likely to be in error. Well let’s look around page 24-25 ( close to it)
Is there any doubt here that the car should not start when the key is not in the car, when the key is five feet away from the car? Well the helpline , I eventually got to a manager, and asked them to consider that they could be owe me a new key / serious price break on the $300 item because their car is not working as stated.
That was a few days ago.
An interesting time with the Mini Cooper’s “convenience” key
The last car we bought was a Mini Cooper S which I see as the car that makes up for all the regular Minis I drove,you know the ones with a fixed L shaped seat, rusting sills, 10” wheels sliding mirrors, no heater worth a damn etc.
The “new” car ,a 2007 Cooper S, came with a remote key and what’s called a convenience feature in which you do not have to put your key into the slot to start it. E.G.,It can stay in your pocket , your bag or attached to a purse.
Common belief is that the car won’t start without the key being inside the car. Sadly , as we found out this weekend, that is not the case. My wife left her purse atop the pump, got in , door closed, started car and drove off. ( ended up having to get a ride then break into the house)
The car gave zero warning that key wasn’t within the car and 20 miles later, car turned off and couldn’t start it again.
No keys , no movement , no nothing! This is not the behavior I want from a car so I called the local Mini dealer, 2 days after they failed to return my wife’s call , to find out what the parameters of the keyless start are. I also sent a note to Mini asking the same.
So far nothing from Mini and an unhelpful “you’re the only one in 3000-4000 customers to have this problem.” from the dealer and an offer to look at it which I will have to take them up on.
I really want to know why the car wont let you lock it with the key inside, assumption that it knows where the key is in relation to the car, yet will let it drive off without one being present. Surely that’s not that hard a question for the people that sell it/ make it?
Couple that to the Airbag system that can be harmed just by moving your seat back and it looks like the LUCAS lord of darkness joke re the state of UK auto electrical systems has jumped over into the BMW made Mini.
