Battery Problems, More Than 12,000 Mini Cooper SE Units Affected By Recall

Mini Cooper SE. (Doc. BMW Group)

JAKARTA - The well-known auto brand from England, Mini announced the recall of 12,500 units involving Cooper SE electric vehicles because they have high voltage batteries that can cause short circuits and catch fire.

Quoted from Carscoops, Thursday, August 29, the manufacturer said that the battery system error was caused by excessive heat, both on and on, the vehicle was turned off.

However, it is also mentioned that this is not a common problem and the document states that the error could be caused by several factors.

BMW Group as the parent company was notified of the potential in October 2023, when a Cooper SE caught fire in the United States (US). Then in January, a similar model caught fire in Germany and an analysis of the technique of identifying insulating errors in batteries.

Due to the ongoing problems, the company decided to conduct further investigations between April and July before deciding to start the recall program on August 8.

During the start of the investigation stage, BMW Group found no reports of accidents, injuries, or deaths related to this matter.

The vehicles affected as a whole are 12,535 units involving Mini Cooper SE 2-door Hardtop from the 2020-2024 production model which is assembled from March 21, 2019 to January 25, 2024.

The owner of the affected vehicle will be notified of a recall starting next October. The brand said the problem could be resolved with technicians needing to update the software system only.

The update will include a diagnostic function, which detects malfunctions in high-voltage batteries and can automatically empty battery power to below 30 percent as a precaution.