Mini Cooper recalling about 35000 cars

According to the British automaker, the vehicles do not meet the crash test requirements, potentially causing a higher risk of injury to rear seat passengers in the case of an accident. NHTSA documents indicate that the models involved in the recall weren’t built with enough material to reduce the effect of side-impact collisions.

BMW has issued a recall for select MINI vehicles from the 2014 and 2015 model years.

In January 2015, MINI Cooper Hardtops were recalled for the identical problem.

The flaw poses a hazard to rear-seat passengers. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 214, “Side Impact Protection”.

Mini is recalling about 35,000 cars in the U.S. and Canada because they don’t meet side-impact crash-test requirements. Owners of these models will be notified by MINI and the company’s dealers will be installing the additional energy absorption material, between the rear seat interior side panels and the exterior body, free of charge. Note: this recall supersedes 14V-815.

This is an expansion of a December 23, 2014, Mini recall involving 3,085 2014 Mini Cooper Hardtop 2 Door cars for the same problem.

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.