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2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop problems, recalls and owner complaints
What the 2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop has been recalled for, how often it fails the UK MOT and what owners report, from official government data. Updated October 25, 2026.
- 0safety recalls
- 7owner complaints
- 1crash report
- 1fire report
- 6%fail the UK MOT
7 complaints, against an average of 35 for the other 12 Mini Cooper Hardtop model years.
Every Mini Cooper Hardtop model year with its number of owner complaints. Pick a year to compare.
What goes wrong with the 2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop?
The components named most often in the 7 owner complaints. One complaint can name several, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
Has the 2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop been recalled?
NHTSA lists no safety recalls for the 2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop as of October 25, 2026. Recalls can be issued at any time, so check your VIN before you rely on this.
How often does the 2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop fail its MOT?
Why they failed: the share of failed tests with at least one fault in each area (a test can fail on several). Cars first registered in 2021, tested in Great Britain in 2023; first registration is usually, but not always, the model year. Source: DVSA anonymised MOT tests and results, Open Government Licence v3.0.
What do 2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop owners report?
7 of the 7 complaints, the most recent for the most-reported components, as the owners wrote them. NHTSA removes names and VINs; long reports are trimmed. CarHooq has not verified individual claims.
No incident occurred. On October 18th we received a high voltage battery recall notice for this car. Apparently there were some thermal events (fires) and BMW has released software to help protect the car from such an event. We have been trying to get in touch with MINI, and just recently found that the dealer closed. They left their answering machine online for about a month after. The local BMW dealer says that they cannot perform the update (MINI USA requested we ask them). MINI USA now says that the car must be trucked 300 miles away to the closest dealer. The car cannot even be driven…
Digital instrument cluster of electric Mini SE (includes speedometer and battery/range information) turns off without warning while driving and does not turn back on until car is powered down for over half an hour. This has happened more than ten times. Vehicle was inspected by MINI dealer locally and no obvious equipment defect was identified, although they were able to replicate it happening. After disassembly and reassembly by dealer, issue stopped for about two weeks after car was returned to owner. Now it has begun again, to the point of turning off within a few minutes of driving every…
The car completely lost steering in traffic. I brought it back to the Mini dealership, they informed me this is a known issue for Mini Coopers equipped with the click-and-play system, and they needed to re-wire the click-and-play to fix it. However Mini decided this should not be a recall. I strongly disagree with Mini's assessment considering losing steering on the road could cause severe accidents.
After work, I started the car in a parking lot. Before leaving, a fire started under the hood behind the passenger side headlight. After using the jaws of life to take off the hood, the fire department contained the fire. No injuries. There was extensive damage to the right front. The contents were all smoke damaged. Neighboring cars were not damaged. The car has been totaled.
On October 4, 2022, the Mini Cooper hardtop 4 door was hit in a head-on collision by a driver who was going at least 40 MPH, possibly more. The car that hit the Cooper was a Toyota Prius. All the Prious' airbags deployed. No airbags deployed on the Mini Cooper hardtop 4 door. None. The Mini Cooper, after assessment, was considered to be a total loss.
Tire model is: Hankook Ventus S1 Evo Z 225/35R18 87Y. Failure started when vehicle turned the "CHECK TIRE PRESSURE" alert on while driving. Pressure started to drop from 32 lbs to 16 lbs in about 15 minutes. Worth to note: no pot hole or any other object was hit during the day of the incident; or even previous days. After stopping, I noticed that the failure occurred in the inner face of the tire. Inner face was pretty degraded and inner treads were visible. A 15 inch long breakage line was visible. Car has 18k miles on it. When comparing the tire that failed to the rest, its degradation was…
The night of October 24th, while I was driving my CID back screen went to black and there were messages displayed in white color. Bootloader 11.035.000/ FFW 1.8.3 Dec 5 2017 Next line is displayed HWEL:42E5 2.1.5 Followed by a large white bar This display stays on even after lock the car. The morning of October 25th, There are warnings came on “ Battery discharged start engine” and “Increased Battery drain while stopped” After a while, I’ve noticed the instrument panel light were off. I had a day time running lights on, but lights weren’t on, only the fog lights. And when I unlock and lock the…
2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop: questions owners ask
Is the 2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop reliable?
NHTSA data alone cannot rate reliability, but it shows what owners reported. Owners filed 7 complaints with NHTSA about the 2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop; the most common categories were electrical system (3, 42.9%), air bags (1, 14.3%), fuel/propulsion system (1, 14.3%). There are no safety recalls listed for this model year. 1 complaint mentions a crash, 1 mentions a fire, 2 injuries were reported.
What are the most common problems with the 2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop?
Across 7 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the categories mentioned most often are electrical system (42.9% of complaints), air bags (14.3% of complaints), fuel/propulsion system (14.3% of complaints), steering (14.3% of complaints), tires (14.3% of complaints). One complaint can name several components.
Does the 2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop have any recalls?
As of October 2026, NHTSA lists no safety recalls for the 2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop. Recalls can be issued at any time, so check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Check your own Cooper Hardtop
Counts are a starting point, not a verdict: popular models collect more complaints because more of them are on the road, and NHTSA does not verify individual reports. To see whether a recall is still open on your car, enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls (U.S.) or your registration at check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk (UK). Had a safety problem? Report it to NHTSA; complaints are what trigger investigations and recalls.
Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation recall and complaint databases (public domain), DVSA anonymised MOT results (Open Government Licence v3.0), retrieved October 25, 2026. Model year 2021 only; combines NHTSA's entries for HARDTOP 2DR and HARDTOP 4DR.