passenger airbag permanently disabled. no seatbelt warning

From Car and Driver, 4/21/15: "According to filings with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, BMW is recalling 91,800 cars, specifically the 2005–2006 Cooper and Cooper S hardtops, plus convertible models from 2005–2008. The weight sensor in the front passenger seat that determines whether to deactivate the airbag when a child is seated, or if the seat is unoccupied, can crack over time. This can cause the frontal airbag to become permanently deactivated at all times. BMW has recalled more than 276,000 cars for this problem starting in 2008 and later in 2013. It also extended the warranty to 10 years and unlimited miles on certain affected vehicles."

Evidently they need to include model year 2010 in this recall; it's a repair costing over $1000. Perhaps BMW has already forgotten the class action suit where they recalled BMW water pumps but not the same ones on the MINI's. $500.00 per claim.

Update from Jun 7, 2017: While the seat sensor pad for the airbags has not been recalled, MINI has extended the warranty on them. At this time, the sensor pads are back-ordered, but I have been assured that all airbags will deploy if there is an accident. This is an acceptable solution; the dealer also listed two other parts for which the warranties have been extended.