NHTSA Complaint #10424357 — 2007 MINI COOPER S

I ALMOST HAD A TIMING CHAIN/TENSIONER FAILURE. TOOK MY '07 MCS INTO THE MINI DEALER FOR ITS 4 YEAR SERVICE. THEY FOUND THAT THE 'TIMING CHAIN TENSIONER IS WEAK AND NEEDS TO BE REPLACED' OR 'TENSIONER WORN AND CAUSING EXCESSIVE CHAIN SLACK AND CHAIN NOISE'. I BOUGHT MY MINI NEW, IT NOW HAS 35464 MILES AND THIS SHOULD FALL INTO THE CATEGORY AS 'UNUSUAL'. THIS SHOULD NOT BE A PART THAT WEARS OUT OR SUFFERS FAILURE WITH SO FEW MILES. AS I CHECKED OUT THIS FAILURE ON THE WEB I QUICKLY FOUND OUT THAT THIS IS NOT UNUSUAL BUT IS HAPPENING QUITE FREQUENTLY. I MISSED THIS BEING COVERED UNDER THE WARRANTY BY 2 WEEKS. MY LOSE? MAYBE; MAYBE NOT, AT LEAST I DID NOT DESTROY THE ENGINE. ACCORDING TO THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT PAPERWORK THEY REPLACED THE CHAIN TENSIONER WITH AN UPDATED 551 TENSIONER, P/N: 11 31 7 607 551, @ $26.21 ($146 FOR INSTALLATION). IT APPEARS THAT MINI/BMW KNOWS ABOUT THE PROBLEM AND REDESIGNED THE PART TO PREVENT PROBLEMS IN THE FUTURE, HOPEFULLY. IF THIS IS TRUE WHY DON'T THEY RECALL THE CARS AND JUST TAKE CARE OF IT. HAD I HAD THE BAD LUCK OF DESTROYING THE ENGINE MY OPINION ON ALL THEIR PRODUCTS WOULD HAVE DRASTICALLY CHANGED. I ALSO OWN A '11 BMW 335XI. *TR