ALFA ROMEO Complaints

When leaving to go to work, I pressed the button on the gear shift to put the car into reverse and then drive. I heard something click into the cupholders as I drove. It was the gear shift button. The plastic actuator button fell off completely. It would not fit back in. I think the plastic broke. I continued to drive to work, but when I got to work, I could not put the car into reverse. I was able to pull into a space, and put it in Park (which is a different button on top of the gear shift). When I returned to my car, it was impossible to move the car out of park. Manually putting the button back on, or taping it into position did not work. There was no override (I called the dealer to verify what I should do). Trying with my fingers to push the keypad inside did not work. I had to have the car towed to the dealer. The tow truck driver had difficulty also, as he could not put it into Neutral to avoid damage. There is a bolt on the transmission underneath to take it out of gear, but the dealer said that requires a special aftermarket tool, not provided with the vehicle. It was impossible to get the car out of park by trying to insert fingers or other objects into the hole where the button had been. This was literally a walk home scenario. With this plastic button broken - the car was stuck in a parking garage in park indefinitely. Only the tow truck driver's persistence of jamming different kinds of objects into the gear shift for over 35 min allowed him to finally be able to activate the switch with the button missing. It's at the dealer now, but I was basically stranded with no ways to override this and get the car in gear. This seems like a concern (and a fairly simple root cause to solve with a more robust button - or a minimum some kind of accessible alternative method to get out of park)

Engine recently began making a loud ticking sound, that everyone who heard it asked, "What's wrong with your car?" I purchased the vehicle new 5.5 years ago and it presently has 38,475 miles on it. The dealer determined the noise was due to a loose oil pump bolt under the timing cover. It was a 10.5 hour repair to remove a bolt and reapply lock-tite to it and then reinstall. Had the repair not been performed the bolt could have vibrated all the way out and caused internal damage to the engine, which I believe is a safety issue. The repair cost was $1,813.68. Per the dealer this was the first Giulia model that they had to service for this issue, but they had serviced several Stelvio models that were newer but shared the same engine. In today's automotive market such repairs should not be necessary on a vehicle with low mileage. The brand offers a 4 year / 50,000 mile warranty, but not a separate powertrain warranty. In hindsight, it appears the brand does not have a great deal of confidence in the durability of the powertrains it builds.

My BCM was shorted out from water damage from outside the car. The dealer says he can't repair it under warranty because Alfa Romeo will not authorize him to. I have to pay 1200 out of pocket for something that should be covered by warranty. The car will start, but the front headlights won't go out, the turn signals won't work, brake lights don't work right. Check engine light comes off and several functions are disabled. I'm not sure the backup camera, blindspot monitoring are working correctly.

On August 18, 2022, I was driving the vehicle at a speed of approximately 45 mph when the vehicle motor suddenly and without any prior warning completely shut down. Several warning lights appeared immediately but none prior to the shutdown. I was driving in moderately heavy traffic and had to coast to a spot off the shoulder of the road. This was a dangerous situation and if I had been in heavier higher speed traffic, this would have been a very risky safety situation since I had no power whatsoever to control the vehicle movement. The vehicle would not restart and had to be towed to a repair shop. The problem was with the Fuel Pump Control Module which had to be replaced along with replacing the fuel pump. The manufacturer had previously issued a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) concerning this but had not issued a recall. I was unaware of the TSB. The manufacturer was obviously aware of issues with the Fuel Pump Control Module but did not issue a recall for vehicles. The TSB was for cars produced prior to August of 2017 and my car was produced in May of 2017.

Sensor went off that Electronic Throttle Control needs service. Engine shut off and went into safety mode while on the road and in traffic. Could have resulted in collision. Took car in for service.

Water discharge on the passenger side whenever the AC is switched on and the car is driving. The water leak led to electrical malfunction with electrical lights switching on even when the car is switched off or the lights switching off when the car is in motion. The water on the passenger side was a nuisance for a long time but when the electrical system went haywire, it became a safety risk especially during night driving when the lights may switch off abruptly. The water leak incident was first reported to the dealership on March 6th, 2021. We did not drive the car around much in the year due to covid. We subsequently reported the problem to dealership in March and May of 2022 (start of the summer months). The water leak continued to happen and we ignored it for a while until Aug 6th 2022 when we took a long trip and the passenger side was completely soaked. The electrical malfunction started happening sometime after. Eventually, on Sept 6th 2022, the car battery died as the lights were running throughout the night. The water leak incident has been looked by dealership and they did found dampness on the passenger side but could not recreate the issue. The car has been with dealership since Sept 7th 2022 for them to check for electrical and water leak issue. The videos of the incidents could be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/plin71ez82sflh3/AADR4qOJ744_dtoInw0y108Ha?dl=0

It is impossible to adjust the headlights so as not to blind oncoming drivers. Some are forced to pull over. This is an ongoing issue, which the dealer says is due to faulty design and cannot be fixed.

The airbag light keeps flashing over and over like it was in an accident but the car is brand new

* The engine parts melted, yes; its available for inspection at the dealership. * I could have crashed into others from the heavy smoke that blinded my sight, my family and i could have burned up or gotten blown up. * UNKNOWN * NO * NO

The contact owns a 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia. The contact stated while on vacation driving 70 MPH, the vehicle started shaking and lost motive power. The check engine warning light illuminated. The contact was able to veer to the side of the road. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed however, no issues were found. The vehicle software was reset; however, the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who informed the contact that the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The contact notified a second dealer, Harper Alfa Romeo (10045 Parkside Dr, Knoxville, TN 37922) who informed him that the VIN was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V878000 (Fuel System, Gasoline). The second dealer ordered the parts from the manufacturer. Upon returning from vacation, the contact followed up with the manufacturer regarding the shipment of parts. The manufacturer informed the contact the parts had been shipped to the first dealer located in Florida, where he was on vacation, 12 hours away from his residence. The manufacturer informed the contact that they could not resend parts to his local dealer in Tennessee and he would need to drive from Tennessee to Florida for the recall repair. The contact stated that the vehicle was not safe to drive to as it was experiencing a safety failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 9,000.