FIAT Complaints

MY ELECTRIC FIAT 500E (2014) USED TO BE AMAZING. THEN FIAT MADE ME GO TO A DEALER TO GET A SOFTWARE UPDATE AS PART OF A RECALL. I GOT THE SOFTWARE UPDATE IN NOVEMBER 2018. EVER SINCE THEN, WHILE I'M DRIVING, THE AMOUNT OF MILES REMAINING ON MY ELECTRIC BATTERY DROPS BY AS MUCH AS 15 PERCENT SUDDENLY, ACCORDING TO MY DASHBOARD NUMBERS. IN OTHER WORDS, I'LL BE ON THE HIGHWAY DRIVING 65 MPH, AND SUDDENLY MY CAR WILL TELL ME I AM ALMOST OUT OF ELECTRIC POWER WHICH MEANS MY CAR MIGHT SUDDENLY STOP ON THE HIGHWAY AND GET HIT BY OTHER CARS. I HAVE TALKED TO THE FIAT DEALERSHIP WHICH PERFORMED THE UPDATE. THEY SAID THEY CAN'T HELP. I HAVE TALKED TO THE CHRYSLER FIAT RECALL DIVISION WHICH FORCED ME TO GET THIS SOFTWARE UPDATE WHICH HAS RUINED MY FIAT AND ENDANGERS MY LIFE. I HAVE TALKED WITH THEM FOUR TIMES ON THE PHONE. THEY PRANKED ME BY TELLING ME TO CALL BACK ANOTHER TIME AND TALK TO A 'LEVEL 1' REPRESENTATIVE. A LEVEL 1 REPRESENTATIVE, I FOUND OUT, IS ANYONE WHO ANDWERS THE PHONE AND THOSE WORKERS SAY THEY CANNOT HELP ME AND I MIGHT AS WELL KEEP DRIVING THIS DEATH TRAP CAR. I ASKED IF I COULD HAVE THE SOFTWARE UPDATE REVERSED. THEY SAID NO. I ASKED IF THEY COULD LOOK AT MY CAR BATTERY. THEY SAID NO. THEY FORCED THIS WORSENING OF MY CAR ON ME AND NOW I HAVE NO RECOURSE BUT TO KEEP DRIVING IT AND WAIT TO DIE IN IT. I GUESS? COULD YOU PLEASE LOOK INTO THIS. THANK YOU.

VEHICLE SHIFTS ROUGHLY WHEN IN MOTION, WHEN STARTING OUT AND ALSO WHILE DRIVING. SOMETIMES IT DOES IT WHEN I START TO SLOW DOWN AND THEN SPEED BACK UP. I HAVE NOTIFIED THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT AND THEY SAY THEY CAN'T FIND A PROBLEM.

THE CHECK AIRBAG LIGHT COMES ON EVERY 300-500 MILES & DISAPPEARS AFTER ABOUT 200-400 MILES. THE DEALER CANNOT FIGURE OUT THE ISSUE. WE ARE NOT SURE IF THE AIRBAG WILL PROPERLY DEPLOY IN THE INSTANCE OF AN ACCIDENT.

MY VEHICLE IS EXPERIENCING THE EXACT PROBLEM DESCRIBED IN RECALL 16V302000 SO I CONTACTED FIAT. THEY WILL NOT REPAIR THE TRANSMISSION BECAUSE MY VIN IS NOT REGISTERED AS AN EFFECTED VEHICLE. I HAVE ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION RUN INTO PROBLEMS SHIFTING, THE CAR WOULD PHYSICALLY NOT GO INTO GEAR UNTIL A DOWNSHIFT FIRST OCCURRED. THIS HAS CAUSED DRASTIC SLOWDOWNS WHILE DRIVING IN TRAFFIC.

RADIO AND OTHER ELECTRONICS WENT BLANK, WE CAME TO LOCAL DEALER TO FIX IT. THEY CHANGED IT AND IT STILL NOT WORKING,VERY WENT BACK THEY CHANGED IT AGAIN, STILL NOT WORKING, MADE 3 RD APPOINTMENT TO FIVE IT, LOOSING A FAITH THAT THEY EVER WILL FIX IT RIGHT.

CAR CONTINUES TO HAVE PROBLEMS 3/2/15 CAR STALLED MONTHS FOLLOWING PURCHASE OF THE CAR NEW TOLD IT WAS A ISSUE WITH THE COLD TEMPS AND BATTERY WAS NOT SWAPPED UPON ARRIVAL IN US. MONTHS LATER 11/17/15 THE CALL BEGAN TO STALL AGAIN IN HEAVY TRAFFIC AND TOLD A RECALL WAS ISSUED AND HE CAR NEEDED TO BE UPDATED AND IT WILL CORRECT THE ISSUE. CAR IMMEDIATELY STARTED TO STALL 12/17/15 AND BACK IN THE SHOP DID NOT IDENTIFY ISSUE UNTIL 12/26/15 AND TOLD THE ISSUE WAS CONTROL MODULE 9/9/17 CAR STARTED TO STALL AGAIN DID NOT IDENTIFY ISSUE. 10/26/17 STALLING AGAIN DID NOT IDENTIFY ISSUE BE BELIEVE DEALER HAD RECALL. DECEMBER 2018 CALL STALLING ISSUES OCCURRED MORE FREQUENTLY AND IN JANUARY CODE STATED CONTROL MODULE WAS FAILING AGAIN. 6/1/2018 COMPLAINED TO FIAT ABOUT INEXPERIENCED SERVICE TECHS. 11/2/18 CAR BROUGHT TO DEALER FOR SERVICE, ROTATION AND INSPECTION CHECKS. 12/7/18 CAR IS NOT DRIVING PROPERLY LEARNED TODAY ONE BRAKE PAD OF ALL INSTALLED WORN DOWN COMPLETELY WHILE OTHERS ARE AT 10. VERY CONCERN WITH ONLY 26K MILES ON CAR FIAT LACK OF RESPONSE TO CONSUMER TO RESOLVE THE CAR CONCERNS. SERVICE ADVISOR INFORMED ME THE TECH DECIDED THE TIRES DID NOT ROTATE TIRES WHICH CAUSED THE BRAKE INSPECTION TO BE OVERLOOKED. VERY CONCERN CONSUMERS PAY FOR ADDITIONAL SERVICE FIAT DOES NOT PERFORM AND BRAKE ISSUE COULD HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AND NOW 6 DAYS OUT OF WARRANTY. CONSUMER FOOT THE BILL.

WHILE DRIVING AND SLOWING TO A STOP THE TRANSMISSION WILL SHIFT INTO 1ST EARLY CREATING A JUMP OR SURGE WHILE SLOWING. THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THIS FROM OCCURRING IS TO SWITCH TO MANUAL SHIFTING AND DOWN SHIFT MANUALLY WHEN ALMOST TO A COMPLETE STOP.

MY HEADLIGHTS WERE INTERMITTENTLY FAILING TO TURN OFF, DRAINING THE BATTERY AND CAUSING THE NEED TO JUMP THE VEHICLE 3 TIMES OVER A COUPLE OF MONTHS. I TOOK THE VEHICLE TO A LOCAL SHOP (BILL SMITH) AND IT WAS FOUND TO BE WORKING PROPERLY, NO PROBLEMS WERE FOUND WITH THE BODY CONTROL MODULE OR ANY OTHER SYSTEM. THEN NEXT WEEK I TOOK THE VEHICLE IN FOR A RECALL TO REPROGRAM POWER CONTROL MODULE AND THIS CAUSED THE HEADLIGHTS TO STAY ON PERMANENTLY, CONSTANTLY DRAINING THE BATTERY. THE DEALER (BOB BAKER CARLSBAD) REFUSED TO FIX THE PROBLEM OR EVEN RE-DO THE RECALL PROGRAMMING OR DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM. SUBSEQUENTLY ANOTHER DEALER (JACK POWELL) FOUND THAT AFTER THE RECALL WORK THE BODY CONTROL MODULE WAS NOW DAMAGED. THIS PROBLEM WAS CAUSED OR WORSENED BY THE RECALL WORK AND THE BOB BAKER REFUSED ANY ASSISTANCE TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE THEY CAUSED.

VEHICLE HAS A DEFECTIVE INTERMEDIATE STEERING SHAFT. THIS PART WAS ALREADY REPLACED ONCE UNDER WARRANTY WITH FIAT ADMITTING THAT THE PART IS DEFECTIVE/SUBSTANDARD FOR PURPOSE IT FILLS IN THE CARS STEERING FUNCTIONALITY. AFTER A PERIOD OF TIME (APPX 3 YEARS OR 36K MILES) IT STARTS MAKING A CLUNK WHEN TURNING AT SLOW SPEEDS. IF LEFT UNREPAIRED IT WILL RESULT IN LOSS OF STEERING CONTROL WHEN VEHICLE IS IN OPERATION. APPROXIMATE COST OF REPAIR IS $500 FOR PARTS AND LABOR. WHEN CONTACTING FIAT ABOUT THIS CONCERN AND THAT IT WAS REPLACED UNDER WARRANTY ONCE FOR BEING FAULTY I WAS TOLD THAT MY WARRANTY WAS EXPIRED AND IT WAS MY BURDEN TO REPLACE THE DEFECTIVE PART. NEW PART ONLY CARRIES A 1 YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY. THIS PROBLEM MAINLY OCCURS AT SLOW SPEEDS WHEN MAKING FULL TURNS HOWEVER IT COULD FAIL AT HIGH SPEED LEAVING DRIVER WITH NO VEHICLE CONTROL.

THE VEHICLE'S FUEL TANK IS NO LONGER ABLE TO ACCEPT FUEL PROPERLY FROM ANY GAS STATION DUE TO A DEFECT IN THE FUEL TANK'S ROLLOVER PROTECTION VALVE. AFTER A WEEKS WORTH OF TESTING THE DEALERSHIP ADVISED ME THAT THE CORRECT COURSE OF ACTION IS TO REPLACE THE WHOLE FUEL TANK AS THE PART IS INTEGRAL TO THE TANK. FIAT ADMITS THAT THERE IS A FAULT WITH THE TANK AND THEREFORE IT SHOULD BE A RECALL DUE TO FAULTY DESIGN RATHER THAN A CONSUMER BURDEN TO REPAIR AND REPLACE. I HAVE READ THAT THIS IS A COMMON ISSUE AMONGST THE 2012-2013 YEAR MODELS WITH MULTIPLE INCIDENTS OF OWNERS HAVING TO REPLACE THE FUEL TANK FOR THE PROBLEM TO ONLY RE-OCCUR AGAIN IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. THE VEHICLE IS STATIONARY WHEN THIS HAPPENS WITH THE MOTOR SHUT OFF AND FUEL CAP OPEN TO ACCEPT FUEL. ESTIMATED COST OF REPAIR IS $2,000 WHICH IS ABOUT 1/3 OF VEHICLES COST DUE TO DEPRECIATION.