2015 Fiat 500

The quality of the exterior door handle is an issue. My passenger side door handle has snapped completely off and my drivers side door handle has partially broken, but still functions. The rear door hatch also stopped working. The arm rests both broke rather easily as well. My last car was a 2013 fiat 500 pop and the exterior door handles both broke, the rear latch stopped working, and both arm rests broke. I live in Iowa and it gets extremely cold, but I'm unsure if that's related. I have not been aggressive with any of these parts so I don't know what the issue is.

In March 2023 my wife was driving our Fiat 500 on the freeway and the sunroof exploded with a loud bang. Small pieces of glass shattered everywhere and fell all over here. The sound and glass caused her to swerve, luckily no other cars were around. We got insurance involved and sent the car to a body shop to get fixed. No one really knew what caused the problem, though they all suspected a pebble. There was no other evidence to suggest a pebble. In August 2023 when entering the freeway (speed was less than 45 mph) the sunroof exploded again with a loud bang. My wife and I were both in the car. Once again we got insurance involved and the car was sent to a different body shop. The body shop did not find and evidence that a rock or pebble did the damage and were not sure how it could have been caused. This is our family car and we need to drive it daily. It puts everyone’s safety at risk when driving since the shock of falling glass and the sound of the sunroof exploding can cause knee jerk reactions. Therefore, not only is our safety at risk but also the other drivers were we to swerve unintentionally into someone. This happened twice in a span of 6 months.

Bought the vehicle used and it had zero issues. I bought 4 new tires and immediately after the RBS and ESC warning lights appeared but disappeared one day later. Fives days after the new tires the RBS & ESC warning lights reappeared but remained. I took it to the FIAT Dealership for a diagnostic and they stated that after following the flow chart it states to replace ABS Module due to internal failure. I held off on replacing the ABS module because a separate mechanic stated that it’s common with Fiats for the RBS & ECA warnings to appear after changing all tires. One month later the BRAKE warning light turned on (without the emergency brake in use) and the car began to jerk when in drive or when using the brakes (as I was driving). I had to drive slow with little pressure on the gas so that I would not have to use the brakes as every time I did the car would jerk very roughly and felt as if it was going to break.

Fiat made their 500e vehicles (electric) and sold them off as a tax relief. Unfortunately, many who have purchased this vehicles are experiencing similar issues. The car dies and the main battery is dead (not the small battery that you can replace/charge - the big one). Upon calling Fiat, they said it was covered under warranty - BUT- there is one part that is crucial to the install and the part costs $7,000. Our car is not worth 7k. We bought it for 10k four years ago and it has depreciated value. When we appealed with Fiat - they would not budge. We filed a claim for loss damages and it goes denied - twice. This is a known problem - many insurance companies and mechanics do not know how to process electric vehicles.

BEGAN LOSING CLUTCH, CLUTCH/BRAKE ASSEMBLY HAD THE 2 CONNECTING BOLTS BROKEN IN HALF. HAVE PICTURES. CLUTCH INTERLOCK ARRIVED BAD, BYPASSED IT; NOW THE POWER STEERING, ENGINE LIGHT AND EOS LIGHTS STAY ON. CAR ENGINE DIED THEN CRANKED UP ON ITS OWN WHILE DRIVING 60MPH STATING HIGH TEMP (PULL OVER, TURN ENGINE OFF) - HAD BEEN IN THE CAR LESS THAN 1 MINUTE, JUST LONG ENOUGH TO GET TO 60 ON THE HIGHWAY. NOW CLUTCH INTERLOCK, AND BRAKE INTERLOCK MUST BE REPLACED.

I WAS DRIVING A TOTAL OF 4 AND A HALF HOURS BACK HOME FROM A TRIP. MOST OF THE TRIP WAS VIA STRAIGHT FREEWAY. I WAS 2 HOURS IN WHEN THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT STARTED BLINKING. I CALLED MY DAD WHO SAID TO PULL OVER IMMEDIATELY. I LET MY CAR GLIDE THROUGH THE EXIT THAT WAS COMING UP AND I NOTICED SMOKE FLOWING BEHIND MY CAR. I PULLED OVER AND GOT OUT TO SEE SMOKE COMING OUT OF THE HOOD. I OPENED THE HOOD AND DISCUSSED WHAT WAS HAPPENING WITH MY DAD. ALL OF A SUDDEN I HEARD A NOISE THAT SOUNDED LIKE A BLOW TORCH AND FLAMES CAME UP OUT OF THE ENGINE. I RAN ABOUT 50-100 METERS AWAY AND CALLED 911. QUICKLY, THE WHOLE HOOD WAS ON FIRE. THANKFULLY THE FIRE DEPARTMENT MUST HAVE BEEN CLOSE BY BECAUSE THEY WERE ABLE TO PUT OUT THE FIRE BEFORE IT GOT TOO FAR INSIDE THE CAR. THE WINDSHIELD MELTED AND SHATTERED. I FOUND GLASS STUCK ON MY PURSE AND HAT SITTING IN THE PASSENGER SEAT. I HAD TO THROW THEM AWAY AS I COULD NOT GET THE GLASS OFF. THE CAR WAS TAKEN TO A TOW YARD WHERE MY INSURANCE COMPANY INSPECTED IT. THEY COULD NOT FIND THE CAUSE FOR THE DAMAGE. SINCE THE CAR WAS A 2015 MODEL THAT I HAD PURCHASED NEW AND IT WAS 2018, I THOUGHT IT WAS STRANGE THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN SO I HAD FIAT PICK UP THE VEHICLE AND INSPECT IT. THEY SAID THEY DID NOT FIND THAT THE FIRE WAS ASSOCIATED WITH MANUFACTURING OR ASSEMBLY ERROR. I THEN HAD MY INSURANCE COMPANY TAKE IT AND CLOSE THE CLAIM. STILL FIND IT STRANGE THAT A 3 YEAR OLD CAR SUDDENLY CAUGHT ON FIRE WITH NO WARNING. I'M GLAD I WAS ABLE TO MOVE OFF TO THE SIDE AND THAT I WASN'T IN THE CAR WHEN IT CAUGHT ON FIRE FULLY. THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE THOUGH IS STILL UNKNOWN. *TR

I BEN RECEIVING A RECALL NOTICE SINCE FEBRUARY OF 2016 AND BEEN CONTACTING MY DEALER FOR MY FIAT TO GET CHECKED EVER SINCE AND THEY KEEP TELLING ME THEIRS NO PARTS AVAILABLE. I HAVE RECENTLY CONTACTED THEM FOR THE PAST 3 MONTHS TO GET MY CLUTCH FIXED AS ITS BEEN JUMPING TO NEUTRAL WHEN I'M ON THE FREEWAY GOING 65-70 MILES PER HOUR AND I DON'T FEEL SAFE. ALL I HAVE RECEIVED FROM THEM IS NO PARTS AVAILABLE AND IF I WOULD LIKE I CAN TRADE MY CAR WITH $5000 DOWN. ONE I DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF MONEY AND TWO I DON'T FEEL SAFE ON THE VEHICLE. I EVEN CONTACTED MY FINANCE TO GET HELP BUT THEY COULDN'T DO MUCH ABOUT IT. PLEASE HELP!

I HAVE TAKEN MY CAR TO A DEALERSHIP BECAUSE THE CLUTCH STOPPED WORKING. MY CAR IS STILL UNDER WARRANTY. AFTER MY CAR WAS TAKEN TO A DEALERSHIP, THEY TOLD ME THERE HAS BEEN A RECALL ON MY CAR INVOLVING CLUTCH AND THAT THEY WILL REPLACED IT. THEY ALSO SAID IT WILL BE COVERED UNDER THE WARRANTY. THE NEXT DAY THEY CALLED ME AND TOLD ME THAT THE CAR IS STILL NOT WORKING BECAUSE THE PRESSURE PLATE IS WORN OUT AND NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. HOWEVER, THEY SAID PRESSURE PLATE IS NOT COVERED UNDER THE WARRANTY AND I WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS PART PLUS LABOR. I ASKED CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE IF IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE PRESSURE PLATE DAMAGE WAS CAUSED BY THE RECALLED CLUTCH AND HE STATED NO, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE. (I BOUGHT A BRAND NEW CAR 1 YEAR AND 4 MONTH AGO AND ONLY HAS 24,000 MILES). I ASKED FOR A WRITTEN LETTER STATING THAT THE PRESSURE PLATE DAMAGE COULDN'T HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY THE RECALLED CLUTCH AND THEY REFUSED TO PROVIDE ME WITH ANYTHING IN WRITING. AFTER RESEARCHING ABOUT THE RECALL, IT APPEARS TO ME THAT THE 2 RECALLED PARTS ARE DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO A PRESSURE PLATE AND THEREFORE, COULD AFFECTED PRESSURE PLATE. I AM SEEKING HELP IN MAKING FIAT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE RECALL. I HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL TO GET ANY STRAIGHT ANSWERS FROM THEM. FURTHERMORE, THEY NEVER SENT ME A RECALLED NOTICE AND IF MY CAR HASN'T BROKEN DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD I WOULD NOT HAVE EVEN KNOWN ABOUT THE RECALL. I WILL ATTACH REPAIR INFORMATION. THE CAR BROKE DOWN WHILE MY HUSBAND WAS DRIVING. HE WAS UNABLE TO PRESS ON THE CLUTCH OR SHIFT GEARS AND HAD TO PHYSICALLY PUSH THE CAR OF THE ROAD.