2016 Fiat 500X

ON JULY 20, 2019, MY 2016 FIAT 500X PARKED IN DRIVEWAY. PRESSED THE IGNITION BUTTON TO START AND NO START INSTEAD ALL THE WARNING LIGHTS STARTED FLASHING IN SEQUENCE. COOLANT TEMPT TOO HIGH! SERVICE TRANSMISSION! SERVICE AIRBAGS! SERVICE POWER STEERING! SERVICE ELECTRONIC PARK BRAKE! EVERY AMBER AND RED WARNING JUST CONTINUALLY REPEATS THE FLASHING SEQUENCE. OF COURSE, CAR DOES NOT RESPOND TO STARTING AND NO POWER BUTTONS RESPOND. NO ELECTRONIC BRAKE THE BATTERY IS GOOD. COOLANT IS NOT TOO HOT BECAUSE CAR HAS NOT BEEN STARTED/DRIVEN FOR 5 DAYS, SINCE JULY 15, 2019. TOTAL MILEAGE IS 10,005 MILES TO DATE! WILL HAVE TO TOW TO FIAT. AND BE AT THEIR MERCY.THIS CAR IS LIKE NEW. NOT EVEN DRIVEN EVERY. DAY. ## VIN PASSED ## ##

MY WIFE TOLD ME OF THIS HAPPENING TO HER AND I DIDN'T BELIEVE HER UNTIL IT HAPPENED TO ME. SO, I'M DRIVING DOWN NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS AT ABOUT 45 MPH, THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT, AND I GO TO CROSS AN INTERSECTION AND THE CAR LOSES ALL POWER WITH TRAFFIC HEADED TOWARDS ME. LUCKILY, IT REGAINED POWER A FEW SECONDS LATER, BUT I FEEL WE'VE JUST BEEN LUCKY SO FAR. MY WIFE HAS EXPERIENCED THIS SEVERAL TIMES, ON HIGHWAYS, NEIGHBORHOOD ROADS, ETC. AND I HAVE EXPERIENCED IT TWICE NOW. THE NEXT DAY, THE DRIVE MODE UNAVAILABLE MESSAGE CAME ON WHEN I STARTED THE VEHICLE AND WOULD NOT GO. TOOK IT TO THE DEALERSHIP THE FIRST TIME I EXPERIENCED IT AND WAS TOLD THE OLD UPDATE STORY. TOOK IT IN AGAIN AND THEY KEPT IT A WHOLE WEEK THE NEXT TIME AND COULDN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG THEY SAID. IT KEEPS HAPPENING, THE COMPUTER KEEPS TURNING OFF OUR DISPLAY, AND I BELIEVE THE ENGINE FAN MAY BE GOING OUT NOW. NOT A GOOD/QUALITY VEHICLE AT ALL AND I FEEL LIKE FIAT DOESN'T HAVE ANY ANSWERS FOR THE PROBLEMS AS WE KEEP BEING TOLD "UPDATES," YET IT CONTINUES HAPPENING.

VEHICLE UNEXPECTEDLY SHIFTS TO NEUTRAL, COULD HAPPEN WHILE IN MOTION (NO TURNS) AND ALSO WHILE TURNING, USUALLY ON A CITY STREET. IT COULD HAPPEN ONCE A MONTH, OR ONCE EVERY COUPLE OF MONTHS. HAVE TAKEN IT TO DEALERSHIP TWICE. AND PCM/TCM SHIFT WAS REPROGRAMMED (BUT IT DID NOT FIX THE ISSUE). I TOOK IT AGAIN AND THEY INSIST NOTHING CAN BE DONE BECAUSE THEY CANNOT REPLICATE THE PROBLEM. I TRIED EXPLAINING IT HAPPENS SPORADICALLY BUT I FEAR FOR MY LIFE BECAUSE IT HAS DONE IT WHILE TURNING AND HAVING TRAFFIC AGAINST ME. STILL NOTHING WAS DONE. IT STARTED SHORTLY AFTER I BOUGHT IT AND AT THE MOMENT I THOUGHT I RELEASED THE PEDAL BY MISTAKE BUT IT KEPT HAPPENING I REALIZED I HAD NO WAY OF CAUSING THE FAILURE. IT HAS HAPPENED SEVERAL TIMES THROUGHOUT THE (ALMOST) 3 YEARS I HAD THE VEHICLE SO I DON'T REMEMBER A SPECIFIC DATE. LAST TIME IT HAPPEN WAS LAST WEEK (05/20/2019-05/24/2019) BUT I DON'T REMEMBER WHICH DAY.

IN DECEMBER 2018, THE VEHICLE'S CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON AND A "DRIVE MODE UNAVAILABLE" MESSAGE WAS DISPLAYED ON THE SCREEN. THE LOCAL FIAT DEALERSHIP DIAGNOSED THAT THE COOLING FAN NEEDED REPLACING BECAUSE IT HAD BLOWN A FUSE. IN JANUARY 2018, WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS IN MOTION WITH OUR CHILD IN THE BACK SEAT, THE VEHICLE STALLED AND SUDDENLY TURNED OFF. WE TRIED TURNING THE VEHICLE ON SEVERAL TIMES BUT IT WOULD NOT COME ON. AFTER A FEW MINUTES, THE VEHICLE FINALLY TURNED ON BUT NO WARNING MESSAGES WERE DISPLAYED ON THE SCREEN AND THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT NEVER CAME ON. THIS VEHICLE IS DRIVEN ON THE HIGHWAY JUST ABOUT EVERY DAY AND MANY TIMES WITH OUR CHILDREN AND WE WERE VERY FORTUNATE THAT THE CAR STALLED ON A RESIDENTIAL STREET AND NOT WHILE ON THE HIGHWAY. WE IMMEDIATELY REPORTED THIS INCIDENT TO FIAT (CASE # 57913062) AND HAD THE VEHICLE TOWED TO A FIAT DEALERSHIP. THE DEALER DIAGNOSED THE PROBLEM AS HAVING A LOW LEVEL OF ENGINE OIL EVEN THOUGH IT HAD BEEN THERE A FEW WEEKS BEFORE AND WENT THROUGH THEIR "MULTI-POINT" INSPECTION. THEY RECOMMENDED AN OIL CHANGE WITH AN ADDITIVE AND A FUEL INJECTION CLEANING WHICH COST US $600. TWO WEEKS LATER, WHILE THE CAR WAS IN MOTION ON THE HIGHWAY, THE CAR STARTED TO SHAKE AS IF IT WAS ABOUT TO STALL, WOULD NOT SPEED PAST 60MPH, AND SMOKE WAS COMING OUT OF THE HOOD. THE SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON AND A "DRIVE MODE UNAVAILABLE" MESSAGE WAS DISPLAYED ON THE SCREEN. WE TOOK THE FIRST HIGHWAY EXIT AVAILABLE AND PULLED THE VEHICLE OVER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND CALLED FOR TOWING. WE REPORTED THIS INCIDENT TO FIAT ONCE AGAIN (CASE # 58008152) AND REQUESTED FOR IT TO BE ESCALATED DUE THE FREQUENT INCIDENTS AND OUR CONCERN FOR SAFETY. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO SAME FIAT DEALERSHIP AS BEFORE WHERE THEY DIAGNOSED THE ISSUE AS BEING A BAD IGNITION COIL THAT CAUSED A MISFIRE. WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED ANY RESPONSE FROM FIAT.

WHEN DRIVING ON ANY KIND OF TRAIN, STRAIGHT GROUND OR HILLS, ESPECIALLY WHEN ACCELERATING, THE ENGINE OR TRANSMISSION SLIPS INTO NEUTRAL MODE AND SUDDENLY KICKS BACK INTO DRIVE MODE. THE CAR LUNGES FORWARD AND IT FEELS LIKE THE TRANSMISSION IS SLIPPING. THIS STARTED ABOUT TWO TO THREE MONTHS AGO (NOVEMBER 2018) BUT HAS BECOME SIGNIFICANTLY WORSE OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS. THE CAR HAS 35K MILES, AUTOMATIC 9 SPEED TRANSMISSION. I BOUGHT IT NEW IN JUNE OF 2015. I NOTICED THAT THE IS A RECALL FOR SIMILAR PROBLEMS ON SIMILAR FIATS SINCE NOVEMBER OF 2016, BUT I NEVER RECEIVED ANY KIND OF NOTICE FROM FCA ABOUT THIS.

AROUND OCTOBER 9, I TRIED TO TURN ON THE IGNITION AS USUAL WITH THE KEY FOB. THE ENGINE WOULD'T TURN, SO I RECHARGED THE BATTERY. AFTER 10 MINUTES, IT FINALLY CRANKED. THE BATTERY IS GOOD, HOWEVER, SO I REPLACED THE BATTERY IN THE FOB. ON OCTOBER 19, I USED THE KEY FOB AND ALL KINDS OF INDICATOR LIGHTS CAME ON. WHEN I PLACED THE CAR IN REVERSE, SEVERAL LIGHT INDICATORS (SERVICE ENGINE, CHECK TRANSMISSION, ETC.) AND IT WAS LIKE SOMETHING INSIDE THE ENGINE DROPPED AS IF THE CAR SHIFTED INTO ANOTHER GEAR. THE 'R' AND THE 'D' BLINKED STEADILY. I CALLED AND ALERTED THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT AT BREWBAKER DEALERSHIP, BUT THE ONLY AVAILABILITY WAS THE FOLLOWING MONDAY. BY FATE, THE CAR BEGAN TO OPERATE BETTER. FOR NEARLY A WEEK, THE IGNITION STARTED TO IMPROVE ALTHOUGH IT WOULD TAKE TWO TRIES. ON THE MORNING OF OCTOBER 29, THE SAME PROBLEMS REOCCURED FROM OCTOBER 19. INSTEAD OF GOING TO WORK, I DROVE THE CAR STRAIGHT TO THE DEALERSHIP. THEY KEPT IT OVERNIGHT FOR SERVICE PERSONNEL TO ANALYZE THE PROBLEM. IN RESEARCH OF RECALLS, I NOTICED THAT MY CAR IS NOT ON THE RECALL LIST ALTHOUGH THE DESCRIPTIONS OF DEFECTS FIT WHAT MY CAR IS EXPERIENCING.

MY FIAT 500X SHIFTED ITSELF TO NEUTRAL FROM DRIVE WHILE I WAS DRIVING. GEAR NOIZES HEARD FROM ENGINE FOR THREE MONTHS. IT ALSO STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF DRIVING BY ITSELF WHILE MY SON WAS IN CAR WITH ME. VERY SCARY. I CALLED CHRYSLER/FIAT, CUSTOMER SERVICE SAID "NO RECALL" OF MY CAR, IT'S BEEN TAKEN CARE OF. I GOOGLED AND FOUND OUT RECALL STARTED AUG. 29, 2016 AND I BOUGHT THE CAR IN JULY, 2016. SO WHO TOOK CARE OF THE RECALL IF THERE WAS ONE???!!! NO RECALL FOR THIS KINDA OF PROBLEM IS UNBELIEVABLE!! PUTTING OUR LIVES IN EXTREME DANGER. PLEASE INVESTIGATE BEFORE ANY LIFE LOSS!! THIS IS A VERY DISHONET ACTION OF FIAT AND THE PERSON WHO SOLD THIS CAR TO ME, KNOWING THIS PROBLEM COULD PUT MY FAMILY'S LIVES IN CRASH. RIDICULOUS REALLY.

I WAS DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY IN A MIDDLE LANE GOING ABOUT 50MPH WHEN I NOTICED THE CAR WAS NO LONGER RESPONSIVE TO GAS OR STEERING. BRAKES WERE HARDER TO PRESS THAN USUAL & I REALIZED THE CAR HAD TURNED ITSELF OFF. THE ONLY WAY I COULD GET IT STARTED AGAIN WAS TO COME TO A COMPLETE STOP & PUT IT IN PARK, RE-START, DISENGAGE THE AUTO-EMERGENCY BRAKE, THEN PUT IT IN DRIVE. ALL WHILE CARS WERE FLYING AROUND THE BEND OF THE HIGHWAY ALMOST HITTING ME AND ALMOST HITTING EACH OTHER TRYING TO AVOID HITTING ME.