As you may have read from another post of mine, we recently bought a start 'n' stop, and have found that the "generic failure" light (! in a triangle) and the "start 'n' stop deactivated" light (start 'n' stop symbol with a line through it) nearly always come on together, when reversing after the car has been unused for a while.

It seems from my other post and other posts I've read, that we are by no means alone with this issue. It would also appear that the diagnostics systems that dealers have to try and track the problem are unable to do so.

To help try and resolve this issue, for all those having it, could I please ask all start 'n' stop owners on this forum to post wether or not they have had or still have this particular issue.

This will hopefully determine how widespread the issue is, and if it turns out that there are lots of us out there, this will hopefully make Fiat listen.

Your help is much appreciated!

Hi Jim,

First off I'd like to say great forum everyone! I've been on here almost every day since May but this is my first post...

We placed an order for the Start 'n' Stop in BNW and took advantage of the scrappge scheme (trading in a J-reg Fiat Tipo!) back in May. We bought it from the flagship store in Marylebone - who were overall OK although we did have hiccups with delays and the handover. We've had the car since 17th July and have had the the "generic failure" light and the "start 'n' stop deactivated" light problem from day one. We're obviously still able to drive the car but without S'n'S - which would be handy in London with all the traffic (that's why we opted for it after all)!

After reading the manual, I had hoped that the problem was because the car was brand new (the manual stated this was a possible reason for start 'n' stop not working but I don't think it mentioned anything about the generic failure light). After about 10 days and 350 miles on the clock, however, the problem hadn't fixed itself so I called my dealer who had the "Fiat Marylebone Service" centre contact me - this is based in Battersea and forms part of Fiat’s London Flagship Store. I took the car to them on 30th July and that evening they telephoned me to say they've found a fault but they hadn't seen this particular fault before so they'd need to contact the techies in Italy. I therefore collected the car that evening and was told someone would contact me in a couple of days but they didn't so I called them yesterday morning (over 1 week later) and only managed to get an answering machine - I've left them a message to call me but 24 hours later and they haven't yet been in touch. I'm not particularly annoyed - I know "whiners" aren't appreciated on this forum - but I was hoping that the service (and know-how) would be better from Fiat's flagship dealer/service centre. Nonetheless, I appreciate the technology is relatively new (at least to Fiat) so I'm not surprised there are bugs. Hopefully, I'll hear from the service centre today otherwise I'll give them a bell (and a polite earful) tomorrow morning. As soon as I get any helpful updates, I'll post them here. Just sorry to see from the poll that 100% of S'n'S owners on here are having the same issue.

Finally, I'd like to say we still love the car... it's a BNW with electric sunroof, parking sensors and red cloth seats / ivory ambience... bootiful!

Cheers,
Rich
(BobbyP is the name of our car!)

I'd like to thank everybody who's voted so far. But is there only 3 start'n'stop owners in the country?

Please vote if you haven't already!

JimR123 said:

I'd like to thank everybody who's voted so far. But is there only 3 start'n'stop owners in the country?

Please vote if you haven't already!

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Yes but only a small percentage of 500 owners post on this forum.

306maxi said:

Yes but only a small percentage of 500 owners post on this forum.

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:yeahthat:

there are 3 s and s owners and they all have the same fault!

This glitch was also commented upon in a road test a few weeks ago (can't remember the mag). Bosch, which makes the s and s system, is doubtless working on a software update.

keeforelli said:

there are 3 s and s owners and they all have the same fault!

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The sample size is too small to draw any definite conclusions, it could be that one of the people on the production line wasn't doing their job properly and these cars were all done straight after each other, it could be that every S&S is broken. We simply don't know

And we're all definatly suffering from a fault and not just the 'unavailable' thing when there is a big drain on the charging system

I'm collecting my s & s from the garage on Saturday morning. The technical guy has told me that my battery was low which is caused by it being a new car and this in his opinion is what has probably caused my problems so he's now charged it. I've done 500 miles in the first week and took the car on hols with me on day two which was a 2hr journey so don't understand why that wouldn't have charged my battery sufficiently and it has been driven every day since,inc 2 hr drive journey home. He's going to take me for a drive in it before I take it home to make sure the problems aren't still occuring. I spoke to Fiat in the meantime who told me that they had received 10 logged faults from dealers with these problems on the start stop and Italy were building new componets to be installed in these 10 cars. My garage has told me that my car's chassis was manufactured in a different batch after the 10 faulty vehicles so I wouldn't have the same problems Now it could be that I don't know much about cars (fact) or that dealer is spinning me a yarn but I'm going to give my car another go and fingers crossed they've sorted the problem.

llydaw said:

I'm collecting my s & s from the garage on Saturday morning. The technical guy has told me that my battery was low which is caused by it being a new car and this in his opinion is what has probably caused my problems so he's now charged it. I've done 500 miles in the first week and took the car on hols with me on day two which was a 2hr journey so don't understand why that wouldn't have charged my battery sufficiently and it has been driven every day since,inc 2 hr drive journey home. He's going to take me for a drive in it before I take it home to make sure the problems aren't still occuring. I spoke to Fiat in the meantime who told me that they had received 10 logged faults from dealers with these problems on the start stop and Italy were building new componets to be installed in these 10 cars. My garage has told me that my car's chassis was manufactured in a different batch after the 10 faulty vehicles so I wouldn't have the same problems Now it could be that I don't know much about cars (fact) or that dealer is spinning me a yarn but I'm going to give my car another go and fingers crossed they've sorted the problem.

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Please do let us know how you get on!!!

1) software update
2) user error/not reading manual/understanding system operation
3) garage not understanding system operation
4) techs not going on the relevent course/reading up on the system


No doubt one of the above,I have never came across a stop/start problem (well one that was easily cured in seconds) infact when you fully read into its operation (technical manual) its a brilliant system.

the 3 ppl that have posted here are suffering from the system malfunctioning...

the warning lights coming on and system going out of action completely is not routine operation.

what we need to know is how to escalate this problem, as i for instance have a garage that has absolutely no experience of s + s, and were going to call tech support in italy over a week ago, and call me back.

they have not.

my system still does not work correctly, and i will have to follow it up.

keeforelli said:

i for instance have a garage that has absolutely no experience of s + s, and were going to call tech support in italy over a week ago, and call me back.

they have not.

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1) I would go to another garage
2) tech support is not in Italy

On the Stop/Start course it was stressed that the battery must have had a full charge before going out, otherwise the Intelligent Battery Sensor cannot monitor the battery condition accurately.

If it believes that the battery is at a level where it cannot be trusted to restart again if stopped, the Stop/Start will not work and the engine will remain running.

Remember that modern batteries do not receive a deep-enough charge from the alternator to fully top them up. If it's not 100% charged before it's fitted to the car, it's lifespan is reduced.

D4nny8oy said:

On the Stop/Start course it was stressed that the battery must have had a full charge before going out, otherwise the Intelligent Battery Sensor cannot monitor the battery condition accurately.

If it believes that the battery is at a level where it cannot be trusted to restart again if stopped, the Stop/Start will not work and the engine will remain running.

Remember that modern batteries do not receive a deep-enough charge from the alternator to fully top them up. If it's not 100% charged before it's fitted to the car, it's lifespan is reduced.

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Think someone better tell the salesmen :bang:

I gave them my course notes

D4nny8oy said:

I gave them my course notes

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they can read!

T14086 said:

1) I would go to another garage
2) tech support is not in Italy

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Yes try another garage.
But i would call customer service and get you case rolling with Fiat them self. They will open a case and contact the Tech Dept in slough and the garage zone maneger.

T14086 said:

1) I would go to another garage
2) tech support is not in Italy

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3) Arguing with a Fiat tech about Fiat tech is not the smartest idea