Started the car up this evening. Had the key twisted but had not yet cranked it, and I had a yellow triangle with exclamation mark in it, with a warning message saying 'fuel cut off unavailable'. I then cranked it up and the message went but the triangle didn't. Turned off the engine and back on but the message didn't reappear.

Anyone any suggestions as to what this means?! My understanding was that the fuel cut off was for if you had an accident etc. Why would it suddenly become unavailable?

Yes its to do with the inertia switch, you'd have to get it on to a diagnostic machine such as a genuine Fiat examiner.

what does it say in the owners manual?

RobW said:

what does it say in the owners manual?

Click to expand...

"The warning light turns on when the fuel cut-off inertial switch intervenes or when the fuel cut-off system is not available.

The display will show the dedicated message"

Which tells us nothing we didn't know already:bang:

There is a procedure involving the use of the indicators in sequence (see page 40) for resetting the fuel cut-off after an accident but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

You could try that procedure but don't expect much! Sadly it may need to go onto examiner. Hope it's covered by the warranty.

it is telling you that a safety related feature is not available, and to get it fixed

Cheers guys.

Rob: My question wasn't what I should do about it, but why it might have happened.

Car is booked in to the dealer but won't be going in until Saturday. I should have asked at the time but didn't think about it - but I wonder what they will try and charge me for this.

Mileage was flashing they other week so will ask about that when it goes in, and might also ask why the passenger side comfort window close doesn't work, and why the left indicator doesn't auto- shut off!

Cheers for the responses.

JamesL said:

Cheers guys.

Rob: My question wasn't what I should do about it, but why it might have happened.

Car is booked in to the dealer but won't be going in until Saturday. I should have asked at the time but didn't think about it - but I wonder what they will try and charge me for this.

Mileage was flashing they other week so will ask about that when it goes in, and might also ask why the passenger side comfort window close doesn't work, and why the left indicator doesn't auto- shut off!

Cheers for the responses.

Click to expand...

incomplete communications between the relevant CAN node and master

faulty fuel cut off device


if the fault has now cleared chances are it is just a communications issue, the need for proxy alignment indicated buy flashing mileage is probably related

either way it will get sorted/diagnosed when plugged in to examiner

JamesL said:

Cheers guys.

Rob: My question wasn't what I should do about it, but why it might have happened.

Car is booked in to the dealer but won't be going in until Saturday. I should have asked at the time but didn't think about it - but I wonder what they will try and charge me for this.

Mileage was flashing they other week so will ask about that when it goes in, and might also ask why the passenger side comfort window close doesn't work, and why the left indicator doesn't auto- shut off!

Cheers for the responses.

Click to expand...

The passenger side window isn't meant to comfort close, it's a safety feature.

Tbh there's no real way of telling why a fault happened when it only occured once and never occured again. It's like when people ask "Why did my PC do that?" to me at work, in short I don't know, you don't need to know and I've fixed it! If it happens again then we'll look at whether you're doing something to break it, otherwise just get back to work

JamesL said:

I should have asked at the time but didn't think about it - but I wonder what they will try and charge me for this.

Click to expand...

If you're in the first 2 year's Warranty- nothing.

JamesL said:

Mileage was flashing they other week so will ask about that when it goes in, and might also ask why the passenger side comfort window close doesn't work, and why the left indicator doesn't auto- shut off!

Click to expand...

Mileage flashing indicates a CAN issue- likely linked to the Fuel cut-off issue as it's communicated via the network. Might need the Body Computer update if it's over a year old and it hasn't been done.

As stated, the passenger window isn't auto-close for safety reasons (I'm sure this is in the manual?)

Left indicator not cancelling- do we need to go over this again?

The indicator's cancel once the steering has passed 90 deg from the straight ahead position (try it while stationary). Therefore, because while leaving a roundabout/sliproad the steering doesn't need turning to this 90 deg point, the indicator mechanism can't self-cancel.

RobW said:

incomplete communications between the relevant CAN node and master

faulty fuel cut off device


if the fault has now cleared chances are it is just a communications issue, the need for proxy alignment indicated buy flashing mileage is probably related

either way it will get sorted/diagnosed when plugged in to examiner

Click to expand...

Thank you Rob. I did wonder if it was purely a communications issue because of the fact that it only happened once, hopefully will be cleared up by this time next week!

D4nny8oy said:

If you're in the first 2 year's Warranty- nothing.

Mileage flashing indicates a CAN issue- likely linked to the Fuel cut-off issue as it's communicated via the network. Might need the Body Computer update if it's over a year old and it hasn't been done.

As stated, the passenger window isn't auto-close for safety reasons (I'm sure this is in the manual?)

Left indicator not cancelling- do we need to go over this again?

The indicator's cancel once the steering has passed 90 deg from the straight ahead position (try it while stationary). Therefore, because while leaving a roundabout/sliproad the steering doesn't need turning to this 90 deg point, the indicator mechanism can't self-cancel.

Click to expand...

What are the safety reasons for not self closing?

Left indicator - I could put my indicator on, drive round in a circle and then straighten up and it wouldn't cancel. Trust me, this isn't a case of not turning the wheel far enough.

Nearside window without auto closing is because a passenger has two hands to get caught/trapped in the window whereas a driver SHOULD have two hands on the steering wheel hence the auto close feature, it's logical more than anything.

I think we have Esther Rantzen to thank for this - I have a vague recollection of a couple of kids getting killed in cars with windows (or maybe the sunroof) closing automatically. So now they have sensors that make them drop back if they encounter an obstable (at least my Merc does) and you have to keep your finger on the trigger, apart from the driver who, as Biz says, shoould be free to do the other important things (i.e., waving at other 500 drivers).

RobinPJ said:

I think we have Esther Rantzen to thank for this - I have a vague recollection of a couple of kids getting killed in cars with windows (or maybe the sunroof) closing automatically. So now they have sensors that make them drop back if they encounter an obstable (at least my Merc does) and you have to keep your finger on the trigger, apart from the driver who, as Biz says, shoould be free to do the other important things (i.e., waving at other 500 drivers).

Click to expand...

Sorry, i meant to add, this got reported on "That's Life" - I wasn't trying to defame Ms Rantzen by suggesting that she was driving round killing kids. She was much too busy with genitals shaped like vegetables on her TV show to do that. Or maybe it was the other way round?

Went to the garage last Saturday and they cleared the fault and did a proxy alignment. It then came up on Sunday night and again Monday afternoon! It went back in on Wednesday first thing and is still there now. When it did it on Sunday night the car refused to start too - cranked but no fuel was getting to the engine I don't think. Not sure if its related though - it has refused to start a couple of times, all sorted out by removing the key and trying again, but had only once happened with the 'fuel cut off' warning. Also had the warning without the starting issue, so I guess its 2 different things. Hoping to find out whats up with it soon as I now have to drive a Micra to work...

Well they still have the car. The fault code came up which said the inertia switch is unavailable - but its intermittent and hasn't come up since its been with them. They want to keep hold of it a little longer in the hope that it will come up whilst they've got it - but they know what the fault code is, I'm not sure I understand what the benefit is if it comes up whilst they have it? Surely the fault code will still be the same? I'm beginning to wonder if they just want to keep it a while and use it as a run around. the inertia switch is apparently built into the ECU so they don't want to order a new ECU until they are sure its that, but I can't work out what they are doing to it in the mean time.

Am I just being paranoid here or are they just enjoying driving about in a nice 500?

Would be grateful for your opinions please guys.

Since posting that they called back and said they don't know what the problem is. I'm going to pick it up in a minute, and I'm thinking that if the problem comes back I will send it back to the dealer and talk to them about replacing the ECU (under warranty of course). Does this sound reasonable to you guys or should I just be saying forget it, and ignoring it?

JamesL said:

I'm not sure I understand what the benefit is if it comes up whilst they have it?

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Simple- intermittant faults can be near impossible to trace and Fiat understandably don't like Tech's claiming for an endless amount of expensive parts while not knowing if it will cure it.

If a fault can be repeatable on a regular basis, or present all the time, it makes diagnosis simpler (in this case, if they suspect an ECU fault the Tech could swap a unit from another 500, and if the fault immediately goes away and doesn't return, they'll know what the fix is and can order a new ECU for yours).

True, I see what you are saying DannyBoy, I guess I was thinking about it in terms of the fact that the ECU told them the fault was with the Intertia switch - it happening whilst they had it would make no difference the fault code produced?

They want me to wait again and see if it happens a fourth time before getting another ECU fitted. Torn between kicking up a fuss, and biding my time and keeping a good relationship.

Re: Fuel cut off unavailable - me too

I'm resurrecting this old thread because this morning I had this message on my GP sporting 1.6 diesel (just over two years old now, had it from new).

I had been waiting for the next thing to go wrong and I was not disappointed (more things have gone wrong with this car than I care to mention).

The error message cleared when I removed the key and restarted but the cruise control had been disabled (which I only found out about as I was driving to work). Restarting in the car park at work a couple of times got things back in sync, cruise control now working again and no more message about fuel cut off.

However, the last time I dismissed a warning message as a "one off", my power steering failed and my car was off the road for several days awaiting parts from Italy (hint: never buy a foreign car that doesn't have a parts warehouse in the UK).

So, is this fuel cut off message something I should be talking to my dealer about NOW or do I wait until it comes on again and I can't get to work? Or the airport for my holiday, soon?