Hello all. My wife has a 1.3d 08 500. She complained to me one day that there's a lot of lateral movement in the clitch pedal, upon inspection I notice the pedal had a perfect straight fracture near the top of the pedal. I've had it out with Stoneacre who we bought the car from and they are saying they won't do it under warranty we have phoned Fiat and they will not sort it. So tonight I'm gonna try and get a welding rod onto it. Upon failing this tho I'm out of ideas, I dont want to have to replace a clutch pedal that SHOULD NEVER SNAP on my own expense and time of fitting it. Being a military diesel mechanic myself I've never ever heard of a solid metal pedal snapping even the conditions we put them through. But no one seems to want to sort it. I think it's abit of an outrage. Any ideas?

Cheers
Dan

It's intentionally made "weak" so that if you have an accident it's the pedal that snaps and not your shin and/or thigh bone/s that snap.

It's not something that you should weld together under any circumstances

I've welded it up. It was a very badly cast pedal. If the pedal is suppose to have a soft spot it's not where I've welded it back up I've just replaced the metal that should be there in the first place. Lookin at some of the welds on the car they are poor any way. Not impressed

Huffski said:

I've welded it up. It was a very badly cast pedal. If the pedal is suppose to have a soft spot it's not where I've welded it back up I've just replaced the metal that should be there in the first place. Lookin at some of the welds on the car they are poor any way. Not impressed

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No, this is how it's designed........ Problem now is that if your wife ever has a big accident then the pedal will take her leg out, but hey you know better than a large automotive manufacturer.

This is how mine looked on a Twinair when it snapped off is yours in the same place?.

Not sure if it's the same place it looks different when it's apart. But it wasn't Sheard the same it looked as if it was made in two parts and shouldn't av been attached at all. And what your saying is maxi is that a large manufacturer called fiat has made a pedal that breaks under normal usage from a female driver, nice one

Flashy photo. Did that happen during a crash or under normal use? I don't see what use having a weak spot on your clutch pedal is for when your gonna be putting most pressure on your brake pedal and you have an airbag at your shins that will blow your legs off the pedals

Huffski said:

Flashy photo. Did that happen during a crash or under normal use? I don't see what use having a weak spot on your clutch pedal is for when your gonna be putting most pressure on your brake pedal and you have an airbag at your shins that will blow your legs off the pedals

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You really have little idea of how a vehicle and the human body performs in the event of a collission.

Left foot goes on clutch, right in brake. This is why the clutch pedal is designed to give. Knee airbag protects the knees and upper legs, doesnt blow the feet anywhere.

EDIT: have you informed your insurance company you've modified the clutch petal by welding it, and as a result changed the crash signature of your 500?

My question is why did it break.

Is the clutch on the way out, needing extra pressure to operate, so causing the pedal to break?

Yeah thanks Easterly Panda I know which foot goes where. You work for NCAP and have seen the pedal in question have you? Portland I'm not sure why it's broken and especially where it's broken it's only done 45k and clutch operates fine. While I was away me missus took it to where I used to take my Alfa who specialises in Alfas n fiats and he said he's not seen it happen there before and was gonna charge £200 to take the pedal off and weld it and put it back on. I can understand if I was welding the soft spot on the pedal but I haven't it's snapped in a different place to what flashys has. So it should still break as normal. Anyway it's better than my missus driving around with an inch lateral play on the pedal.

Huffski said:

You work for NCAP

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Well actually........

So, that's two pedals that have snapped under normal usage. Strange, does it happen to other makes, and does the brake pedal snap too on occasion, because that must get the ultimate force applied to it?

I thought the whole pedal box was meant to collapse in some way in a crash though, not just the individual pedals?

My suspicion is some sort of casting weakness in the pedal alloy to be honest.

Poor casting was mine and mates thought. Just because the split was so perfect.

Ulpian said:

Strange, does it happen to other makes, and does the brake pedal snap too on occasion, because that must get the ultimate force applied to it?

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Given how little force is needed on the brake pedal of modern cars, the clutch pedal has the hardest life.

Ulpian said:

Strange, does it happen to other makes,

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Says who

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Says who

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The Internet.

Snapped clutch pedals do seem to be more common than they should be. No doubt due to designed in crash-test weakness but that won't be much comfort if you crash because your broken clutch pedal wedged itself under the brake pedal...

Ulpian said:

So, that's two pedals that have snapped under normal usage. Strange, does it happen to other makes, and does the brake pedal snap too on occasion, because that must get the ultimate force applied to it?

I thought the whole pedal box was meant to collapse in some way in a crash though, not just the individual pedals?

My suspicion is some sort of casting weakness in the pedal alloy to be honest.

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Most Easterly Pandas said:

Says who

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Geddes said:

The Internet.

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Its ok, I mis-read the post (my bad) I thought it said it doesn't, which is what I was questioning