Hi There,

Newbie to this forum looking for info on an issue with the electric PAS on the 500L.


I have a 500L Easy 1.6 MJet as a 2nd car coming up for 3 years old and
have noticed from time-to-time that the steering can occasionally twitch
and even lock-up for <half a second. Very disconcerting.

It's intermittent, maybe once or twice a month.
No errors have been logged the warning light doesn't come on and the
dealer has so far found nothing.

I've not turned up anything in the forum search.


Has anyone else experienced similar?


Am I right in assuming the system is the same as on the Punto?


Thanks in advance,
Nev

Sounds dangerous Nev, sure there hasn't been a recall for this ?

Tata4Now said:

Hi There,

Newbie to this forum looking for info on an issue with the electric PAS on the 500L.


I have a 500L Easy 1.6 MJet as a 2nd car coming up for 3 years old and
have noticed from time-to-time that the steering can occasionally twitch
and even lock-up for <half a second. Very disconcerting.

It's intermittent, maybe once or twice a month.
No errors have been logged the warning light doesn't come on and the
dealer has so far found nothing.

I've not turned up anything in the forum search.


Has anyone else experienced similar?


Am I right in assuming the system is the same as on the Punto?


Thanks in advance,
Nev

Click to expand...

Very occasionally I get the sensation with ours that the steering is 'sticking' in the straight ahead position, usually on long drives on Motorways/Autoroutes.

But never the twitching or 'locking' sensation. I have never felt ours has been in anyway dangerous as it sounds less serious than your issue. Have you had yours to a dealer? and if so what did they say.

Hi MJG,

Thanks for the input.

Yes, it's been to the dealer once already and went in a 2nd time yesterday for a "software update".
But that hadn't been transferred from Fiat. So it'll have to go back in again.

It's got a 5 year warranty but would be nice to get it sorted as it detracts from an otherwise solid car/experience.

Did you get it sorted frenchie

Nope.


Usual Fiat/Alfa/Lancia dealer run-around.




To be fair, without an error code logged there's
not a snowball's chance they're going to find out
what it is or sort the issue.




One theory at present is that it could be the VDC
kicking in. Supposedly the VDC can yank on the
electric PAS when it fires but I'm not convinced.....

chrispompey said:

My wife's 500L has developed a problem today. She started the car up and all seemed well, but as soon as you press the accelerator the dashboard goes blank, Rev counter needle sticks where it was and PAS stopped working. Called out Green Flag, his machine said the error code related to a speed sensor so waiting to see what the Fiat garage has to say about it. Car is just over 2 years old with only 3000 miles on the clock so you can imagine how unimpressed I am with this! Anyone else had this problem or similar? Worse still garage are saying warranty might not cover it if it's a wiring issue and not a component!!

Click to expand...

Sounds battery related, if it's done such low mileage over the 2 years it's probably needs a good charge. That would cause the problems

This is usually a torque sensor symptom due and won't flag an error as the system will think it's all working perfectly. Basically the torque and position sensor report to the ecu then the ecu makes decisions on how much steering input is required via the motor, if the sensor is sending different information to what's actually going on then that's when you feel the resistance in the steering.

It can also occur when the battery is weak, as the sensor is sending a voltage at the end of the day, and on a new car with stop start technology which puts even more strain on the battery, the battery is a route worth investigating, however if you're not seeing problems with the stop start system then I'd push for a new steering column

Dealer has got the go-ahead from FIAT to replace the steering ECU.

Fingers crossed.

Tata4Now said:

Dealer has got the go-ahead from FIAT to replace the steering ECU.

Fingers crossed.

Click to expand...

Keep us posted please, it's good to get updates on issues being sorted.

So the car went in for 2 days last week.

They were a bit vague about what's been replaced
but I think it was the PAS ECU and perhaps the motor too.


Steering is now "easier". Not had an occurance of the fault
yet but it's early days.


All under warranty.


Feedback from Fiat Italy was that there had been a couple of similar cases
hence the replacements.

What symptoms did you have, my 2014 500l when on highway at times seems to take extra effort to get it to move, inconsistent on same roads and same speeds. Low speed not an issue

Steering would "lock-up" whilst taking a corner for a split second.