The BBC WATCHDOG THREAD

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The BBC WATCHDOG THREAD

Not the greatest article ever, the demo with strong man was particularly pathetic. As for it being dangerous, thats what the warning light is for.

I suspect the problem is no worse than with other manufacturers but fiat haven't handled it very well. I think some brands would have offered a substantial goodwill gesture.
 
the 2000 punto was delayed fault anyone known one to accure withing a year?

also this thead aint crossed linked with ll yet


well it all started with the mk2 punto which went into production in 1999 i believe

i think it was the first to have electrical power steering

As for the strongest man to drive it - he's shuffeling like a learner

Mines failed, just drive normally, the steering isn't THAT heavy.... just abit of a shock when it does fail.....
 
i have drove mine without power steering. down motorway to get some charge, ect
but its not that hard. the gearing on the motor is high, can get a pic in a week or 3 if anyone wants, what failed on mine i have no idea
 
the 2000 punto was delayed fault anyone known one to accure withing a year?

also this thead aint crossed linked with ll yet

ive found early 2003 threads, ff wasn't invented till 2002. but we didn't used to hear about a lot of stuff until the cars were 3 years old and out of warranty. people never used to sign up just to chat from new much in the old days like they do now.
 
Not the greatest article ever, the demo with strong man was particularly pathetic. As for it being dangerous, thats what the warning light is for.

I suspect the problem is no worse than with other manufacturers but fiat haven't handled it very well. I think some brands would have offered a substantial goodwill gesture.

Try doing that on the sporting model with wider alloys and wider track. It failed on my dad while he was driving it mid corner and it made him crash the car....

It's a very basic easily preventable problem and the way Fiat are handling it is pathetic! They've let the success of the 500 get to their heads.
 
I'd be inclined to agree with the above. Steering a car fitted with Power Steering when it fails is harder than steering one that never had it to start with.

Also, since on my Mk2 Punto when the steering used to cut out the warning light only came on once the steering had cut-out, it's just stating the obvious & is abit blo*dy pointless :rolleyes:

I suspect the biggest problem is that Fiat (UK) are inconsistent in handling the problem. Yes other cars power steering fail, but expecting someone to pay over £600 to fix a car (as young as 4 years old in some cases) is totally unreasonable & i'm glad Watchdog have highlighted this as Fiat do need a kick up the ar*e to remind them that they're better than they were, but there's alot of work left to do.
 
My parents got me the Grande Punto 1.2 last year for my first car

its an '07 5 door model, not a single issue with anything. It has only done about 22,0000 miles now though, but for me its been one of the most reliable cars we've ever owned, perhaps second only to the Audi A6 estate we had in around 2002.

Wish I could say the same for our 2.0 litre petrol Peugeot 307 XSI, that was the most unreliable piece of junk in creation. I won't list the faults, but hand on heart since early 2007 when we got that car it must have had over 200 issues with it.

Touchwood my lil Punto is going strong,
 
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So is there actually a known fix for this rather than replacing the whole part?

Babz's MK2 Punto does this but she lives with it. Just a bit annoying really. I've seen something somewhere about resoldering connections but I'm unconvinced as the problem isn't intermittent as the video suggests. It's when you put the steering under load, or atleast is for us.
 
I appreciate how heavy it is but unless it fails whilst cornering you have a warning light that tells you there is a problem. My previous car was a Peugeot 407 which was prone to a much more dangerous powersteering fault. It had an electro-hydraulic system and a fault in the pump would cause the fluid in the header tank to foam up every now and then. The foam would be sucked into the pump resulting in a temporary loss of power assistance but only when cornering (as the pump switched off at other times). No warning light, sudden and far more likely to be dangerous than the gp problem. This too was a well known fault affecting many different models of Peugeot and Citroen and a new pump was £600 plus fitting.

My point is that whilst the punto problem shouldn't happen, fiat are no worse than other manufacturers.

Someone asked why do we have electronic pas in place of hydraulic these days. The advantages are cost, reduced co2 output (hydraulid pumps put quite a load on the engine even when traveling straight), the ability to program different 'maps' (eg city or sport mode) and simpler installation on the production line. Electro hydraulic is a compromise that gives hydraulic like feel but without the constant load on the engine, it can also be fitted to vehicles originally designed for conventional hydraulic pas. The down sides are that it is more expensive than either of the other two options and it can be unreliable.
 
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Someone please tell me what was wrong with a rack pinion and hydraulic assistance?
Why do we need all this electric Bul"£$t????
I bet if you removed most of the electric rubbish from modern cars they would be soo reliable :mad:

Electric power steering is cheaper and more reliable than hydraulic power steering. It also puts a much lighter load on the engine.

It's still a rack+pinion steering rack, you don't lose all steering if the electrics go, you just lose the assistance. You can drive the car perfectly well without the power steering, just don't try any parallel parking.

A hydraulic system has a lot more moving parts (and more electronics these days!) and a much larger possibility for failures. In comparison, an electric power steering system has a couple of sensors and an electric motor centered around the steering column. As far as I know, the fault happens in the sensors. A modern hydraulic power steering system would have failed in the exact same way if the sensors failed.
 
My parents got me the Grande Punto 1.2 last year for my first car

its an '07 5 door model, not a single issue with anything. It has only done about 22,0000 miles now though, but for me its been one of the most reliable cars we've ever owned, perhaps second only to the Audi A6 estate we had in around 2002.

Wish I could say the same for our 2.0 litre petrol Peugeot 307 XSI, that was the most unreliable piece of junk in creation. I won't list the faults, but hand on heart since early 2007 when we got that car it must have had over 200 issues with it.

Touchwood my lil Punto is going strong,

Same, but got 40k on the clock on mine. I do motorway miles though, but shortly it'll only be used for really short journeys and I f*cking KNOW it will start to go wrong.

:(
 
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