Let's be honest everybody makes mistakes and generally if you own up and fix the problem, people are quite understanding. If Fiat has simply said "Yes, we have a problem, we are very sorry but a solution is coming and will be applied free of charge. As a gesture for the inconvenience we will also valet your car when it is done".
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I agree.
I don't think the issue is so much the sorting out the problem, but Fiats communication down to the dealers and on to the public which is unforgivable.
I generally don't think the dealers were told anything until recently and were hung out to dry by Fiat head office and left to fend for them selves on this issue.
On the other hand Having been involved with the motor industry off and on for years on the manufacturing side I can sympathise with the engineers looking into this problem too. Been there and got the T shirts.
I doubt if it was as straight forward as plugging in a diagnostic unit into a faulty car and saying "look there's the problem". More likely they had to find a significant number of faulty cars, take readings from them, compare them to good cars, not find any difference in the programming, much scratching of heads, more testing, no difference found, more scratching of heads, dismantling of cars, measuring parts, no difference found, more scratching of heads, re-building cars with different parts, more testing, more scratching of heads etc. etc. etc.
Even when the problem is found, it takes weeks or months to engineer a solution and test it before releasing at a fix.
These things are never as straight forward as they seem, and never sorted easily.