Mercky said:

The latest SS software remembers the last switch setting so if you turned it off before you switched the ignition off it will still be off when you restart, I think this version was standard from 2013 on so most likely not on your car unless it was upgraded

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Is it possible to get the software in my care updated to include this feature?

(Not that I am necessarily intending to get the SS disabled on my 2010 500c dualogic, I have only had the car for a couple of days...and I find SS disconcerting, especially when parking... but obviously I need to get used to it first...)

keiron99 said:

Is it possible to get the software in my care updated to include this feature?

(Not that I am necessarily intending to get the SS disabled on my 2010 500c dualogic, I have only had the car for a couple of days...and I find SS disconcerting, especially when parking... but obviously I need to get used to it first...)

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You'll soon get used to it. a few weeks and you'll remember to keep the clutch down if you don't want it to stop.

I think your dealer can update the system if you want the system to not default back to 'on' everytime you start the car.

deeyup said:

You'll soon get used to it. a few weeks and you'll remember to keep the clutch down if you don't want it to stop.

I think your dealer can update the system if you want the system to not default back to 'on' everytime you start the car.

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Thanks. But we have the "auto" - it seems there is no way of avoiding it stopping (bar pressing the button). It is very offputting, especially when manouevring to park. In fact, when pulling into our little drive way, which is also on a slope, it cuts out. What with that, and the car rolling back because it's not a true auto, it can be quite a challenge!

keiron99 said:

Thanks. But we have the "auto" - it seems there is no way of avoiding it stopping (bar pressing the button). It is very offputting, especially when manouevring to park. In fact, when pulling into our little drive way, which is also on a slope, it cuts out. What with that, and the car rolling back because it's not a true auto, it can be quite a challenge!

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Ah, I can see that would be a complete ball ache!
I suppose it's down to left foot braking and switching the system off for slow manuevers.

keiron99 said:

Thanks. But we have the "auto" - it seems there is no way of avoiding it stopping (bar pressing the button). It is very offputting, especially when manouevring to park. In fact, when pulling into our little drive way, which is also on a slope, it cuts out. What with that, and the car rolling back because it's not a true auto, it can be quite a challenge!

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Keiron99, thanks for your comments/input here....
I thought it was only me but the S/S doesn't seem to integrate very well with the Dualogic gearbox...

We live on the bay with about a 15 minute run back to the main drag. The area is all sugar cane so the roads are just "country" roads with stop signs at most intersections. So when we stop at each of the 2 stop signs we have to go through the engine stops as well. As there is not much traffic it immediately restarts as in 99% of the time we can move off straight away. So that is 2 starts on the battery and starter motor that are not required so unnecessary wear and tear on those items and extra fuel to do the restarts, negating any fuel savings.

If it were a manual the engine would keep running as the clutch is depressed as you come to a stop and immediately select 1st gear and move off. In the Dualogic I tried holding the gear lever in manual/auto location as the car came to rest but the engine still stops....

So the only solution we have found is to "push the button Max" and disable it completely, but then you have to put up with the yellow icon illuminated in the speedo. I intend to cut a 1/2" diameter disc out of black insulating tape and put it over the yellow icon. In passing I have found that this works well on cars that have a very bright blue icon for high beam. The disc only needs to be about 3/8" diameter and it stops the direct light shining in your eyes but there is sufficient light to give a halo effect so you can easily see when it is on. Being black you don't see the disc (if the speedo background colour is black, of course)

Whilst we didn't persevere with it for very long, we also noticed that the hill holder seemed not to work occasionally when the S/S system was operational. Now on a steep hill, that is NOT one for the faint hearted - expecting hill hold to function and then it doesn't... ......
So for that alone, we run with S/S disabled.

Aussie500nut said:

So the only solution we have found is to "push the button Max" and disable it completely, but then you have to put up with the yellow icon illuminated in the speedo. I intend to cut a 1/2" diameter disc out of black insulating tape and put it over the yellow icon. In passing I have found that this works well on cars that have a very bright blue icon for high beam. The disc only needs to be about 3/8" diameter and it stops the direct light shining in your eyes but there is sufficient light to give a halo effect so you can easily see when it is on. Being black you don't see the disc (if the speedo background colour is black, of course)

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I noticed last night, when driving in the dark for the first time, just how bright the icon was!

I assume that to be fully effective you will need to remove the plastic cowling on the speedo to do this modification with the tape? Any idea how to do this?

Does anyone know of a way to permanently disable the SS system - removing a fuse or something - for cars like mine that cannot have the "fix" applied with new software?

keiron99 said:

I noticed last night, when driving in the dark for the first time, just how bright the icon was!

I assume that to be fully effective you will need to remove the plastic cowling on the speedo to do this modification with the tape? Any idea how to do this?

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No, not at all. By putting the black tape on the outer glass/plastic lens it gives the space for the halo to form around the black dot
This is a photo of the instruments on my Rocket 3 bike



In this photo you can clearly see the black dot, but under normal circumstances you don't notice it all. In passing, the blue light on the rocket was so bright that you almost rode in a blue glow.... LOL
Now the yellow icon is not very bright, so by going to the 1/2" dot I think you won't get much of a halo so it will virtually disappear. Certainly in daylight anyway
I ran out of black insulation tape - as soon as I remember to get some will cut and fit the black dot post the results

keiron99 said:

Does anyone know of a way to permanently disable the SS system - removing a fuse or something - for cars like mine that cannot have the "fix" applied with new software?

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Hopefully someone will post a fix, but I'm pretty sure all you can do is switch it "off" and the later cars will remember the setting, so once off always off. And sadly the yellow icon in the speedo is "on", but hopefully not a problem as noted above

How hard is it to use the brake pedal with your left foot and the accelerator with your right foot? I'm genuinely curious.....

Not difficult at all. Done it many times in my Audi with dsg gearbox on steep hills. It's really not an issue with fiat, but normal for robotic manual gearboxes.
What I am concerned about is the fact it is too much effort for some people to just press a button before parking their car or approaching a junction where ss plays up.

306maxi said:

How hard is it to use the brake pedal with your left foot and the accelerator with your right foot? I'm genuinely curious.....

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Probably not hard at all but with hill holder I don't have to....
A very good reason to disable the S/S system

doggydoctor said:

Not difficult at all. Done it many times in my Audi with dsg gearbox on steep hills. It's really not an issue with fiat, but normal for robotic manual gearboxes.

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Unless you have hill holder.
Then you don't have too....

doggydoctor said:

What I am concerned about is the fact it is too much effort for some people to just press a button before parking their car or approaching a junction where ss plays up.

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Not a question of effort, rather convenience

Firstly the S/S button is a silly little thing and much harder to find/press when compared to say the Econ button further up on the dash.
Then with the type of driving we do, there is questionable fuel savings with the S/S anyway, so to risk compromising the operation of the hill holder it is easier and more convenient to just leave it disabled

As far as pressing buttons is concerned, that is one of the most enjoyable parts of driving the 500 with the Dualogic gearbox and the paddles, so it is not laziness rather just eliminating the problem of forgetting to turn it "off" with the resultant possible hill holder malfunction

The S%S disables automatically the moment reverse is selected, and as far as I know stays that way until the engine is stopped.

But I agree that having to think about pressing a button all the time is hardly a convenience. I just let the S&S work these days, unless I'm on a long journey because I don't want to risk the engine cutting out before I have let it idle a while - Diesel you see.

As for hill-holders, well, I have one on my manual car but I have no idea how it's meant to work. I realise that when stopping on a hill the brake is applied with extra force after I have pulled it on, because I can feel the car jump and then settle, but what the point is I have no idea. When starting off I just depress the handbrake normally as I release the clutch, because this is second - and first - nature to me.

What the alternative is I have no idea, in fact it seems like another inconvenient convenience.

Why press a button when you can put your foot on the brake... This is laughably silly.

306maxi said:

Why press a button when you can put your foot on the brake... This is laughably silly.

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306maxi - there's no need to be rude

However, you have completely missed the point of this thread
The discussion is NOT about the hill holder

As the thread name suggests, it is about the S/S feature, specifically at the moment, not being able to control when the S/S is active in the Dualogic, as you can by holding in the clutch in a manual, to stop the engine stopping (or keep it running) when stopping at a stop sign or any other time you wish to stop and immediately move off

The inclusion of the hill holder is an aside as it is seems that it does not interface too well with the S/S.
So it is another reason to leave the S/S off permanently in a Dialogic car

Hopefully someone will prove me wrong and come up with some advice that will allow it all to work as intended and also have some degree of control as is available in the manual

Aussie500nut said:

Hopefully someone will prove me wrong and come up with some advice that will allow it all to work as intended and also have some degree of control as is available in the manual

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I can help you here. When you don't want it to work, press the button on the dash. That will stop it. You just apply pressure using one of your fingers. Any finger will do. Once you have practiced this a few times it should get easier.

Aussie500nut said:

and extra fuel to do the restarts

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Starting the engine doesn't use any more fuel than leaving it running.

Ulpian said:

The S%S disables automatically the moment reverse is selected, and as far as I know stays that way until the engine is stopped.

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It'll reactivate once you've driven forwards about 10 meters or so.

Ulpian said:

As for hill-holders, well, I have one on my manual car but I have no idea how it's meant to work. I realise that when stopping on a hill the brake is applied with extra force after I have pulled it on, because I can feel the car jump and then settle, but what the point is I have no idea. When starting off I just depress the handbrake normally as I release the clutch, because this is second - and first - nature to me.

What the alternative is I have no idea, in fact it seems like another inconvenient convenience.

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Hill holder is used without the handbrake. You stop at the lights etc. on a hill, and instead of pulling on the handbrake in the way we were all taught, you put your right foot on the brake and keep it there.
When the lights go green, release footbrake and accelerate as normal. The brakes will not release until forward motion happens, or about 1.5 seconds has passed.
I've got it on my Panda and my VW, and it works really well, although the Fiat needs a steeper slope for it to kick in.

No good on my Doblo because the clutch control from standstill is really difficult. The engagement is completely insensitive, by which I mean the bite point cannot be felt, and there is no soft transition between on and off. More revs than I would like are needed to prevent a stall, and the engine revs very quickly, in fact you only have to brush the throttle and it's up to 3000rpm. I put it down to low initial torque (sixteen valves and a small displacement - 1.6) because once the turbo kicks in the torque is very strong. I'd think it was my car if the salesman hadn't said his was the same. I tried the hill-holder a few times and either stalled or rolled back - a real nightmare.

The stress of rolling back into someone isn't worth it. I don't think the hill-holder on my car could work, given the clutch/low initial torque, but with an automatic I could see a point.

RobinPJ said:

I can help you here. When you don't want it to work, press the button on the dash. That will stop it. You just apply pressure using one of your fingers. Any finger will do. Once you have practiced this a few times it should get easier.

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Thanks for your advice RobinPJ...
As it happens I have done just that
I pushed it once
Can't remember which finger though
and you're right it didn't matter
it no longer works
No need to "practice" to make it easier as it will stay inoperative

Perhaps you might have a similar helpful hint to remove the yellow icon... :idea:
Apart from pushing that elusive little button again

Aussie500nut said:

Perhaps you might have a similar helpful hint to remove the yellow icon... :idea:
Apart from pushing that elusive little button again

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Yes. Don't look at it.