Hi,
I have a 61 plate Fiat 500 0.9 TwinAir Lounge 2dr convertible (owned since Feb 19). I have had problems with the Start Stop function. When I have been either sat at a junction or in traffic (in gear) the car stalls and it says the start/stop is unavailable, then it take several attempts to get it started again. It's been into the garage a total of four times (3 in Aug19 alone), first they changed spark plugs, then they said it was the sensor & replaced it. Did the same on the drive home & garage said it was a software update they were not aware of, so they did the update. It's happened at least 4 times since then so I switched the start/stop off but it still stalls & says S/S is unavailable, even though it's off! It's due to go back to the garage next week....any ideas what it could be so I can tell the garage? Have RAC 3 year warranty but as garage already "fixed" it they won't pay out again, told garage I'm not paying either.

Welcome, the SS is a crude system, first guess is the battery, if its not less than 3 years old it probably won't work, just turn it off every time.

Don't sit stationary at the lights with your foot on the clutch for extended time, its not good for the clutch bearing.

So the main issue seems to be the stalling?

Start logging the times it stalls, the go back to the RAC and garage saying that the fault has not been rectified and still needs fixing, the "coil packs" are known to give issue( this is what makes the spark work) do you use the AC? (ideally leave it on all the time) is there a particular way it stalls or point do it just die or splutter to a halt ?

Hi John, it just dies when I'm about to pull off, if I am sat in traffic for any time, in or out of gear it seems to shudder, like it wants to stall so I hit the gas. I don't have the AC all the time...how would this help?
Thanks for the info

So it idle s reasonably if a bit rough, but dies just at the point of pulling away?
Ideally the a.c. should be left on to keep the system working properly, it's far worse to only use it occasionally but there's an added benefit when the a.c. cuts in at idle the computer speeds up the engine so is less likely to suffer stalling?

The "Stop/Start Unavailable" message is a bit of a red herring; it just means one of the myriad parameters required for S/S operation isn't being met, rather than a fault with the S/S itself.

Just to give an update..after a lot of head scratching, it seems that the problem was corroded earth leads. The main/worst one has been changed (the other is on back order) but so far so good!

Pleased to hear it's (probably) sorted, but it begs the question as to why something so basic wasn't discovered the first time...