Hi all, first time posting! I’ve just got back from Fiat as my 500L 2020 battery and stop and start stopped working around 3 weeks ago. I was told that I’m not driving it enough for the battery to charge and I need to drive 12 miles, leave it for an hour and drive it for another 12 miles and repeat this three times and it should then kick in! I bought the car because I use low mileage, and in lockdown even less! I pay 19p a mile and now being told to do more miles because the battery is clearly not sufficient for a low mileage car. Is anyone else having issues like this? Thanks Nat

Stop start does need a well charged battery to function.

Yes lots of people have problems with stop start and short journeys.

I've not heard the drive 12miles wait an hour drive 12 miles etc before.

Some people buy a battery charger if they have an accessable socket + nearby parking and periodically charge the battery.

Some people just ignor the stop start not functioning.

The drive 12 miles thing is a red herring unfortunately.

The battery does need to be in tip top condition for SS to function however. The cold at this time of year plus short journeys won’t be doing it any favours unfortunately.

I did wonder about the 12 mile thing and thought as a woman I’d fall for it!

I understand the weather scenario but I feel disappointed with the car. I’ve also received a recall, something to do with a wire on the battery - my punto was more reliable!

Nat70 said:

I did wonder about the 12 mile thing and thought as a woman I’d fall for it!

I understand the weather scenario but I feel disappointed with the car. I’ve also received a recall, something to do with a wire on the battery - my punto was more reliable!

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It is very disappointing that people are still being told rubbish by employees of dealerships. No wonder people of all genders but especially females feel hood winked.

possibly it's a case of the person who knows the stop start system is not allowed to talk to the customer because they have dirty hands . so dirty hands explains to someone with clean hands that after starting the car it can take a minimum of 12miles(Or say an hour of driving) to put back into the battery the energy that came out to start the car.
Clean hands wasn't fully paying attention to dirty hands(because dirty hands has dirty hands clean hands feels superior to dirty hands).
Clean hands goes back to the customer and talks down to the customer and gives a mashed up version of the explanation. End result customer unhappy, clean hands says "I just told customer what dirty hands told me" dirty hands gets told off and is unhappy.
Clean hands goes back to selling cars with a smug look knowing they are superior to everyone.

I know it is not always the case but it still happens .
Pugglt Auld Jock

Back on track...please don't worry about the stop start not working it is saving enough energy to start the car next time you want to start the car manually.

Lots of people hate the stop start and turn it off. The stop start system reduced the vehicle emmisions when new car tested, so you pay less road tax , if it's turned off or not working your road tax doesn't go up.

In your post you said you pay 19p per mile

Is that in addition to fuel, road tax, insurance? Are you on some kind of lease?
Just curious as I don't know how those things work.

Best wishes

Jack

PS lots of people are having problems with batteries during lock down due to reduced usage.
The stop start on your car has shut it's self off to preserve the amount of energy in the battery so you can start the car next time you want to, rather than leave you with a flat battery unable to start the car.
The batteries fitted to cars with stop start systems are substantially larger/better than those fitted to non stop start cars.

Thanks for your reply Jack, I must say the dirty hands guy actually came out and spoke AT me with the clean hands guy! And I was clearly the one beneath them both. A very different story when I was buying the car - they couldn’t be more helpful!

Regarding the 19p per mile, yes I have leased it. So it’s £103pm and I got the first 700 miles free then it’s 19p per mile in the first year - in the second year you get the first 500 miles free then pay for miles over that. I only do around 3000/4000 per year - I’ve only done 1400 in 7 months due to lockdown. This is on top of road tax, insurance and fuel...

Take care
Nat

I'm so sorry to hear that dirty hands behaved in that way too , disgraceful )-:

Which dealership did this happen in?
Did you have to pay ££££s up front as well as the monthly fee?

Recalls can be normal fingers xed the repair will be quick so you don't waste too much time there.

Hi, my 500L gets driven regular basis (1.6D) and the stop start works when it feels like it! Don't worry too much as the weather, what components you are using all affect the stop start criteria.