Hi,
The power steering finally gave up on my 05 punto on Christmas Day. Took it to garage on 27th December and didn't get it back until 8th January. The garage told me I had to bring it back on the 11th (tomorrow) to have A light switched off on my dashboard (told me everything worked fine the light was on because they had replaced stuff and it needed resetting) got in the car to find my dashboard telling 'ESP failure', 'hill-holder failure' and 'airbag failure'. Later on that day I found the horn wasn't working either. I believed that the lights just need resetting until I realised my hill holder is actually not working. Does this mean the other lights are true too?! Dreading taking it back because feel like they're lying to me. If someone can give me some advice I may have a leg to stand on if they start telling a load of lies
Thanks, Louize

louizebedz said:

Hi,
The power steering finally gave up on my 05 punto on Christmas Day. Took it to garage on 27th December and didn't get it back until 8th January. The garage told me I had to bring it back on the 11th (tomorrow) to have A light switched off on my dashboard (told me everything worked fine the light was on because they had replaced stuff and it needed resetting) got in the car to find my dashboard telling 'ESP failure', 'hill-holder failure' and 'airbag failure'. Later on that day I found the horn wasn't working either. I believed that the lights just need resetting until I realised my hill holder is actually not working. Does this mean the other lights are true too?! Dreading taking it back because feel like they're lying to me. If someone can give me some advice I may have a leg to stand on if they start telling a load of lies
Thanks, Louize

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why didnt they reset it they have had car enough ?
all unrelated electrical faults, sounds more like a defective battery as if its not up to
full voltage the electronic control units start throwing up random faults even when there is actualy no fault but because it thinks there is it disables the function ie: power steering , esp etc
a new battery should cure this

It couid be just EARTH related,

Thanks for your reply.
When I picked the car up the battery was flat (they had to jump start me) could this be the reason? Will it rectify itself or is the battery damaged now? Also, do u think my airbag is disabled then?

louizebedz said:

Thanks for your reply.
When I picked the car up the battery was flat (they had to jump start me) could this be the reason? Will it rectify itself or is the battery damaged now? Also, do u think my airbag is disabled then?

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think they have not done anything with it and it has been stood for days and the battery went flat. i would fit a new battery ( see i suggested battery even before you mentioned it being flat )

get a new battery then get the codes reset.

Thank u very much.
Is it safe to drive with the airbag light on?

Does the car start ok?

Not realy safe to assume this is going to be ok to drive due to potential steering issues/might end up being dangerous,
iwouidnt recomend it anyway,

Yeah it starts up fine was just the first time when I picked it up from the garage

oldhammer said:

Does the car start ok?

Not realy safe to assume this is going to be ok to drive due to potential steering issues/might end up being dangerous,
iwouidnt recomend it anyway,

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drive it straight round to halfords and get a new battery fitted
will be fine. when you say is it ok to drive, depends on your interpretation of drive
ie: is it ok to carry on using for weeks without sorting = NO
is it ok to drive to halford or back to garage = YES

Please let us know how you got on so others can benefit from your problems


Jon

louizebedz said:

Yeah it starts up fine was just the first time when I picked it up from the garage

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ithink you need Autoelectrician, or someone who knows punto's.
Garage shouidnt of allowed you drive it away in that condition,

Warning lights dont appear for no reason'.
It sounds like garage didnt have aclue and run out of paitience with it
hence...bring it back another day,

this is no good, find another garage,

Hi,

Firstly as Oldhammer says I would be VERY wary about driving this car until the issues are resolved.

To me it sounds like they have bodged the EPS change and god knows what else.

They shouldn't have released the car to you (the customer) without first checking the newly installed column for faults. This would involve plugging the car in to diagnostics, which would also mean that IF the faults simply needed clearing it would have taken a few extra seconds and a few extra clicks to clear them.

Secondly, technically the new column should be calibrated. Obviously they have not done this, as again they would have cleared the codes if it were that simple. (ok i know some people do change the EPS without calibrating them but the point is if the job is done properly it SHOULD be done)

Thirdly, the horn not working.... resetting codes / changing batterys etc will not cure this. I suspect they have not re-assembled the column/ clock spring properly, or damaged it during the procedure. Again, what else have they not done properly?

With any air bag warnings, it advisable to go to your nearest fiat dealer (or DECENT independent asap, as potentially your airbag will not fire in the event of an accident, or MAY fire inadvertently and cause a serious crash.

Alan

my take?
they changed the complete steering but maybe they started the car whilst airbag and horn button not reconnected ,once codes set for airbag it needs diagnostic to clear it and maybe they are getting someone in tomorrow on the 11th to do this?
not sure with hill assist but i wouldn't dismiss them if they tried their best because if they aren't used to puntos how would they know
the alternative would be a fiat dealer at great cost or an independant fiat repairer but

listen to this

car came in to me 6 weeks ago for mot and it failed on airbag light,i had to change the ecu in the end and customer went off happy,they came back yesterday and said power steering not working they think i broke something whilst doing mot and actually said this,they are now not welcome anymore at my place

you couldnt make it up

Because it Neglegence to allow someone or atleast not put it in writing
that the vehicle is unroadworthy, (disclaimer)

Think powersteering cutting in and out on roundabout catching you off guard,
not safe,

its customers car at end of day.. but garages shouid make it clear it isnt safe for road use with its present defects,

Back street garage wouid overlook that,

oldhammer said:

Because it Neglegence to allow someone or atleast not put it in writing
that the vehicle is unroadworthy, (disclaimer)

Think powersteering cutting in and out on roundabout catching you off guard,
not safe,

its customers car at end of day.. but garages shouid make it clear it isnt safe for road use with its present defects,

Back street garage wouid overlook that,

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we dont have all the facts only one side

s and b said:

we dont have all the facts only one side

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Very true

s and b said:

we dont have all the facts only one side

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and no one mentioned that they have actualy changed the steering column hence my comments,. - other wise i would not have commented as such

jon1612 said:

and no one mentioned that they have actualy changed the steering column hence my comments,. - other wise i would not have commented as such

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it was a comment not a dig
remember
all customers are liars
and thats not a dig at the OP either
its something i see daily

s and b said:

it was a comment not a dig
remember
all customers are liars
and thats not a dig at the OP either
its something i see daily

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no problem, still suspect that the battery was flat, not the way to give a car back to a customer

s and b said:

it was a comment not a dig
remember
all customers are liars
and thats not a dig at the OP either
its something i see daily

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Put that brush & tin of tar away,

Ok, I'm taking the car tomorrow to them and telling them I'm not happy. if they can't fix it then I'm taking it to a nearby fiat specialist. They can't just turn the lights off to make out nothing wrong can they? I agree that there's something dodgy or bodged about it, I'm just fed up now it's been over 2 weeks without my car back to how it used to be.