Technical 500x Lounge 'Check Brake Control' Warning Light

[The Captain 007]

Hi Guys,
I have a 500x Lounge 2016 and get the 'Check Brake Control' warning as seen on the pic. It does go off after a while but then the small warning on the left of the pic says 'Brake Control Off'. It drives perfectly well and then that centre light flashes on again and usually stays on for a few mins. Problem is the car now needs an MOT and I dont think they will pass it like that.

I believe it is something to do with the lane sensors. Perhaps one is broken or something but I have no idea where they are or how to check them.

Anyone had similar problems?

PS I had to replace one fog light which was pushed back (from the front it seemed OK but when I got to the back of it, it was broken and the bulb had completely burned out and melted some of the housing) so it looks like it may have had a knock at some point. However there does not seem to be any other damage.

 

[The Captain 007]

Hi Guys,
I have a 500x Lounge 2016 and get the 'Check Brake Control' warning as seen on the pic. It does go off after a while but then the small warning on the left of the pic says 'Brake Control Off'. It drives perfectly well and then that centre light flashes on again and usually stays on for a few mins. Problem is the car now needs an MOT and I dont think they will pass it like that.

I believe it is something to do with the lane sensors. Perhaps one is broken or something but I have no idea where they are or how to check them.

Anyone had similar problems?

PS I had to replace one fog light which was pushed back (from the front it seemed OK but when I got to the back of it, it was broken and the bulb had completely burned out and melted some of the housing) so it looks like it may have had a knock at some point. However there does not seem to be any other damage.

I am adding part of the diagnostics report which I believe may be connected to this. I will post it in another thread if no one replies here.

Thanks any help or comments appreciated

 

[The Captain 007]

I am adding part of the diagnostics report which I believe may be connected to this. I will post it in another thread if no one replies here.

Thanks any help or comments appreciated

Is there no Fix for this?

I see a lot of views but no replies. Is this something no one has managed to fix?

Also there are similar threads a couple of years ago but no one ever seems to have resolved the issue bar one person who found a leaf on the sensor.

Does noone know of anyone who had this problem and solved it?

Any help appreciated

 

[s130]

See attached files. These cover your 3 DTCs.

 

[The Captain 007]

Hi, thank youfor that

Sorry I have not been back on here for a while.

OK .... here we go. Not sure if I have fixed it or not. First thing I did was play areound with the in-car menus etc which go into car setup and driver assist menus etc. I did that and turned the lane assist on and off a few times with stopping and starting a fewtimes. It seemed to succeed.

I booked the car in for an MOT and the night before I was driving (obviously on my way to the MOT ;-) and I was playing testing the lane assist to see if the car could 'drive itself' ...... it cant! The lane adjustment is a little too severe and sends you heading to the other lane line which sends you back again but at too much of an angle. So dont fall asleep depending on this lane assist. My guess is you would eventually end up on the roof ......

Sorry I digress. After all that playing I proceded normally and .... yep the Check Brake Control light came back on and the small light indicating that that system was off. Fixed it again and went for the MOT. To my surprise it is not part of the MOT so I passed.

When I got home I plugged the car into the portable device and went in to the recalibrating section of the collision avoidance system and went through the re-cal process. It is off again now but ..... well ..... let's wait and see. One posative thing is that the fault cleared whereas before even when I got the light to go off it still showed as a fault on the system.

I will let you know

 

[The Captain 007]

See attached files. These cover your 3 DTCs.

Hi S130 Thank you for these documents. I am afraid it is the first timeI have seen them. If you dont mind, I would like to know how you got them? ie what is KeyLearn?

The information shown seems to indicate that it needs reprogramming and that there is a procedure for teh dealer to do this. Obviously the car is not under warrantee (2016 (seems to be actually made in 2015)) so is this a 'call back' ? Or a chargable service? If so any idea what the dealer will charge to perform this reprogramming with the special tool indicated?

I used an iCarsoft machine and did not actually reprogram anything but got to the point where I clicked to say thereprogramming had been completed and then checked for DTCs and they had gone. I dont think I actually changed anything so I expect the lights will come back on. Will Fiat reprogram it for me FOC?

It could be that me telling the module it has been recalibrated and that it is now correct will fix it - not sure.

 

[s130]

OK a little story/info to inform others as well.

KeyLEARN *was* a USB stick based version of the eLearn DVD system but for later vehicles like the 500X. As I recall KeyLEARN came out at the end 2014?

At the same time the ePER parts system ceased at v84 (May2014) and KeyEPER was introduce. This was USB stick as well.

Whilst being on USB sticks when used on a computer then they would check with Fiat servers and updated themselves with all the latest engineering a parts information. I don't know the exact date but around 2018 Fiat withdrew both from sale and then only supported direct online access.

I don't know about KeyPER but KeyLEARN is actually a secure and encrypted USB stick. Whilst the the USB stick contents can (with difficulty) be copied the software will not run, files are encrypted etc. Basically the USB stick firmware together with the contents are locked to each other.

Many have tried to break the system and to my knowledge nobody has.

 

[The Captain 007]

That is very interesting and thank you very much for that input. I know there was something similar with Audi. I had one that decided to stop and would not run at all. I tried a few things with various programmers but was unsuccessful. Finally I took it somewhere that had an arrangement with Audi and plugged the car in and Audi reprogrammed the chip back to how it was supposed to be. I will cut the story short but it only worked for a while. When I got the car back I did an exact copy of the chip they had re-programmed. and sure enough a few weeks later it stopped again. Fortunately I had already acquired some of the IC chips (which were literally pennies) and programmed one to the dump taken from the original and had it soldered in. The car never went wrong again. It was a faulty chip. When I put the new chip in it went back to the mileage of a few weeks ago so I know it was accurate.

Sorry, that is a long winded and unrelated story but the theme has similarities. ie the manufacturer wants to take control of any and all work on the car :-/

 

[The Captain 007]

As for copying or unencrypting the USB, it depends what method they have used but almost certainly they will have used something like SHA256 and you will have no chance - same as Bitcoin ;-)

However, reading the reports you send, one states Fiat have an updated piece of softwareand your report seems to be advising Fiat staff how to install it to fix the problem.

I drove the car a little yesterday and thought the nightmare was back. The small light on the left came on showing that the crash system is off. The large light in the centre 'Check Brake Control' did not come on. I glanced to the right to see if I had the 'lane correction' system on and it was. Then as I drove another 100meters the light on the left disappeared. I hope it is gone for good but somehow I doubt it. So I wondered if this is a Fiat Recall or something? Your report shows that it is known and that there is updated software for it so it really should be a free service.