General Calling all start 'n' stop owners!

[flashyphotos]

Sorry to hear you're still having problems with the system - it must be very frustrating given that you'd had no trouble with your old 500.

When they say they blame the PDI procedure, are they essentially blaming themselves then?!

Yes the Tech said he had told the PDI people loads of times to give the 500s a good charge because the S&S would not work without it, but they tended to rush through it and not do it!

But that "Excuse" was negated by the fact that S&S did work when we picked it up from the dealer after the PDI and worked for the day before not working the next day.

It seems fairly clear that the battery is not holding a sufficient charge to keep the S&S active, 2 Charge cycles and it works for a day. Just now got to get them to do something about it,

Could probably get better service at another dealer but as its already been in there with the problem seems a bit unfair dumping it someone elses lap now!

Apart from the S&S the car is great, only other niggles were a couple of rattles (Roof Cables and Back Seat), which the dealer resolved straight away

 

[loveshandbags]

Given the number of reported issues with Stop Start I'm not surprised as highlighted by Mercky that it's not being fitted on the New Panda.

I wonder if there was a 'Blue motion' option on the 500 with re-generative braking, a S/S that worked with Climate activated, etc. would 'people' pay for it ?
I suspect that if the TA didn't have S/S fitted it wouldn't have been London Congestion exempt. The dualogic might have still qualified but in the 'hands' of a spirited driver that might have brought on another set of issues.

Have a little fascination for gauges in cars and loved the Voltmeter and Ammeters in my parent's Humber Sceptre. Aside from using a Multimeter, another option might be to get one of this - a Equus 3721 Battery and Charging Monitor

Have not tried it (& haven't come across a UK supplier) but would be interested in feedback from anyone who knows anything about them. It would be useful in another car that get's occasional use.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Equus-3721-Battery-and-Charging-System-Monitor-/160713554101?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item256b4638b5

 

[senicko]

They should call it "Start/Stop sometimes" I believe the added preposition would make Fiat a bit more honest in their title.

 

[jrkitching]

They should call it "Start/Stop sometimes" I believe the added preposition would make Fiat a bit more honest in their title.

Perhaps it's time to rename it FIAT's SMS system (Start, Maybe Stop) .

For all its intermittency, I haven't seen many posts about the system failing to restart the car after it does choose to stop it. Just as well, because that really would be a pain.

 

[306maxi]

They should call it "Start/Stop sometimes" I believe the added preposition would make Fiat a bit more honest in their title.

I seriously don't get the anger that some people show towards S&S. If you actually read this thread then it's incredibly easy to get your issues sorted.

and if S&S isn't working then the worst that happens is that your engine doesn't stop when you come to a complete stop. Heck both our Subaru and 500 do this as standard and it's not the end of the world.

As Jrkitching says, there's never been a report of an S&S car not restarting as far as we know so the system does everything a non S&S system would do.

 

[allan1954]

took my car to a friend who has his own buisness car repairs he put a meter on the battery it showes the battery 100% fully charged. so as for the start some times stop i am going to ignore it.

 

[senicko]

I seriously don't get the anger that some people show towards S&S. If you actually read this thread then it's incredibly easy to get your issues sorted.

and if S&S isn't working then the worst that happens is that your engine doesn't stop when you come to a complete stop. Heck both our Subaru and 500 do this as standard and it's not the end of the world.

As Jrkitching says, there's never been a report of an S&S car not restarting as far as we know so the system does everything a non S&S system would do.

The issue is that you paid for it and it should work. No anger there that I see.

 

[306maxi]

Thing is it works in a particular way so you don't end up not being able to start the engine again.....

 

[Sugarbug]

Had my Twinair Plus 1 week and it has 400 miles on the clock now... SS still not working, nor has it ever - but I don't get an error message either

Wouldn't have been mortified if the car came without SS ... but when you've got something you usually like it to work!

Going to give it until the weekend and will then contact the dealer

sugar x

 

[allan1954]

gutted my friend has just bought the ford car start stop brand new same engine 1.2 petrol.£6.995 on the road he said start stop works some times.

 

[RobinPJ]

gutted my friend has just bought the ford car start stop brand new same engine 1.2 petrol.£6.995 on the road he said start stop works some times.

I can understand you were cross with your friend for buying a Ford Ka, not a Fiat 500. But gutting him sounds a bit severe. Or did your lack of punctuation just cause confusion?

 

[306maxi]

rotflmao

 

[jrkitching]

gutted my friend has just bought the ford car start stop brand new same engine 1.2 petrol.£6.995 on the road he said start stop works some times.

For the same £6995 you could also have bought a brand new Mk3 1.2 Panda MyLife with A/C & 5 doors instead of S/S (far more useful IMO ).

The 500 carries a price premium for fashionablility & style, not for functionality or build quality.

As they say, you pays your money & makes your choice. They're all the same car under the skin.

 

[allan1954]

my local fiat garage charges just over £9.000 for the base model fiat panda new shape i had a look to small in side.robin lol. jr are you sure because i think the model you have listed is the old model.

 

[306maxi]

my local fiat garage charges just over £9.000 for the base model fiat panda new shape i had a look to small in side.robin lol. jr are you sure because i think the model you have listed is the old model.

Yes, the model that jrkitching referred to is the old model which is the Mk3 Panda.

Oh and both the new and old Panda are more spacious inside than the 500

 

[jrkitching]

jr are you sure because i think the model you have listed is the old model.

Yes, I'm talking about the old model Panda, which can still be bought new.

I just knew someone would confuse 'brand new' with 'new model', hence I added the Mk3 reference to help clarify what I was saying.

 

[allan1954]

i have had the mark 3 panda 1.3 tdi traded it in for renault clio 1.5 tdi now on the fiat 500.

 

[flashyphotos]

Well my 500c TA is in again for S&S not working,

First visit they checked and said battery was at 86% gave it a charge and sent me on my way,

It worked for 24 hours then stopped working totally again, no matter how long the run nothing.

Returned to Dealer again and they still tried to fob it off as Driver error, saying so many variables etc nothing to diagnose, but after some nagging they let me take them in the Demo 500 TA they had, same driving style settings etc, S&S worked every time. Took out mine Nothing!!

Tech Ticket opened with Fiat, and they are changing the battery to see if that is at fault, got to pick mine up again tomorrow lunch as the new battery has to have a 24 hour charge and then sit for 4 hours before use!!!.

Really feel they are clutching at straws a bit, could be the battery not fully charging could be the alternator not supplying a full charge, they openly said unless the computer indicates what the problem is they are stumped and could just go on changing bits if Fiat will let them.

Really not a satisfactory outcome at the moment, so will pick it up tomorrow with the new battery give it a blast down the Motorway to London as I am working overnight in the West End (10pm to 5am Oh Joy!!). Then a blast back up to the Midlands after Breakfast Friday Morning, so will see what happens then and if after that trip the system is working,

 

[flashyphotos]

Update on the above,

Picked it up Thursday afternoon with the new battery, Drove to London S&&S worked fine, left it overnight while working and drove back to the Midlands early Friday morning, S&S worked fine.

Drove to Birmingham Friday evening S&S Erratic and also on the way back home late Friday night.

Not worked since!! So booked in again for Tomorrow (Tuesday)

Think this will be last chance saloon for it, if it is not resolved this time (3rd attempt) and 5 days off the road out of its first 4 weeks, then it wil lbe returned with a rejection letter on the grounds of Not working at Described.,

 

[loveshandbags]

Update on the above,

Picked it up Thursday afternoon with the new battery, Drove to London S&&S worked fine, left it overnight while working and drove back to the Midlands early Friday morning, S&S worked fine.

Drove to Birmingham Friday evening S&S Erratic and also on the way back home late Friday night.

Not worked since!! So booked in again for Tomorrow (Tuesday)

Think this will be last chance saloon for it, if it is not resolved this time (3rd attempt) and 5 days off the road out of its first 4 weeks, then it wil lbe returned with a rejection letter on the grounds of Not working at Described.,

I doubt that you would be successful on rejecting a new 500 on the grounds of S/S not working reliably but then I'm no legal eagle. If on the other hand you had paid for S/S as a separate option like the Bluemotion option on other marques then I would suspect there might be a possibility. If it was me I might just buy a high quality brand new battery for £100 and see if it made any difference.