General Calling all start 'n' stop owners!

[Ricard]

I drove our 500 last week, about 50 miles is all. Stop-start was working fine but 'she' still says it works when it feels like it and she's done 34.000 miles in the little bugger.

I'm back at my regular garage to look after things now, he can plug his computer-thingy into the 500 to deal with the service periods but I'm not asking him to Faff with Stop-Start. Fiat had their chance for two years, they've blown it with me.

I like the Fiat 500 but we're not having another Fiat.

 

[306maxi]

306 maxi explain to me why it does not work stop start with the car and driver in mind as ricard said i think it has some thing to do with voltage drop in the battery as my 12 plate car when it gets a good run stop start works a couple of times then stops again. i had 3 other fiats and got rid of them because of poor build quality then my wife wanted this car later when it goes it is the finnish of fiat no more in my household.

OK, so basically you DON'T want a system which is designed to stop S&S kicking in when the car is doing things like running headlights, heated mirrors and so on which could flatten the battery and cause the car not to restart.

 

[allan1954]

but stop start does not work with nothing extra working lights etc not on.

 

[306maxi]

that's the point......

 

[Super Uwe]

Allan and Ricard - I understand why you are frustrated with the system not working as you had hoped.

However it really just isn't worth hating it so much. I really would recommend you just press the disable button each time you drive and then you can just forget all about it.

I'm not saying that to be facetious, I just don't think it is worth the worry or the hassle. The car won't suddenly consume loads more petrol if you don't have it on, and to be honest I am sure there are ways in which you can drive sightly more efficiently to make up for any extra petrol consumption.

The 500 is there to be enjoyed, don't forget that!

 

[chas379]

Allan and Ricard - I understand why you are frustrated with the system not working as you had hoped.

However it really just isn't worth hating it so much. I really would recommend you just press the disable button each time you drive and then you can just forget all about it.

I'm not saying that to be facetious, I just don't think it is worth the worry or the hassle. The car won't suddenly consume loads more petrol if you don't have it on, and to be honest I am sure there are ways in which you can drive sightly more efficiently to make up for any extra petrol consumption.

The 500 is there to be enjoyed, don't forget that!

My OH, in just over 12 months, has not had an issue with S/S in her 1.2 Pop. I have had an issue with S/S on my TA Lounge but this was tied in with a faulty coil pack which has been resolved under warranty.

Looking at the Eco Drive data downloaded from the USB associated to my TA, I am advised I have saved 80 pence per month due to the working of the S/S system. So disabling the S/S is not going to break the bank re increased fuel consumption if I decided to do so. My Annual mileage is looking in the region of 9K.

 

[Mercky]

It is easy to turn it off for sure but thats not really the point. The issue is that the car has a built in system that does not seem to work consistantly or reliably. I think if I bought a 500 and SS acted up I'd be a bit peed off too, its reasonable to assume when you pay big money for a new car that everything functions correctly. I test drove a TA last week, as previously experienced by others on the forum, the SS would stop the car in traffic as you would expect and then start up about 10 seconds later of it's own accord and it did that continually throughout the test drive - that to me sais there is something wrong or is indicative of poor design.

 

[306maxi]

It is easy to turn it off for sure but thats not really the point. The issue is that the car has a built in system that does not seem to work consistantly or reliably. I think if I bought a 500 and SS acted up I'd be a bit peed off too, its reasonable to assume when you pay big money for a new car that everything functions correctly. I test drove a TA last week, as previously experienced by others on the forum, the SS would stop the car in traffic as you would expect and then start up about 10 seconds later of it's own accord and it did that continually throughout the test drive - that to me sais there is something wrong or is indicative of poor design.

Tbh it doesn't seem to generally work reliably, the issue seems to be people interpreting the system working as it should as it being unreliable.

 

[Super Uwe]

It is easy to turn it off for sure but thats not really the point. The issue is that the car has a built in system that does not seem to work consistantly or reliably. I think if I bought a 500 and SS acted up I'd be a bit peed off too, its reasonable to assume when you pay big money for a new car that everything functions correctly. I test drove a TA last week, as previously experienced by others on the forum, the SS would stop the car in traffic as you would expect and then start up about 10 seconds later of it's own accord and it did that continually throughout the test drive - that to me sais there is something wrong or is indicative of poor design.

I know what you are saying here; new cars cost a lot of money and people's expectations are naturally high. That's quite right too.

My point is simply that S&S is really not worth worrying about too much; the impression I get from the posters I quoted is that it has really affected their ownership of their 500s and they won't bother getting a Fiat again. To me that's a real shame.

Maybe my attitude comes across as defeatist, but when all's said and done I really can't get too worked up about it, especially when you have the option to just turn it off.

 

[Mercky]

If the radio intermittintly had distorted sound is it acceptable to get around the issue by turning it off?? Dont mean to be smart but in my opinion if it's in the car and you paid for it then it should work as intended be it SS, radio, aircon or whatever!

 

[306maxi]

If the radio intermittintly had distorted sound is it acceptable to get around the issue by turning it off?? Dont mean to be smart but in my opinion if it's in the car and you paid for it then it should work as intended be it SS, radio, aircon or whatever!

The point is that in 99.9999999999% of cases Start&Stop does actually appear to work as Bosch (let's remove Fiat from the equation here) intended it to work, it just seems that people don't seem to understand or like how it works.

 

[Mercky]

The point is that in 99.9999999999% of cases Start&Stop does actually appear to work as Bosch (let's remove Fiat from the equation here) intended it to work, it just seems that people don't seem to understand or like how it works.

Yeh thats fair enough I guess, Bosch do make good stuff be it freezers or automotive products so you would be inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt however the fly in the ointment may be how Fiat have implemented the Bosch product in their cars.

 

[KaZetec]

I struggle to understand why Fiat get Start Stop sooooo wrong!

I drove lots of BMW 1/3 series from 2010-2011 and every single one had start stop that work completely flawlessly. Didnt matter if you had the radio on, air con on, rear demister on, headlights on etc etc. it just WORKED!

What's fiats excuse? It's simply not good enough.

Only thing I can think of which would have helped was BMWs batteries are kept in the boot so maybe they don't get as cold as fiats.

 

[306maxi]

I struggle to understand why Fiat get Start Stop sooooo wrong!

I drove lots of BMW 1/3 series from 2010-2011 and every single one had start stop that work completely flawlessly. Didnt matter if you had the radio on, air con on, rear demister on, headlights on etc etc. it just WORKED!

What's fiats excuse? It's simply not good enough.

Only thing I can think of which would have helped was BMWs batteries are kept in the boot so maybe they don't get as cold as fiats.

500's only have smallish batteries as well....

 

[Super Uwe]

If the radio intermittintly had distorted sound is it acceptable to get around the issue by turning it off?? Dont mean to be smart but in my opinion if it's in the car and you paid for it then it should work as intended be it SS, radio, aircon or whatever!

I get where you're coming from, but my point is simply that disabling it each time means that you can get on with just driving the car and not worrying whether the system is going to kick in or not.

In some of the cases on here I really think that would be the best outcome for all involved. I just don't believe it's something that is worth the hassle going backwards and forwards to the dealer for (although for what it's worth I do think the radio, air con etc is worth fighting for!)

 

[AdrianB]

Well, we bought a Fiat 500 1.2 Lounge just a week ago, it's not two years old yet and as soon as we drove it home, we noticed the 'Start/Stop' disabled light come on and the General Warning Triangle. We took it back to the dealer (not a Fiat dealer) and pointed it out, but he said he had no idea what it was and had never seen this before and that if it persisted to bring it back. the car is under 3 months warrantly from the second hand car dealer and still under Fiat Warranty. Having read all the posts on this forum (and other forums) this problem seems to have been on-going since at least 2009 and I have yet to read any post from someone that has had this fixed. I am reluctant to take the car back to the seller, as I can't see them fixing it and am skeptical about this so-called Fiat Software Upgrade that's supposed to solve the issue. Also the Stop/Start disable button doesn't seem to be working, as it appears to do nothing when pressed.
The two warning lights coming on don't seem to have any pattern and come on at any time for no apparent reason. Anyone got a result from their Fiat dealer?

 

[306maxi]

Well, we bought a Fiat 500 1.2 Lounge just a week ago, it's not two years old yet and as soon as we drove it home, we noticed the 'Start/Stop' disabled light come on and the General Warning Triangle. We took it back to the dealer (not a Fiat dealer) and pointed it out, but he said he had no idea what it was and had never seen this before and that if it persisted to bring it back. the car is under 3 months warrantly from the second hand car dealer and still under Fiat Warranty. Having read all the posts on this forum (and other forums) this problem seems to have been on-going since at least 2009 and I have yet to read any post from someone that has had this fixed. I am reluctant to take the car back to the seller, as I can't see them fixing it and am skeptical about this so-called Fiat Software Upgrade that's supposed to solve the issue. Also the Stop/Start disable button doesn't seem to be working, as it appears to do nothing when pressed.
The two warning lights coming on don't seem to have any pattern and come on at any time for no apparent reason. Anyone got a result from their Fiat dealer?

Adrian, the button won't do anything per se, it will stop the stop&start kicking in, ie when you pull up at a junction the engine won't cut out. Being that the car was just recently purchased you may find that the battery is a bit low on charge. I'd suggest going for a nice long drive then seeing if S&S works. Read through this thread and you'll see there's a heap of things which are DESIGNED (please not designed) to stop start&stop cutting in.

 

[AdrianB]

Adrian, the button won't do anything per se, it will stop the stop&start kicking in, ie when you pull up at a junction the engine won't cut out. Being that the car was just recently purchased you may find that the battery is a bit low on charge. I'd suggest going for a nice long drive then seeing if S&S works. Read through this thread and you'll see there's a heap of things which are DESIGNED (please not designed) to stop start&stop cutting in.

Thanks very much for that. Are you saying that everyone that has had this problem with the warning lights coming on have resolved it by 'going for a nice long drive'? I hope so as we love this little car.

 

[jrkitching]

The point is that in 99.9999999999% of cases Start&Stop does actually appear to work as Bosch (let's remove Fiat from the equation here) intended it to work, it just seems that people don't seem to understand or like how it works.

I'm not sure that the evidence of this forum supports that view. There have been quite a few posts from folks who generally know one end of a spanner from the other which suggest FIAT's implementation of the system doesn't always do what it says on the tin and I'd certainly give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.

A friend's 500 developed intermittent S/S issues which worsened to the point where it would hardly ever activate. Initially fobbed off by the dealer, they gave the car to me to test & I couldn't get it to activate either, despite both charging the battery in the approved manner & giving it a good long run. Eventually the DET admitted there was a problem & after having the car for half a day returned it working as it should. They confessed to trying all manner of things, including downloading all the logs & performing a system reset but admitted they didn't know what was actually wrong with it, or which of the things they did resulted in the fix. It's worked fine since.

I'm pleased to say mine has thus far worked perfectly, but it seems to me the system is particularly sensitive to both the hardware & the software being properly adjusted & configured.

I'm sure some of the complaints are indeed down to user error, but equally I suspect there are a lot of systems out there that are just sufficiently out of adjustment to trigger unpredictable & difficult to diagnose random malfunctions that leave the dealers scratching their heads & their owners frustrated.

I'd agree it's hardly a dealbreaker, but FIAT would do well to consider the wisdom of fitting something that adds £200 or so to the price of the car which sometimes fails to work properly & which many folks don't even want in the first place.

I'd like to see FIAT knock that £200 off the list price & put S/S back on the options list, where IMO it belongs.

 

[loveshandbags]

I'd like to see FIAT knock that £200 off the list price & put S/S back on the options list, where IMO it belongs.

If it cost £360 as in the case of the UP for the Bluemotion option - would individuals pay for it ? Here since are Band A starts at 120grs/km S/S isn't an option on the UP and it's not been imported. Wouldn't be surprised if S/S is dropped on the 2013 1.2 like it has been on the New Panda. TA still needs it to be exempt on the Congestion charge.

When the car starts up after 'cutting out' makes no sense. It could wait for say 5 minutes or not go off in the first instance. Not too sure if you'd fire the programmer or the head of software design.

The Alfa guys are experiencing the same problems.

If I had S/S I would be very tempted to get a ODBC bluetooth dongle and get some gauges working on a Smart phone or a Sat Nav (newer Garmin have this feature) so that I could observe the battery charge levels. I would probably end up getting a spare battery which would allow the car to stay 'connected' whilst the battery was been given a 'proper' charge out of the car.