General Did our new car bypass quality control alltogether?

[JimR123]

...or is the usual standard of 500's?...

Since we picked our new 500 start'n'stop up yesterday, we've had the following problems:

- A constant rattling (which sounds like it's in the dashboard).
- The vanity mirror on the passenger sunvisor still has plastic covering it.
- Last night, the "general failure" light kept coming on, with the "start 'n' stop disabled" light at the same time. Doesn't say in the manual what this combination means, and it seemed quite random.
- Today, the "car protection system failure fiat code" light has come on, whilst driving along.

Are we really unlucky, or does this happen to all new 500 owners?

Already called dealer to book in to be looked at, for everything except "car protection system failure" light, as it happened after I spoke to them. Should I ring them back about this light too?

I thought new cars were supposed to pass a "Pre-Delivery Inspection" before going out to customers?!? If it was, they surely would have noticed the rattle and the plastic on the mirror...

We were really looking forward to our new little car, but this has left a really sour taste in the mouth...

 

[Ffoxy]

Dealer Fail IMO.

Change your dealer, Warranty can be covered at any dealer, might be a transfer fee £30 ish I think but your dealer sounds poor...

 

[JimR123]

Dealer Fail IMO.

Change your dealer, Warranty can be covered at any dealer, might be a transfer fee £30 ish I think but your dealer sounds poor...

They've had good feedback on here. They seem quite friendly and this is the first bad experience we've had with them.

I guess the real test will be how they fix the problems...

 

[JimR123]

Funny thing is, when I called them about it, service department guy said that he thinks there's a software update to fix the start'n'stop light issue.

If so, why wasn't the update installed BEFORE they gave us the car?!?!

 

[Ulpian]

Is leaving the plastic film on the mirror really worth mentioning. Can't you remove it yourself?

 

[JimR123]

Is leaving the plastic film on the mirror really worth mentioning. Can't you remove it yourself?

It looks like you have to snap a piece of plastic out of the sunvisor to get to all the cover plastic, otherwise it will still have the edges around it, which would look really nasty. It's difficult to describe, but basically it looks like they fixed the frame in to hold the mirror in, before they noticed that the green plastic cover isn't supposed to be there.

When we noticed it, we didn't want to try and get the plastic frame off, in case we break it in the process, and we were happy for it to wait until it goes in for its first service.

Looks like they'll have an earlier opportunity though...

 

[pearce_jj]

Don't know where this £30 fee has come from, your warantee is with Fiat and servicable by any Fiat dealer.

 

[RobW]

£30 transfer fee is only required at change of owner for the 3rd year dealer supported warranty, and even then the dealer isn't named

 

[Ffoxy]

Don't know where this £30 fee has come from, your warantee is with Fiat and servicable by any Fiat dealer.

Final year dealer waranty. Other dealer hasnt made a bent cent on the car.

 

[JimR123]

So has anybody else had similar problems to us? Is this normal service from Fiat?

 

[pearce_jj]

Just try not to get worked up on it. Rattle - hopefully easy fix. Mirror, I mean come on. The two electrical issues potentially worrying so need to get resolution (or not) as soon as possible, in case you need to reject the car.

 

[JimR123]

Just try not to get worked up on it. Rattle - hopefully easy fix. Mirror, I mean come on. The two electrical issues potentially worrying so need to get resolution (or not) as soon as possible, in case you need to reject the car.

I agree.

But I presumed that a new car would be in its best possible condition, and things should get worse as it gets old, not start off with problems.

 

[poggy]

Final year dealer waranty. Other dealer hasnt made a bent cent on the car.

It's a UK dealer network warranty arranged by Fiat UK, not a selling dealer warranty. The £30 is only for change of owner.

 

[Venters]

...or is the usual standard of 500's?...

Since we picked our new 500 start'n'stop up yesterday, we've had the following problems:

- A constant rattling (which sounds like it's in the dashboard).
- The vanity mirror on the passenger sunvisor still has plastic covering it.
- Last night, the "general failure" light kept coming on, with the "start 'n' stop disabled" light at the same time. Doesn't say in the manual what this combination means, and it seemed quite random.
- Today, the "car protection system failure fiat code" light has come on, whilst driving along.

Are we really unlucky, or does this happen to all new 500 owners?

Already called dealer to book in to be looked at, for everything except "car protection system failure" light, as it happened after I spoke to them. Should I ring them back about this light too?

I thought new cars were supposed to pass a "Pre-Delivery Inspection" before going out to customers?!? If it was, they surely would have noticed the rattle and the plastic on the mirror...

We were really looking forward to our new little car, but this has left a really sour taste in the mouth...

Run for the hills paw!
Seriously a new car is made up of thousands of components. I've always considered it a general rule that you will have more problems in the first 6 months of the life of a car than at any other point in the cars lifetime.

1, Rattle happen in many new cars. Obviously it can't be diagnosd over the internet. But I doubt your engine is about to explode.

2, the plastic covering the mirror is valeter fail. Pick out a corner and carefully remove. Simples.


3,+4 Are both issues that have appeared after any quality control checks would have been done. Unless you hope a quality control check can find faults before they are even there.
Yes I'm sure this post will be met with I have spent 12K on a new car It shold be bloddy perfect. Well yes it should be. However in reality this isn't a utopian society we live in where everything is perfect.

Anyone who has not made a slight mistake in their entire life I suppose can complain about other people. Until then remember the people building and designing these car are human. Just like you.

Soryy Jim that isn't totally directed at you. Just keep getting pissed off with the way people expect so much but themselves deliver so little.

 

[nottsfiat07]

Just to reiterate, you don't need to take the plastic surround off the mirror to get the protective film off, it pulls off completely and doesn't leave any ragged bits. Mine was on for several months until I noticed it. You might also want to have a look at the windows logo near the USB port, as mine had a protective film on that they hadn't taken off during PDI/valeting either.

 

[306maxi]

It looks like you have to snap a piece of plastic out of the sunvisor to get to all the cover plastic, otherwise it will still have the edges around it, which would look really nasty. It's difficult to describe, but basically it looks like they fixed the frame in to hold the mirror in, before they noticed that the green plastic cover isn't supposed to be there.

When we noticed it, we didn't want to try and get the plastic frame off, in case we break it in the process, and we were happy for it to wait until it goes in for its first service.

Looks like they'll have an earlier opportunity though...

I had the same on the mirror at my dealer. All you need to do is use your nail to rip the covering and then pick at the plastic covering and then just pull at a 90 degree angle to the mirror, it will all come off in one big sheet. You can't unsnap the mirror surround from what I can see

 

[grimwau]

A constant rattling (which sounds like it's in the dashboard).

I have the same, seems to be coming from behind the centre fresh air vents but as it is only on tickover I haven't mentioned it to dealer. Presssing anywhere in the immediate area does nothing to minimise the noise so I am pretty sure it is "in the dashboard" like yours.

The vanity mirror on the passenger sunvisor still has plastic covering it.

My wife thought that it was tinted glass and quite liked the blue colouring. However as she moaned it wasn't a very good relective surface I took it off and as you say it is difficult to remove it all as it is wrapped around instead of just a covering on the glass.

 

[306maxi]

My wife thought that it was tinted glass and quite liked the blue colouring. However as she moaned it wasn't a very good relective surface I took it off and as you say it is difficult to remove it all as it is wrapped around instead of just a covering on the glass.

Wife FAIL!

 

[306maxi]

Run for the hills paw!
Seriously a new car is made up of thousands of components. I've always considered it a general rule that you will have more problems in the first 6 months of the life of a car than at any other point in the cars lifetime.

Couldn't agree more

If Fiat really wanted to miminise the amount of failures in new or near new cars they'd run the cars for a thousand miles before the customer got it. Wonder if people would be happy about that?

 

[JimR123]

Apologies if I sound like I'm complaining, because I'm not.

I guess I'm just suprised that things weren't perfect, but then it is our first new car.

Being involved with technology everyday, I also appreciate that there's a lot that could go wrong.

The thing with the mirror... We just didn't want to damage our new baby, is all.

I have to say, despite the quirks, we still think the car's great!