Technical Faulty Airbag sign Fiat 500

[Franx4]

Hello ,
Have just joined you lovely people ...thank you for having me .
I have a lovely Fiat 500. This is my 4th . Previously have leased the car. This time when I was told Fiat no longer do just an automatic version , so I decided to buy it. All ok until last week . A red light saying check airbag came up. It was due a check and MOT due 1st August.took it to my Fiat dealer in Hemel Hempstead , who are lovely ...but even thought they can't say airbag is faulty.they need to replace part, and cost is in excess of £2,500 . This is bonkers...anyone else had this.

 

[John202020]

What exactly part did they say needed replacing?

 

[Franx4]

Hi John,
They called it a reel I think. Eng said it might be a connection but because they couldn't check it ..whole "reel" nede replacing. Unfortunately, if airbag warning light can't be sorted out tge car woukd fail it's MOT initially tgey said part made in Ukraine and no idea how long or if it can be obtained .now tgey seem to think they can get an equivalent part ...said its so difficult to get to. It's 3 hours labour which is £500 per hour so labour is £1500 alone !!

 

[John202020]

Hi, so, there's a few possibilities all of which are possible to overcome, you need someone say a forum member with MES to look at what is wrong, even if it needs a "replacement" ecu it shouldn't cost that much ? So it could take longer to fix than the MOT but should be able to overcome, don't give up hope, from the guy who's car has been off the road 5+ weeks with brake pipe failure( work is in progress )

 

[Franx4]

Hi John,
Sorry for not understanding but what's an MES. Even the engineer agreed it was ridiculous. Fiat customer services nog zt all helpful. As previously I have only had the car until it was 3 years old then upgraded on a new lease have wondered if this is an issue after a few years. Can't see it's the customer's fault however old the car is , if you basically need to strip car to replace a part . Or you make repair prohibitive . Thanks so much for your speedy reply.
Franx

 

[steveras57]

who the hells getting away with charging £500 per hour? its a basic car not the freaking space shuttle !!!

 

[John202020]

It's either a software issue or hardware ie ecu, mes is fiat specific software to read the cars ecus that allows you to better pinpoint the issue, you can use second hand parts as long they are either reset or virginised, maybe a bit of a road but should be simple to sort in the end and at a fraction of the price

 

[Franx4]

Thanks everyone...appreciate all tge help ...will let you know what if anything Fiat do...I just get tge feeling the part seems to "fail" at around 4 years or so mostly out of gtee but tge repair cost is disproportionate to what is actually wrong. Madness

 

[puntodeltathema]

I'm sure this could be fixed for much less - but you do need to know the error code, perhaps via a friendly forum member on the MES register near you.

An airbag issue I had with a not-quite 3-year old car was the wiring to the door sensors fatiguing - which was fixed with a secondhand wiring loom for not much money.

 

[Franx4]

I'm sure this could be fixed for much less - but you do need to know the error code, perhaps via a friendly forum member on the MES register near you.

An airbag issue I had with a not-quite 3-year old car was the wiring to the door sensors fatiguing - which was fixed with a secondhand wiring loom for not much money.

I'm sure this could be fixed for much less - but you do need to know the error code, perhaps via a friendly forum member on the MES register near you.

An airbag issue I had with a not-quite 3-year old car was the wiring to the door sensors fatiguing - which was fixed with a secondhand wiring loom for not much money.

 

[Franx4]

I have sent an email to Fiat's Heoad Office UK Customer Service. I also spoke to a technical person , who said this is a really common fault on Fiat's.

This is definitely shades of a manufacturing fault.

It's a wiring reel that's required. The local Fiat dealer Palmers in Hemel Hempstead have been absolutely brilliant. But they need to get paid. Fiat needs to waive cost on this and should look to doing this for everyone. No way shoukd the repair be down to the customer. Effectively a faulty connection can't be fixed so because of safety you are forced to do it. No car woukd pass an MOT with faulty air bag sign on dashboard. So as a Customer your hands are tied.
Thanks so much again everyone hir all your helpful comments.

 

[chris3234]

Air bags just failing are definitely not. A common fault

Can't say I've seen many posts about that


Occasional pretensioner or side impact sensor sure

Neither of those should cost thousands

 

[Franx4]

So it's just the symbol on dashboard...don't even know if airbag itself is an issue...but car won't pass MOT without it being "fixed". To fix it you need to replace the whole reel.thats bonkers

 

[chris3234]

So it's just the symbol on dashboard...don't even know if airbag itself is an issue...but car won't pass MOT without it being "fixed". To fix it you need to replace the whole reel.thats bonkers

There will be a issue with the airbag system hence the light
But unlikely to be an airbag it's self but without the codes we can only guess

 

[Franx4]

Tks Chris... I agree...I think that's partly why I'm cross. Even the engineer admitted it probably isn't the airbag. Mire likely a system fault or a loose connection but apparently the only way to be sure is to replace the wiring Loom.
And as its won't pass an MOT without this being resolved the poor old customer has no choice but to get the repair done.
Personally think it's very shabby !!

 

[steveras57]

Is there anyone local to you with MES software who might be able to pin things down a little better at least you would have a better idea here to look!

 

[Franx4]

Am going to a local garage for a 2nd opinion, they are excellent. So hoping they can make some sense of this.
As previously all my Fiat's have been leased, it's only now this car is a tiny bit older that the issue has cropped up. I only bought it because they said they no longer make it just in automatic ( so next version up woukd be extra £15,000) as the automatic clutch had issues! hoping that in the future they might change their minds and bring one out.
Really shocked at cost of everything.