Technical Hatch down by the gear stick sticks out, any solution?

[PuntoPilot]

Hey all.

I'm a newbie to the forum, yet a proud owner of a 500 Twin Air Plus. I'm based in the UK which is naturally right hand drive and was wondering if any of you modifiers out there know of any way in which the small hatch down the side of the gear box part of the dashboard is replaceable with one that doesn't stick out for the fingers (I think it's the fuse box). The hatch has a raised bump that allows fingers to pull open but in mainland Europe this would be situated on the passenger side. For myself I find that it digs permanently into my leg and makes the any journey super uncomfortable (actually quite painful) which is something Fiat clearly missed when they made the UK version.

Has anyone has a similar problem and found any fix? I'm guessing the fix would be to replace the whole hatch itself but finding one that meets the requirements and a flat lip seems impossible.

If anyone has any ideas that would be brilliant. I hope I'm not the only one with this problem. Lol! :bang:

Many thanks
Nick

 

[nottsfiat07]

I seem to remember this discussion being on the forum several years ago when the 500 was newly out. The consensus seemed to be that it bothered some people, but didn't bother others. It seems to be dependent on your driving position and how it lines up to your legs. Where I position myself in relation to the pedals it doesn't bother me, and I do rest my left leg against the plastic moulding around the gear stick when I'm driving. Maybe it's because I'm Italian shaped, short legs and long arms. Could you get away with moving your seat slightly? That might mean you leg doesn't line up with the lip on the cubby. Or maybe adjust the seat height. I agree it is a bit annoying though when manufacturers don't change everything around when they go from left to right hand drive, there are bits on our Peugeot that are like this.

 

[hippycinq]

My other half thinks this hatch is a good place to store his Macdonalds napkins..

 

[panda panda]

My iPod lives in there

Why not just file the plastic lip off? Experiment with one from the scrappy first

 

[deeyup]

I too find it a pain in the leg!

 

[jnoiles]

I've duct taped a lump of foam over it before trackdays before. Beyond that, no personal experience of a solution. Maybe take a crescent shaped cut out out of the plastic. So instead of a bit poking out you end up with a bit you can poke your finger in.