Technical Panda 100 rattling

[EvilJaxx]

Hey

This has driven me insane over the last few weeks, basically a clonking/rattle developed behind my head towards the rear of the car around the back plastic which is underneath that little square bit of glass. I have had all the plastics out the seats everything trying to narrow this clonk down as its really loud when corners and going over any small or large bump in the road.

So what have I found, well the noise goes away when the seats are out and comes back when the seats are in so after alot of trail and error I have found that the rear seat catch, thats the bit that latches the entire seat onto the metal bar just isnt snug anymore and the seat is rattling around on the metal bar itself and my god its annoying. I fixed this by cutting some 1.5mm thick rubber into a small square shape and putting it into the latch itself and then shut the seat and noise has gone however.....

My passenger side front door has started to rattle about 2 weeks ago and hey guess what, yes its the catch on the door rattling on the metal bar as I put the rubber in same method and the noise stops not only that the rear passenger door has started to rattle as well all within 2 months of each other!!??! I could just have rubber in as a permanent fix but if anyone opens the door the rubber falls out its only 2 years old the car should this be put forward to Fiat?

So any ideas if you guys have the same issue and could this be due to them being plastic on metal rather than metal on metal and should I speak to Fiat about the bad design and wanting them to have a look and replace!

Cheers

 

[BenP]

Door catches are generally adjustable. Not exactly sure how, but that's what the guys in my bodyshop tell me!

Sometime the rear seat catches are adjustable too.

Ben

 

[EvilJaxx]

Looking at the design it appears rather basic to be honest, the bars are fixed into place so I don't believe they can be adjusted unfortunately and the catch itself has a small plastic buffer which seems to move a small amount of play which must be for the impact slam of the door other than that its simply a clip that comes down and latches over something else in the catch and around the bar.

Looking closely you can actually see the plastic of the catch now has a lip over the edge like its being worn away very slowly but enough to make it no longer a tight fit, I will speak to my dealer on Monday rattling after 2 years is unacceptable especially on things like catches, wouldn't mind if it was the cheap plastics but never had a car that has done this before never mind of 3 -4 of them at the same time

Got to love the Fiat build quality, I do

 

[S-X-I]

I has the same problem with the door locks rattling on my old Corsa and there is a very simple solution for this.

Grease up the locks with some vaseline and this stops the two materials knocking against each other.