2012 Fiat 500: sudden loss of power

Filed Apr 1, 2019 · 100,000 miles · WV · fire

While driving car lost power and smoke began coming out from under hood. Immediately after the check engine light came on. Car was pulled to side of interstate. Immediately got out and looked under hood to see flames and smoke. Called 911 report the fire, dispatch said fire and police would arrive soon. Checked under the hood for a second time, there was considerable more fire and smoke. Proceeded to gather purse and bag from the backseat. Approximately 4 minutes had elapsed. By this time the car is completely engulfed in flames. I moved approximately 300 feet away in fear the car may explode. Another 4-5 minutes passed when police arrived and an additional 6-7 more minutes for the firefighters to respond. As for personal safety, driving had approximately 4 minutes to escape vehicle from check engine light appearing to the entire be completely encompassed with flames. Driver escaped unharmed, but was incredibly shaken by the scary events that unfolded in such a rapid period of time. Car was not able to be saved.

Filed Nov 22, 2016 · Transmission · CA

Clutch cover diaphragm spring may fatigue &/or fracture, resulting in an inability to disengage the clutch, shift gear, and potential loss of power that could result in a crash. This recall just came in the mail and is pretty serious. I am traveling for the holidays and my service station is unable to service my vehicle for over a month. For something this serious, that is an unacceptable time frame.

Filed Jul 18, 2016 · Transmission · 83,900 miles · PA

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 fiat 500. The contact stated that while driving and attempted to change gears, the gear shifter failed to change into gear. The vehicle would lose power and the clutch pedal failed. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the clutch was coming apart internally and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 16v302000 (power train) but the part needed for the repair was not available. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 83,900. Vin tools confirms part not available.

Filed May 12, 2015 · Airbags, Electrical · 25,000 miles · VA · crash

Was driving on the freeway and the car lost power. All lights on indicator dash went off. No steering ability and little/no control of vehicle. Failure resulted in a crash. No airbags deployed even though there was side impact to both sides and front end impact. The car was totaled.

Filed Jan 19, 2015 · Transmission · 61,200 miles · CA

While driving to the store, I turned into the store parking lot, I pressed the clutch to shift the car down into a lower gear, and I could not shift. The car kept rolling and I lost power steering and the vehicle died. Upon trouble shooting, the problem was a failed pressure plate not allowing the clutch to engage.

Filed Nov 14, 2014 · Engine · 35,400 miles · TX

I was driving to work on dallas north tollway cruising at normal highway speed. I was in 5th gear in the far left lane driving at consistent speed. I heard a pop sound and then a sound as if something were dragging. It was as if I had run over a block of styrofoam in a shopping cart. Immediately my car lost power followed by messages on the hud: low oil pressure; no oil pressure; see handbook. I immediately let my foot off the pedals and cruised to the shoulder. I saw oil or some other fluid had covered the rear of my car and was covering the ground underneath. The fluid had a reddish tinge to it. A piece of metal appeared to be hanging from underneath the car. Oil was everywhere. [xxx], the general manager of fiat of mckinney, told me that the engine needed to be replaced but that it would not be covered by the warranty because the maximum engine "over-rev" reached a value of 7300 a total of 26 times. Fiat vehicles are equipped with engine safety features which limit RPM to acceptable values. I have never reached that RPM in that vehicle. I received a copy of the fiat 500 diagnostics captured using a witech and it shows 3 pieces of data: total over rev counter = 26, max engine over rev RPM = 7320, total time exceeding max engine RPM 0.0 seconds. There are no times associated with the overrev instances so that one could deduce that an overrev caused the engine failure. If it says that the total time over max engine RPM is 0.0 seconds, how is this possible if it indicated 26 times? Since this is valued in total seconds, if the times added up to 0.0444 - which would be the maximum value possible before rounding up to 0.1, that means each of the 26 over rev instances would have lasted 0.0017 seconds. Even if going at 7320 RPM, the fiat 500 engine can only go 12.44 revolutions in 0.0017 seconds. There is no way that it could be measured this accurately.

Filed Jun 16, 2014 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 49,837 miles · OR

Pulling away from a stop light under light acceleration, multiple warning lights came on including "ESC disabled" and multiple light warnings for the gearbox, the steering, electronic throttle control, general malfunction light, ESC off light, and ESC malfunction light, and lost power steering, almost causing an accident while trying to get the car off the road. The car was shut off and restarted immediately with no change. After letting the car sit for a half-hour, the car was restarted and steering was restored and no warning light were on. The vehicle was driven home and parked until it was towed to the dealership. They drove the car over 50 miles and were unable to repeat the incident or identify the problem so they released the unrepaired vehicle to the owner.