2012 Fiat 500 problems
NHTSA has received 539 complaints about the 2012 Fiat 500, and 38% of them involve drivetrain & axles. After that come electrical system (12%) and engine (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 539 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Drivetrain & axles 38% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 32 and 5
- Injuries and deaths
- 21 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 46,000 miles 397 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 88 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 87 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 78 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 67 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 29 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 16 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 11 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 5 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 10 |
| 200k+ miles | 2 |
What the data shows
Among the 397 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 46,000 miles. For drivetrain & axles specifically, the median reported mileage is about 48,000 miles (137 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 32 complaints mention a crash; 5 complaints mention a fire; 21 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 5 model years of the Fiat 500 with enough data (371 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 fiat 500. After being involved in a head on crash, the air bags failed to deploy. A police report was filed. The contact endured a shoulder injury and the passenger suffered a neck injury that required medical attention. It was unknown if a police report was filed or not. The vehicle was taken to a collision center and the vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
A vehicle in the right lane made a u-turn, crossing the left lane causing the fiat to t-bone the vehicle making the u-turn. The seat belt did not restrain the fiat driver and the driver contacted the steering wheel with enough force to cause a significant compression injury to the sternum. The driver was transported by ems to a hospital. The vehicle could not be driven and suffered nearly $13,000 damage.
I experienced unintended acceleration twice this week. The first incident took place on january 31, 2014. The other was february 1, 2014. Both incidents took place at low speeds. Basically as I was coming to a stop, the car just accelerated out of control. I was under 5MPH on both incidents. What it feels like is as I am coming to a slow down the transmission does not go down in gear and just thrusts and takes off. I ran into a hedge in the parking lot on the february 1st incident.
Car falls front and drops on a parking lot. I was manuvering to park and the car fall because the tire , shock,transaxle,ball joint fall off. This results in damage in the body and I have photos of the car at the site on my work. No pothole,no crash, just falls and breaking apart...updated 12/02/14 updated 12/22/2015 updated 9/7/2017