2016 Fiat 500 problems
NHTSA has received 27 complaints about the 2016 Fiat 500, and 33% of them involve drivetrain & axles. After that come brakes (11%) and electrical system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 27 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Drivetrain & axles 33% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 8 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 7 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 12,000 miles 23 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 | 13 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 8 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 1 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 1 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 0 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 0 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 0 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 23 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 12,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 8 complaints mention a crash; 7 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 98% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2016 ranks 5th most-complained-about out of 5 model years of the Fiat 500 with enough data (23 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 2016 fiat 500. While driving 45 MPH, the manual clutch failed and prevented the contact from changing gears. As a result, the contact drove into a cement barrier to avoid traffic. The driver and passenger frontal air bags failed to deploy, causing the contact's head to strike the steering wheel. The contact injured her neck, left shoulder, and left foot. The contact was transported to the hospital by family members. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was towed.
The car stopped working in the middle of the highway, started to give error messages and turned on engine service, transmission and parking brakes lights. A few seconds after we just got the message: drive mode unavailable and the car stopped. It was really dangerous and my family and I were in a terrible risk of have a pretty bad accident. We are really lucky that nothing happened to us, we could die that night.
On multiple occasions my wife's care has refused to srmtart with now answer from the dealership why, the brakes have been replaced by fiat under warranty and they still squeak when in reverse, and lately it says there is a tire sensor that is damaged or low along with drive mode unavailable, this keeps us from using the AWD system effectively, and fiat said they fixed the issue once before and it came back within the week.