"takata recall" mechanical defect has been detected. My car was on the highway when suddenly it randomly began stating to "check transmission see handbook." I took it to a Fiat dealership in which I immediately advised them of the diagnosis code P0741 had been provided to them at drop off before any work was performed - tony (the service advisor) said that was not helpful could mean anything. (diagnosis means: Torque converter clutch circuit performance or stuck off) I was advised numbers lies and was told I needed a new transmission. Turns out there is a fault in the wiring of the system and computer which is now causing car to not stay in gear. I want to raise all awareness to this issue. Especially since the purchase of this car (only 58K in mileage) I have had to personally replace the following: Number of radiator repairs: 2 sunroof: 1 transmission: Faulty mechanical error total tune ups: 2 brake installments: 3 I was not made aware of any prior issues before purchase all issues have occurred due to manufacture negligence! no accidents have occurred. Please assist me in any way possible.

- Bear, DE, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Fiat 500 abarth. While driving approximately 55 mph, the clutch failed and prevented the transmission from shifting out of gear. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the clutch pressure plate would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 26,000.

- West Haven, CT, USA

At about 36,000 miles it became difficult to change gears and then shifter suddenly became impossible to control while on the road. Got off the road and car would not go into first gear, and when trying to reverse it made a horrible grinding sound. Car was immobile. Turns out that some 2012 Fiat have been reported to have faulty pressure plates installed. Dealership said it was my pressure plate and quoted a price of 1100+ as they said clutch is not covered under warranty. I fought that and Fiat Chrysler corporation ended up paying for the new clutch assembly. A photo of pressure plate were emailed by dealer with the note: As you can see here in the picture the fingers for the pressure plate are bent in 3 places causing the issue you are experiencing. The good news is I have spoken with ericka from Fiat Chrysler headquarters and this will be warrantied by them at no cost to you for the parts, labor or rental.

- Oakland, CA, USA

While in motion (1st gear) and about to shift into second the clutch became completely frozen and the shift lever was unable to move gears. This was while in traffic. The vehicle had to be shut down in order for the shifter to be put into neutral. The vehicle has 60,000 miles on it. No previous clutch issues were apparent.the service advisor told us it was a failure of the clutch pressure plate and consequently the slave cylinder. We were told that the clutch was not worn beyond normal wear and tear for the mileage so this was not caused by user error but defective pressure plate. We were told that because the transmission was out we might as well replace the clutch but it was not required. Total repair cost was $1030 including the pressure plate, slave cylinder, clutch and labor. This issue has occurred on numerous 2012 Fiat 500's based upon other owners. This is a severe safety hazard from a defective part. The new part has a new part number but I was told this has no relation to pressure plate updates even though newer 500's don't seem to have the issue. Also noticed was the cars clutch feels completely different than it did upon purchase of the vehicle in 2012 through prior to the repair. Now the clutch pedal exhibits a completely loose feeling without tension as it did the past 4 years.

- Davie, FL, USA

Clutch would not disengage, could not shift into gear from neutral, in middle of traffic, had to shut engine off, put in gear, start in gear and drove to safe location[city street] [11/20/2015] [17,500 miles on car]$1400 for clutch replacement

- Napa, CA, USA

The clutch failed without warning, preventing the car from shifting gears -- from second to third gear in regular, city-street traffic (lyndale ave., in minneapolis, mn). At the moment of failure, I heard/felt a distinct yet light "thump" as I pressed down on the clutch pedal. The car only has 40K miles on it.

- Minneapolis, MN, USA

I was driving along at about 30 mph and my clutch pedal became very difficult to push in and I could not shift. I was lucky enough to turn into a parking lot where I could not put the car into gear. Once the car was off I could move about the gears but once the car was on the pedal would not go down all the way and I could not get it into gear. There has been zero slipping or grinding of the gears and I have less than 30,000 miles. I am currently awaiting if my warranty will cover this issue. From what I have seen online the pressure plate has been cracked out warped so I plan to fight to have this covered under warranty. To think that a clutch would go out in 2.5 years and under 30,000 miles if crazy but when I spoke with Fiat dealership he made it seem that they see it all the time and customer care at first said they have seen it multiple times....updated 7/19/16

- Oregon City, OR, USA

The transmission nearly fell apart while meging on the freeway. I now need a new transmission on a car with 46,000 miles on it.

- Asheville, NC, USA

Clutch failure in traffic after leaving a stop light. No prior warning/signs that the clutch would fail (ie. No slipping). Car started in first just fine, went to shift into second and the clutch would not disengage. The pedal was completely stiff and was unable to be pressed all the way to the floor. I then drifted to the side of the road where I was able to get the car to stop, thankfully I was not going at a higher speed otherwise this problem could have potentially caused a wreck. At this point in time I tried to shift my car into gear (with the car off), but the clutch wouldn't even allow any gears to engage. I had the car towed to my home, and then Fiat had the car towed to the nearest dealer of my choice (I still had to pay for the Fiat towing). I am currently pending a call from the dealership to diagnose + fix my car, which will most likely have to be payed out of pocket. This is most likely a manufacturer defect, as has been stated in numerous other clutch failure reports for this year's make.

- Washington, PA, USA

I was driving down a busy thoroughfare at around 30 mph when my clutch suddenly stiffened up and became impossible to engage. I tried in vain to shift out of third gear as I neared a stoplight, but the gear stick wouldn't budge and the car ended up stalling in the middle of the road. I managed after a minute to yank the stick into neutral and coast down a small hill into an empty parking space. In the end, it was a dead clutch after only 30,000 miles. This could have easily caused an accident had it occurred on the freeway or in a busy intersection.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

While driving the vehicle, and a need to shift occurs, the clutch will lockup, completely frozen, making it impossible no matter how hard you push, to depress the pedal making it impossible to shift gear. This happens every 20,000 miles and each time, dealer service dept says it's a "bent pressure plate". but Fiat classifies this a "wear & tear" item and cannot help. Dealer service wants $2000 each time (though independent repair shops likely would charge less). This has already happened twice and Fiat will not help. Hard to believe that Fiat believes this is normal expected behavior on their vehicles, for owners to have to fork out $2000 every 20,000 miles for new pressure plates. When it happens to you, it can be very dangerous depending where you happen to be at the time. Internet searches for Fiat pressure plate will show a pattern of this issue, and no official response from Fiat.

- Renton, WA, USA

Pulled up to a stop light, depressed clutch and shifted to neutral. When light turned green, I depressed the clutch and it locked up and would not engage allowing me to shift into a gear. Mechanic said its a bent pressure plate and the entire clutch assy. Needs replaced for ~$2,000. Obviously bending of the pressure plate is not "normal wear and tear" and its also very rare to have a clutch fail so early (20,000 miles). Unfortunately Fiat is saying this is a normal wear and tear issue and is not covered under warranty. Reading the forums, this seems to be a very common problem with manual shift Fiat and is a terrible safety hazard (think if the clutch locked up at highway speeds preventing someone from shifting out of gear). This part should be recalled and replaced on all manual transmission Fiat and costs fully covered.

- Alexandria, VA, USA

The car got stuck with mud under the car. When we go it pulled out and took it to the dealer would have cost us 3000 to have it fixed. That way to much and they told there was problem with the engine now. They wouldn't work a deal on it. When driving home we noticed thry left a plate from under the sterling will and had rip the black peace that wrapes oround it.we to it to a tramission place in town where they fixed the transmissin, the car drive like a mess I just afraid to go lomg distance.

- Kennedale, TX, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Fiat 500. While driving at 35 mph, the gear shifter failed to shift into third gear. In addition, the contact attempted to shift back to the second gear and the gear shifter failed to shift but remained between the second and the third gear. As a result, the vehicle failed to move forward. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle was taken to a dealer who diagnosed that the clutch needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 29,623.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

Within several weeks after purchase of Fiat 500 we encountered a problem starting the engine. Upon turning the ignition key the engine responded with an electrical motor whine but did not start. After several repeated attempts the engine would start and function normally. Gas mileage has never been as high was represented in sales information. The vehicle has been returned to the dealer multiple times for correction but the dealer has been unable to diagnose the problem. A complaint has been lodged with both the dealer and Fiat usa.

- The Villages, FL, USA

I was at a busy intersection about to make a left hand turn when I suddenly was unable to depress the clutch completely or shift into gear. It turned out the clutch had completely given out with no warning - no slipping, smell of burning clutch, no check engine light, nothing. I've driven stick my whole life and never run through a clutch in 28,000 miles! nor have I had the experience of a clutch going out without warning - it has always started to slip in advance of needing replaced. The police had to stop traffic and push me to safety as the car would not drive at all. I don't know what I would have done if the police had not come so quickly as I was in an area with a lot of traffic and several people nearly hit me in the short time I was waiting. Due to the out of the blue nature of this clutch failure, I thought it was worth reporting as a safety issue. Had I been on a freeway, the situation could have been much worse.

- Glendale, CA, USA

Purchased 2012 year Fiat 500C on 10/31/2011. As of March 3, 2014 put 22819 miles on car. This is a 5 speed manual transmission model. On March third the clutch gave out. Was told by Fiat this wasn't an warranty item, although the window sticker says 4 year / 50,000 mile warranty. They also say free roadside assistance for 4 years / unlimited miles but since I refused to allow them to take this car 18 miles to a Fiat dealer and only 1.4 miles to my local mechanic I had to pay out of pocket for towing. I paid out of pocket aprox $2,000 including, car rental, towing and a $1,772.45 repair bill. Per the mechanic the clutch disc itself was in excellent condition, but the clutch pressure plate was at fault. From my own personal experience of restoring a few old cars and motorcycles over the years, this is pretty unheard of a clutch pressure plate failing before the actual clutch disc. My take there is some defect with this clutch pressure plate or the overall design of the manual clutch. As of this date, I haven't needed to replace the brake pads on this car so how in the world should it need a new clutch? this is crazy.

- Fairfax, CA, USA

Last night, while pulling onto the highway, my clutch locked up. My clutch has never shown any sign of wear/tear (no grinding, no slipping, no burning, etc.) and out of nowhere, it clamped shut. Thankfully, there was not much traffic and I pulled over without the hazard of hitting/being hit by another car. I got the car towed to Fiat of orange park, and had to wait until they opened today to get a call from them. I was so confused by what could have caused my clutch to do that, last night I searched online and found Fiat-owner forums of other people describing the exact same incident happening to them (one guy was in atlanta traffic and almost crashed, another guy was in nyc about to cross the manhattan bridge and almost got into a wreck). They all had, like myself, Fiat's with low mileage. Some had 22K miles, some 28kmiles, some 50K, some 60K; hence adding to the bizarre nature of this incident. All incidents resulted in bent pressure plates as well as miscellaneous damage to clutch parts. Fiat of orange park called me today and told me that the damage is my fault, as a result of wear/tear. Despite me explaining to them that this has been an issue with other Fiat-owners, they continued to say that I am responsible for the damage. Despite all of the evidence pointing towards a mechanical malfunction, they said I am responsible for repairing the clutch. This seems to be a manufacturer defect and I would like to report this in hope that there might be action taken by you, NHTSA, to help the victims of this defect from 1) potential hazard as a result of future incidents 2) paying the large amount for repairing the damage. Thank you for your consideration.

- Fleming Island, FL, USA

Driving at city speeds ~20mph at only 12K miles, clutch pedal suddenly became stiff, and was unable to shift gears. Had to have car towed to dealership where I was informed by the dealership that the clutch had fused to the flywheel (I do not trust that this was an accurate, complete diagnosis). About 2 years later (end of 07/2014) and only around 35K miles, was driving on the interstate 2 hours away from home ( at ~65mph), and when I exited to get gas, the pedal once more became instantly stiff out of nowhere and was nearly unable to get the car off the road. Had to have the car towed from dealer to dealer until it was in my home city. The dealer then again told me that the clutch and flywheel had gone out.

- New Orleans, LA, USA

Failed pressure plate with 2012 Fiat 500. Design flaw/materials issue. Fiat is not standing behind their product, no manual transmission should have to be replaced at 61,000 miles.

- Visalia, CA, USA