CarComplaints.com Notes: Considering sales numbers and data that monitors complaints-per-make, there appears to be an unusually high number of issues with the 2012 Fiat 500. Perhaps that isn't surprising -- it is the first model year of the car, and those tend to have a higher incidence rate.

Of particular concern is the number of engine and powertrain complaints submitted to NHTSA.

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
48,724 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2012 Fiat 500 miscellaneous problems

miscellaneous problem

Find something helpful? Spread the word.
Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2012 Fiat 500:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

2012 Fiat 500 Owner Comments (Page 1 of 2)

problem #32

Sep 192022

500

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

In the morning (6AM) of September 19, my car car caught on fire while parked in my driveway. There were flames 3-4 feet height coming from the engine hood area. Once the fire was extinguished by the local fire department, I found the car was extensively damaged in the front outside and inside driver cabin. Upon further inspection I found the fire might have started with or around the battery, as it was completely melted. Further inspection on the back side of the car showed some stripped wiring in the assembly connecting to the rear hatch mechanism, lights, and other. In the days previous to this incident the battery had loss its charge completely twice in the span of a week and a half.

- Mayaguez, , PR, USA

problem #31

Nov 232021

500

  • miles
Transmission gear box. Having issues with shifting - 11/23/2021

- Winter Haven, FL, USA

problem #30

May 022020

500 4-cyl

  • miles
Update please protect my information and my son's information I also meant to say I am in fairborn Ohio dumbos........and once again I will not allow anyone to buy sell trade or crash VIN number [xxx] I am [xxx] I love Ohio I am a utahan an I will remain a utahan also once again my phone will not allow me to dial out [xxx] it will only allow calls to come in and my son and I are both black darker than a brown paper bag!!!! thank you **[xxx]*** [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Saratoga Springs, UT, USA

problem #29

May 012020

500

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Just want to say thank you to all who listen to me estelle a.[xxx] please know that my 17 year old son and I whom are both darker than a brown paper bag are safe in greene county Ohio please know I fear covid-19 so I am much fearful of travel outside the state just a heads up my phone [xxx] will only let calls come in and will not let calls go out! my car fi-fi is just fine and we ain't in California.............................................................................................................. so.....do not try to crash or roger rabbit me and/or my son I don't know who framed roger rabbit but you wont be framing [xxx] and/or her son [xxx] no no no aint going to happen! thank you my god in heaven for my blessings and bless those that bless and protect myself estelle a. [xxx] and my 17 year old son [xxx] and we are both black no other color I wont let anyone buy sell trade or crash my car so I just stay away from dealerships and mechanics and my son doesn't know how to drive a stick shift thank you! **estelle a. [xxx]*** [xxx] redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Saratoga Springs, UT, USA

problem #28

Feb 132020

500

  • miles
My vehicle dosent need an inspection or an emissions test I wont go get one because I am currently a resident of Utah I am located in another state I will not change my driver license over I will not sell or transfer the vehicle to anyone my bank account with us bank was shut down to try to force me to be a resident of Ohio my child has been givin a menacing ticket to try and force us to stay in Ohio I refuse to go live in columbus ga because I was giving an officer mormon ticket my right hand to god because I have a Utah driver licenses I was given a ticket and mocked.........I will not go live in Georgia the covid 19 virus has been afraid to leave the state Ohio and return to Utah also I have not and will not commit any kind of credit card fraud or check fraud or identity theft so you can try and take my Fiat also I will return to Utah when I feel safe from the virus and I dont know how long that will be in the mean time I will not change over my driver license or my tag and title I trust 100%% that the state of Utah keeps my title safe. Also I dont know anyone named cole so stop send insurance information about a person named cole I am black my son is black and we are both darker than a brown paper bag!!! I will return to Utah when I'm ready and not in the time frame to suit your court cases!!!! I dont know which side is doing what my account with us bank was shut down why"??" to try and stop me from paying the insurance on my vehicle and trying to force my child and I to stay in Ohio to try and suit the time on your court case please stop trying to take my car from me its mine !!!! we love Ohio by the way I would rather be in Utah but the virus has my cash flow limited and I'm just down right afraid to leave and rent a truck cause I might catch the virus and my child whom is 17 might catch the virus!!!!!!

- Saratoga Springs, UT, USA

Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...

problem #27

Jul 282019

500

  • 58,000 miles
I am a real estate agent. Last year 2019 I went to an open house and parked in the driveway which was on an incline - with a plateau for parking. I've been driving a standard transmission for 30 years. When I park I place my gear in 1st with the parking brake fully engaged. I parked the car, went into the home to view the home, and was inside 15 minutes. When I went back to my car, it was gone. The car had rolled backward down the hill and into a guardrail. There were neighbors all around my car, and one man said, "it makes no sense it the parking break is engaged." The neighbors had video of the crash. The car was parked approx 10 minutes before rolling down the hill. My car was damaged by the guard rail, and thankfully no humans were hurt. Had the guardrail not been there -- the car would have gone over a ravine and into a home.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #26

Dec 062019

500

  • 113,048 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

On Friday, December 6, 2019 my 2012 Fiat 500 began to emit a strong odor. I thought the car would catch on fire. The car also made a loud, screeching and grinding noise. When I arrived safely to my destination, a few minutes away, I stopped and turned off the car. I had to cancel a hair appointment because I didn't feel comfortable driving the distance in the vehicle. On Monday, December 9, 2019 I took my car into a Fiat Chrysler Dodge Ram Jeep dealership for an oil change and free basic inspection. I was told by the dealership that they also heard the noise coming from the clutch area but needed to perform an official diagnostic. I didn't have the money at the time so I waited until January 2, 2020 to have the diagnostic performed. During the month of December and while my car was in the shop I took lyft rideshare for transportation as I did not feel safe driving the car. The car stayed in the shop over the weekend and I was able to pick it up on Monday, January 6, 2020. The issue was related to a recall fca # S34, NHTSA# 16V-302 that happened a couple years before. It was supposed to be resolved for this vehicle but I was having similar and worse problems, which are due to the previous faulty car part. The Fiat has only $113K miles on it. I have owned manual transmission vehicles previously and never had this issue. I previously owned a Honda civic (gained over 200K miles) and a Chevy aveo and neither car had this issue. I believe this is a serious safety hazard and myself and my daughter could have been seriously injured had I continued to drive this vehicle. The clutch could have stopped all together and we could have hit another vehicle or been seriously injured on the interstate or street traffic. Even with the repairs I am no longer confident in the safety of this vehicle. It should be declared a lemon.

- Adelanto, CA, USA

problem #25

Feb 082020

500

  • 78,500 miles
Car will not start and will not come out of park. Lights are all on, and checked battery and all is fine. Being told it is the gear shift module. Time/date: 6:45 am 02/08/20 vehicle was stationary.

- Millington, MD, USA

problem #24

Feb 282019

500

  • 74,000 miles
One day my air bag failiure light came om along with a fuel cutoff unavailble light. Both of these lights were temporarily fixed by manually locking and unlocking the doors. Recently that fix has not worked. While these errors are happening my cruise control will not turn on at all.

- Sylacauga, AL, USA

problem #23

Dec 262019

500

  • miles
Hello, I went to the dealership and I them to fix my shifter cable recall and they said we don't have this part yet till next year and I need to remove the recall to start rent my car through turo.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #22

Nov 262019

500

  • 128,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

A piece inside the shifter broke and made the car stall. It basically wouldn't move while I was on a busy road.

- Port Saint Lucie, FL, USA

problem #21

Jan 252018

500

  • miles
Was told recently need to replace D/S axel but when Firestone went to call Fiat for part they were told' this vehicle has customer service satisfaction recall in which with the axel the control arm and other components must be replaced and to refer to dealerships or recall. When went to Fiat dealership they said there no recall and proceed to say must buy rf axle, lower control arm, knuckle, bearing in order to replace original axle. Parts alone totaling $1131.75. Its was only 5 year old car at time. And previous Fiat owners say they received the customer service recall before alfa romero said no.

- Poway, CA, USA

problem #20

Jul 032019

500

  • 89,000 miles
A few weeks ago, I woke up and drove to work in the morning. My Fiat parked, I worked, everything was good. 5 hours later, I get back to my car to drive home. I start my engine and the dashboard lights up saying, "hill start error... see owners manual". I thought to myself, "welp, L guess I'll go see a mechanic now.". I lift the E-break, press down the break pedal, and then try to move the car into reverse, but it's locked in park. I turn off the car. I use google search on my phone to find my Fiat 500 owner's manual online. I look for the "hill start error" and find an override to get my car out of park and into reverse/drive. I restart the car. Now the dashboard is completely blank except for the letter 'P' in the bottom-center of the circular dash panel. The letter "P" is blinking concurrently with a beep that does not stop. There is no measure of speed and I'm not entirely sure if my lights are working at this point. I'm just trying to get the car to a mechanic about 10 miles away. I found an honest-family spot and the guy tells me to leave the car there and he'll look at it. Break lights were out and a safety feature caused it to lock up. A common issue is a break-light switch with this car, so... we replaced the bls and did a full diagnostics, but still no fix. We troubleshoot all week and found that a 5-amp fuse blew out in the body control module. He replaced the fuse and found that it burned out again because of a loose wire somewhere behind the steering wheel. If I run the car, the loose wire will cause more connections to burnout and break. The car shorts if we run it now. The loose wire causing this short caused my car's gearshift to lock up completely, disabled my break lights, and lead to shortages across the board. I can't drive it at all, let alone start it. I barely have 89K on this car and it's pretty much cooked.

- Hayward, CA, USA

problem #19

Jun 282019

500

  • 100,564 miles
I drove down from il to wi with my Fiat pop 500 2012 on highway 39 and all of the sudden about an hour away to my destination, my sunroof spontaneously exploded (boom!) along with loud noise. I ducked down and all the sunroof glasses was shattered and fell off onto my head, my laps and mostly went falling down on the front of passenger seat. This was happening on a clear summer sunny day, on Friday, June 28th of 2019. There's no foreign objects, there's not a lot (congested) of traffics, there's no any semi trucks around me nor the bad weather or any distractions whatsoever. It was around 6:10 pm local time and it is about an hour away from my final destination to madison, wi. The weather was around 81 - 79 degrees Fahrenheit, very clear sky, no rain, no wet road.nice and dry summer time to drive, normal breeze.sky are all clear and sunny. Weather: 8 humidity: 62%, barometer: $30.06 hg, and SE winds condition: 6.214 mph. As a women who completely doesn't know anything about cars except took my car to the auto shop for regular oil change, this was very scary to me - completely relying on my safety with the car that I own and I drive everyday, and this accident definitely made me realized that Fiat pop 500 it is not a safe to be drive for anyone period. The sunroof that all of the sudden spontaneously exploded with no valid reason whatsoever and there's no warning from Fiat that could be part of their defect in this type of car it's very dangerous for anybody event to consider purchase this type of car. The glass that shattered and was falling down could sliced anyone heads in a half. It is very dangerous vehicle to drive for anybody or for everyone and this sunroof should be a recall and the consumer have a right to be inform about this. This sunroof is a safety issue. Be aware!

- Downers Grove, IL, USA

problem #18

Mar 162019

500

  • 100,000 miles
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.

- Fairmont, WV, USA

problem #17

Jan 012018

500

  • miles
I need to replace the same lite once at month one of the lite burn onence a month

- Discovery Bay, CA, USA

problem #16

Nov 202017

500

  • 49,000 miles
My gear shifter wire broken to the point it would gets stuck in drive or park or reverse even though I had shifted to a different position. When I would turn off my car even thought I put it in park it still believed that it was in reverse and would roll.

- Austin, TX, USA

problem #15

May 092017

500

  • 5,200 miles
"manual transaxle clutch pedal" there is an ongoing recall that since May 2016 however parts were not available dealer finally informed us part was available and scheduled appointment for 5/9/2017 at 9am. Car was being driven to appointment when clutch failed to disengage resulting in car rearending car infront of it at speeds between 50 to 60 mph.

- Concord, NC, USA

problem #14

Mar 082017

500

  • miles
On 03/07/2017 I went to jiffy lube #3318 sre corporation 284 E state road 73 saratoga springs ut 84045 to have an emissons test performed work order #55 invoice# 96902 mileage 187903 station # U575 inspector# uet003081 I was told that my Fiat did not pass emissions the funny thing is I went to the exact same place on 10/31/2015 work order 82 invoice number 222206608 at 3:59pm at that time the inspector # was uet002450 station U575 (just thought I would point that out) also the person doing the inspection said he had to put it in as California and the other 50 states instead of putting fed only and the other 49 states the inspector said my car was made in California and I know thats not true my car was made in toluca Mexico well now I'm told I must go to ken garff Fiat to complete a drive cycle I refuse to take my car to ken garff Fiat beside the recall has not been complete in order to complete a drive cycle! so now I am unable to pass emissons and will be unable to renew my vehilce for January of 2019 I have already renewed until January of 2018.

- Saratoga Springs, UT, USA

problem #13

Mar 052017

500

  • 187,903 miles
I called Chrysler phone number 800-992-1997 around 6:30pm-7:00pm on 03/05/2017 to inform them that my 2012 Fiat 500 pop 2door hatchback nero black has a problem the reverse has stop working! I was informed that I would need to take the car to ken garff Fiat in salt lake city Utah! I explained that I would like to take the car to larry H. miller Chrysler Dodge Jeep in sandy Utah. I ask Chrysler if they would release the parts to fix my reverse to larry H. miller Chrysler Dodge Jeep. I was told I must take the vehicle to ken garff Fiat of salt lake city. I then explained refusing to release the parts for my Fiat to anyone but ken garff Fiat was not legal! the customer service agent reply by saying: "I don't no anything about being legal....... my reply was "oh that's for sure!"

- Saratoga Springs, UT, USA

Read the next 12 complaints »

Not what you are looking for?