Flashing air bag warning and outcome

Kevinthecat

Kevinthecat

Joined
Nov 10, 2012
Posts
900
Likes collected
8,542
Location
Lincolnshire, UK
Funster No
23,638
MH
Just looking
Exp
2007
Last week when I picked up th van from storage to take it out for 9 days , all the warning signs were flashing on the dash board. Airbag, seat belt , mileage and the warning triangle. (swift M/H Fiat base)
I looked under the seats to see if there were any loose wires but saw nothing out of place. We decided to drive for 20 minutes and stop , engine restarted and it was only the airbag warning light which remained on. We continued on our journey and on arrival I emailed Fiat Italy and told them of the problem .
I then contacted the nearest Fiat workshop and booked the van in as the warranty ended 6 months ago.
I did receive a call from Fiat Italy but missed their call, they left a message asking me to call them . I didn't bother as I thought as I was out of warranty and I might as well follow up myself and booked it into the nearest Fiat workshop.
The following morning I received a further call from Fiat Italy and spoke with an extremely helpful person there who advised that I only pay for the diagnostic test only and not let them do any further work and that they would liaise with the fiat workshop. I took the van in to the workshop and they were extremely helpful and supportive .
Fiat Italy rang me daily and kept me upto date . There was an issue of my warranty, it didn't have a start date documented and once they had this sorted they would contact me .
Following the diagnostic test , I needed a replacement ECU.
Fiat Italy called me and said they would pay for the replacement but I would have to pay for the labour . It's only an hours job so I'm very happy
I was a tad stressed to begin with, but Fiat Italy were fantastic , daily calls etc really pleased with their support and grateful too.
The Fiat workshop were excellent, supportive, informative and just very nice people to deal with.
So if you experience anything similar on your fiat base don't panic , there is supportive help out there.
 
Makes me almost wish I had a Fiat instead of a Peugeot, then I remember the one I had and why I chose a Peugeot.:D
 
The airbag ecu is a common fail on Fiats between 2 & 3 years old, mine failed just as I took it for it's mot at 3 years
so I rang Fiat in Italy who said the dealership where my motorhome was being serviced was not one of their approved
workshops, they said if I took it to a Fiat Professional they would replace the ecu free of charge. Unfortunately the
motorhome was waiting for some remedial work to be carried out at the dealership and I had to leave it for them to
replace the ecu which cost me £150 plus 1/2 hours labour. There is a company that can repair the ecu in Liverpool
I think they are called crashdata.co.uk and charge about £60 with a quick turn round,which is why I asked the dealer
to keep the faulty ecu so I could send for repair and have a spare, however when I picked the motorhome up after
they had repaired it the dipsticks said they had thrown it away.

Ray
 
Glad you managed to find a Fiat Professional Workshop fairly local or within a sensible distance that you can make an appointment with.
Our nearest one is doing mainly enormous lorries and removal vans,of all makes, smallish tight car park, and being commercial quite a dirty place.
The next nearest is Crawley Fiat Professional, been there before, left happy after doing a recall turbo pipe clip while I waited. Phoned them 2 weeks ago was told that "The Fiat Engineer had left, and they were trying to find a replacement" Told by other Fiat garages " sorry sir but our ramps aren't large enough for your MH, or "we dont have the headroom to get it in our workshop"
Booked on line enquiry to the nearest garage as mentioned before as had no other choice, has anyone got back to me?.....NO!:mad:
Les
 
Last edited:
TinaL said:
Glad you managed to find a Fiat Professional Workshop fairly local or within a sensible distance that you can make an appointment with.
Our nearest one is doing mainly enormous lorries and removal vans,of all makes, smallish tight car park, and being commercial quite a dirty place.
The next nearest is Crawley Fiat Professional, been there before, left happy after doing a recall turbo pipe clip while I waited. Phoned them 2 weeks ago was told that "The Fiat Engineer had left, and they were trying to find a replacement" Told by other Fiat garages " sorry sir but our ramps aren't large enough for your MH, or "we dont have the headroom to get it in our workshop"
Booked on line enquiry to the nearest garage as mentioned before as had no other choice, has anyone got back to me?.....NO!:mad:
Les
Click to expand...
Yes we were lucky because we were away in the van and the workshop wasnt that far from where we were staying . We extended are trip due to the appointment offered .. They did say they couldn't take vans longer than 8 metres.
 
I have in the past found Fiat to be very helpful.
 
WillH said:
I have in the past found Fiat to be very helpful.
Click to expand...
Exactly, thats why I am so disappointed in trying to get the van looked at under warranty at the moment.
Crawley Fiat were great earlier in the year, I gave them 5 stars on a recommendation from another Funster, but to be put off because they dont have a "Fiat technician at present" was a bit of a shock. They sell VW campers & Vauxhall cars as well though.
Les

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