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Airbag ecu failure, who do I contact at Fiat?


stevec176

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My friends Fiat Adria's airbag ecu has failed, it's been tested by Data Plus and needs replacing. I know numerous members have contacted Fiat to complain about this same problem and have been lucky enough to get some money back to cover the replacement my question is, do you have the contact details and could I possibly have a copy of the letter you sent to use as a template please.

Thanks

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Hi l had this problem with my fiat in 2021. l phoned  fiat in Italy i think l was transferred to customer services. They  spoke good  English and received a  phone call from a senior person.

Although l paid for the replacement l received  a credit note for two hundred pounds to be used for  a service.  l would give it a try,  as you already know Fiat have been aware  of the problem. 

Grumpyman 

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Do a forum search for "airbag" (minus the parenthesis), which should take you to a string I started on 18 November 2022.  Scroll to page 2 where, if I remember, I summarised the process.

(Relying on memory because, at present I, can't scroll back through forum pages, or individual strings, to check page 2 of that string for myself.  Anyone else having similar?)

This is a well known fault and Fiat are conversant with the remedy.  Your friend first needs to take his van to a Fiat Professional workshop to have the fault investigated.  If this confirms duff airbag controller, he then needs to contact Fiat direst.

Your friend will need the telephone number for Fiat technical UK, which he should find in his Fiat owners manual,  but can easily also find by using the net and searching for "Fiat Professional" and Contact details.  He will also need his VIN, and will be put through to Italy where, as stated above, he will be able to speak to an English-speaking assistant.  It seems the remedy may vary depending on the age of the van.

Ours was 5 years old when the module failed, so well out of warranty, and the enquiry resulted in a FOC (or much reduced), module being issued to the workshop.  I then had to pay for the labour, but Stellantis (fiat parent) then issued a credit note for £150 towards the cost of the next service, which I thought fair on a 5 year old vehicle.

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If it helps, the following was my "sweep-up" post to the above string: ( I had to resort to devious means to get it, though!  🙂 )

On 31/01/2023 at 12:34, Brian Kirby said:

Yes, all fixed in November ('though minimal mileage since apart from 100 mile round trip to Southdowns a few days later).

It wasn't that straightforward as the failure (one the way to an MoT test!) resulted in an MoT fail, so the van went to a different workshop for diagnosis of the fault, fix and re-test.  Cost £335.  This was with background inputs from Fiat Technical in Italy, who I have to say were excellent.  The diagnostics and labour were at my cost, with the module supplied to the workshop at a (undisclosed) discounted cost.

This was followed up by a letter from Stellantis (the new Fiat/Chrysler/PSA parent) in the form of a non-transferable contribution of £150 towards the cost of the next due (November 2023) service, to be redeemed (at any Fiat Professional workshop) by the workshop, at the time of the service.  So, on a five year old imported LHD Ducato that originally came with a two year manufacturer's warranty, I suppose I can't complain.

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  • 7 months later...

Got the dreaded air bag failure warning a couple of weeks ago. Local auto sparky had a go at fixing it, sent off module to be repaired. Was told not possible to repair, need a new one something he can’t do as he hasn’t the equipment to reprogram it.

Spent most of today trying to find a Fiat professional garage in Dorset. Most local ones don’t do vans but managed to get van booked in at a garage near Weston Super Mare, Huttons who I think are a Fiat garage. My van is a 2013 model is it worth contacting Fiat to see if they will help with cost as it is a well known problem? The module is about £400 I believe, can’t remember the quote from garage but it only takes about an hour so labour cheap.

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13 minutes ago, rooster63 said:

Yes I did, they don’t accept vans any more.

Thanks for the info. They carried out recalls on my MH when new in 2017. I was not too impressed by their customer service but at least they were there.

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Contact Fiat Uk and ask them if they will assist with payment, it doesn’t hurt to ask and they certainly know it’s a common problem. 
Our MH was out of warranty and they supplied the new unit and we happily paid for the fitting at our local Fiat professional. 
den

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Picked up the van from the sparky, he was very apologetic he couldn’t fix it and didn’t charge me anything even though he had spent time on diagnostics and had sent the ecu  away to see if it could be repaired. Interestingly the warning message “air bag failure consult handbook” doesn’t come up anymore but I have 3 warning lights lit up. The one that says seat belt not done up (although it doesn’t flash or beep which usually happens if the belt is not done up), the red airbag failure light (little man with the balloon on his tummy) and the yellow light next to it, something to do with the passenger air bag being disabled. Might check the fault codes before taking it to Huttons as don’t want to get there and find they can’t do it whilst I wait.

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No fault codes although the airbag failure message has re-appeared. Got nowhere with asking Fiat for a contribution towards the considerable cost, they said they would look on a case by case basis for vans just out of warranty but not 11 year old vans. It would appear reading other posts that a low battery can trigger failure. I usually monitor the battery states and if the solar panel isn's putting enough in will use the EHU. Over Christmas went to start the van and had a flat battery which I recharged and it has been fine since (I might have left the light that comes on normally when the sliding door is opened/closed, its easy to knock it to the permanent on position). I used the van a few times after the flat battery with no issues, the fault didn't appear until much later. 

Hope it was just a one off. Starter battery was reading 12.9V yesterday and haven't used hook up for a while so it would appear that it hasn't suffered any damage.

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One Fiat "Airbag" fault comes up IF the small plug under the sea(s) has come loose or been disconected. I know this as I had both seats out of a Rapido, a few years back. and they had to be reset. My suspicion is that the connection is probably to tell the ECU if the seat is occupied or not?.

Pete

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