Owners have filed 750 complaints on the Fiat 500, covering 2012–2018. The system named most often is Power Train (353 reports). Worst years by volume: 2012, 2013, 2014; cleanest: 2018, 2017, 2016. 43 reports describe a crash, 15 a fire. On average the car was 4.3 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Fiat 500
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 750 500 complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Power Train 353 Read
Car has moved out of "park" 4 times and the last time rolled down my drive way and hit another car. I want to have this vehicle returned and get another car. We took this vehicle into the dealer about 4 months ago for electronic gauge and system problems. They said there was nothing wrong with it. I don't believe them…
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…
The contact owned a 2015 fiat 500. While the vehicle was being towed by a 2002 e450 rv driving approximately 35 mph, the contact noticed smoke and flames coming from the vehicle without warning. The contact immediately pulled into a nearby fire station where the fire was extinguished. A fire report was filed. There…
Electrical System 96 Read
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request: High voltage battery system, the vehicle is available for viewing. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk?: Long time garage storage of vehicle and limited owners manual description on procedure to…
While parked at a mcdonalds drive-thru window in detroit mi in my 2014 fiat 500l at approximately 11:30 a.m. The car began to smoke profusely. The smoke filled the interior cabin and under the hood area. The car smelled horrid like burning electrical copper wires. The car then shut off, but continued smoking. I ran…
I own a 2012 fiat pop that I purchased new about a year ago. One thing that did not go away and was ever present at any time was the limp mode for the engine over the last few days. Recycling did not work to correct problem and gauges were out. The indicator light on panel showed in limp mode when it worked. Gauges…
Air Bags 38 Read
My vehicle was t-boned on my driverside door. The vehicle that hit me was going 50mph according to the police report. I was crossing the street at about 10-15mph. Not a single airbag engaged, side curtain, seat, etc. It was on a city street and the car that hit me was speeding
Driving down the road warning lights cycled through for the first time ever indicating issues with ESC , dts, a sprocket with an exclamation point, a car on rough terrain, this continued as I traveled down the road...all of these lights are indicators of issues with the ABS system I moved to the right lane steering…
In motion on a high way hit car, air bags deployed giving me extreme leg trauma that has gotten worse each day. The pain is very severe. None of the medical care personnel has see such bad leg trauma
Steering 36 Read
There was a sudden and complete lose of steering control. Car pulled hard to the right causing a collision with a parked car. Vehicle was moving at very low rate of speed under 10 mph. There was no way to stop the vehicle before the collision happened. In addition upon impact the seatbelt did not lock causing the…
Was driving on the freeway and the car lost power. All lights on indicator dash went off. No steering ability and little/no control of vehicle. Failure resulted in a crash. No airbags deployed even though there was side impact to both sides and front end impact. The car was totaled
At 47,500 miles and 4 years, 9 months of ownership, my passenger side lower front ball joint broke. There were no signs of problems leading up to the breakage. Unfortunately fiat no longer makes the 2012 lower front ball joints and the 2013+ ball joints require a new assembly so the entire ball joint, control arm,…
Engine 32 Read
Was driving the car in stop and go traffic in detroit. Car began to smoke heavily as if on fire, and engine shut down and stalled right in the middle of the highway. Had car towed to dealership and they were unable to do immediate diagnosis of car. Car has less than 5000 miles on it and was purchased brand new in…
The contact owns a 2014 fiat 500. While stopped at a traffic light, the vehicle jerked violently. A message appeared on the dashboard instructing the contact to place the transmission shifter in the neutral position and then into the drive position. The contact followed the instructions and the engine failed without…
Using a large and relatively heavy key ring and inadvertently hitting it while adjusting the radio caused the engine to shut down while driving on a city street on three occasions. Removing the key ring and using the key without a ring solved the problem. After removing the key ring there were no more incidents
Suspension 19 Read
Brakes did not engage the first time in order to stop the car for parking space. It happened again the following day where I tried to hold the brake pedal to the floor and nothing!!! I retried again a second time and too late car was hit twice in the front destroying whole front end. Car was purchased brand new. I…
While driving on the freeway and at freeway speeds the front passenger side suspension completely snapped with no accident or road debris involved. The wheel turned sideways and lost all control of the vehicle's ability to turn. The engine then gave a transmission failure warning and the engine cut out. Was able to…
I was driving my vehicle down a main street when I felt a clunk and lost control of my vehicle. No accident or injury to person. I called for a tow truck as my car was not drivable. The tow truck driver said it looked like my axel broke off. Now fiat does not want to fix the car claiming that it can't be proven to be…
Fuel/propulsion System 18 Read
Fuel tank roll-over valve malfunction. Improper fueling of vehicle resulting
When attempting to fill up gas at a fuel filling station the car will not take in any fuel from the gas station pump. It reacts like the tank is full but it is not. A very small steady flow of fuel will flow (approx 20cents) and then overflow as if it is full. This is a dangerous problem at that the gas pump and has…
When putting gasoline at the gas pump, pump clicks off constantly. Makes you think the tank is full when it is not, Have to pump very slow. Takes 10-15 mins to fill up and have to know how many gallons are needed
Exterior Lighting 15 Read
The contact owns a 2016 fiat 500. While driving approximately 50 mph, the contact realized that the passenger side low beam headlight was not illuminated. The vehicle was driven to benson fiat (500 a w hampton blvd, greer, sc 29650) where it was diagnosed that both front headlight bulbs and sockets were melted and…
I work at an independent auto repair facility. We have seen several headlight bulb connector failures where the connector melts. When the connector melts, the light stops functioning. The repair requires replacement of the connector and the bulb
When I first bought my car I had issues with a tail light going out within the first 6 months. Then a headlight 2 months after that then 12 months a taillight then another taillight and headlight well you see what I mean then they recalled a cluch on my car but they didnt have a replacemnt part yet and they never…
500 years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Service Brakes | — | — | |
| 2017 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2016 | Air Bags,structure,unknown Or Other | 3 | — | |
| 2015 | Air Bags | 3 | 3 | |
| 2014 | Air Bags | 7 | 6 | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 9 | 2 | |
| 2012 | Air Bags | 19 | 4 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 247 |
| Average complaints per series | 3 |
| Worst single series | 31 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.3 years |
A model average of 3 hides a worst series at 31. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the 500?
By complaint volume, 2012, 2013, 2014 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which 500 years are the cleanest?
2018, 2017, 2016 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Fiat 500 have?
750 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2012–2018. Of those, 43 describe a crash and 15 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.