2012 Fiat 500 Sport on 2040-cars

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332,000 Jeep, Fiat and Alfa Romeo models recalled over faulty seat belt buckle sensors

Stellantis has recalled 332,000 Alfa Romeo, Jeep, and Fiat vehicles in the United States due to faulty seat belt sensors. Included in the recall are certain 2017-2024 Alfa Romeo Giulia and 2018-2025 Stelvio models along with 2019-2023 Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade, and 2024 Fiat 500E models. According to documents posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "A disrupted connector on the buckle switch hall effect may affect the conduction on the connectors of the seat wiring and buckle which may cause the front seat air bag to not perform as expected during a crash." In more simple terms, the sensor that tells the vehicle's onboard computer if an occupant's seat belt is buckled may fail. If this happens, an airbag may not inflate in the event of a crash as intended. As of June 26, 2024, Stellantis says it has identified 578 field reports in North America potentially related to this issue. "The remedy will be to replace the connector by directly wiring the sensor to the harness with a solder tube," according to documentation provided by Stellantis. All repairs will be made free of charge.

2014 Fiat 500L

Unexpectedly, This Opposite Attracts
Back in 2007 when the Fiat 500 was launched, I was unrepentantly nuts about the thing. From the first time my eyes clapped on the Nuevo Cinquecento at the Geneva Motor Show that year, I wanted one. Since there were no plans for a North American model at the time, I had to settle for purchasing a 1/18th-scale diecast at the expo. When Fiat finally returned to the US and the Cinquecento went on sale in 2011, I was no less excited.
And then I drove one, and the bloom was off my little Italian rose. Oh, I still appreciated its size and high style, but I found it wholly unsatisfying to drive, something that wouldn't be rectified until the Abarth arrived. It wasn't that the standard 500 was slow - I expected that - it was that its wonky driving position, lackluster transmissions and ropey steering all stood in the way of appreciating its other virtues. The Abarth's characterful powertrain would eventually come along to alleviate most of those pains, but not all of them.

Fiat Chrysler CEO Marchionne's health crisis forced succession scramble

Former Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne for more than a year assured investors that he and the automaker's board were working on an orderly succession plan ahead of his expected departure in 2019. But a health crisis that left 66-year-old Marchionne incapacitated in a Swiss hospital set off a transition last week that was sudden and rushed, banking and industry sources said. The company announced on Wednesday that Marchionne had died, succumbing to complications from surgery. It emerged that Marchionne's successor was far from settled. Indeed before last week's crisis, many company executives remained in the dark, four banking sources who spoke to Fiat Chrysler executives told Reuters. The scramble to replace Marchionne led to the resignation of a senior executive who was passed over for the top job, the sources said, and exposed fissures between the Italian and North American sides of the world's seventh-largest automaker. Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkann named Michael Manley, head of the company's Jeep and Ram truck divisions, to replace Marchionne at an emergency meeting in Turin, Italy on Saturday. In doing so, Elkann followed Marchionne's wishes to appoint Manley his successor, two sources said. The company has portrayed Manley's appointment as the product of lengthy deliberation. "Sergio and John have always been totally aligned on the choice of Mike Manley," Fiat Chrysler's main spokesman Mike Keegan said on Tuesday, when asked whether there were differences over the succession. Elkann's office declined to comment. Manley could not immediately be reached for comment. This description diverges from what Marchionne himself told investors on June 1 during a day-long strategy presentation in Balocco, Italy. Marchionne said that he and Elkann "from time to time have these chats" about succession, but the issue would not be decided until next year. "It's a 2019 issue," Marchionne said. "So it's not going to happen until we close '18. It just won't happen." He went on to say that the company's board would not engage in a "rubber stamp process." Some analysts have also expressed skepticism that a final decision had been made. "My view is Marchionne and Elkann were still arguing about succession and had different views on the right candidate," Sanford Bernstein analyst Max Warburton said in a note on Monday, referring to the June 1 presentation.