Class Action Lawsuit for "deceptive" battery warranty

[tvmaster]

$1,100 bucks for a new battery, how much to install it?

Did you ever figure out what it would cost to install a new battery, and if a third party shop could even figure it out?
If you buy a used 500e with factory warranty remaining, it’s easy to buy MOPAR extended warranty. But if the battery is warrantied for eight years anyway, that k8nda kills the need for the extended plan, doesn’t it?

[map]

Yes, the battery is one reason you might not need the warranty. The problem is that FCA often tacks on thousands of extra bucks testing for and replacing items that are not really needed. IIRC, they charge $7k to $8400 to replace the contactor (power inverter?) even when testing says it isn't bad. It's a way they can avoid investing thousands in warranty work. The one post I read about a 500e still under warranty said they replace the battery, but made no mention of them testing for the contactor.

There's no way to know for sure, but I'd think FCA would rather scrap a car for $5K than install a battery pack ($12K minus $7K for the "faulty" non-warranty contactor.)

As for cost, I've seen it reported that they'll install the above battery but it voids future warranty, but the batt + install is $6K, as of a year ago. At the time it was $29K to install the new battery, not including the power inverter.

[smark]

Did you ever figure out what it would cost to install a new battery, and if a third party shop could even figure it out?
If you buy a used 500e with factory warranty remaining, it’s easy to buy MOPAR extended warranty. But if the battery is warrantied for eight years anyway, that k8nda kills the need for the extended plan, doesn’t it?

If the battery is still under the warranty period. You can Find a Fiat dealership, that can perform installation. You should be okay. There are a lot 500e’s floating around here.
Not sure where they go for service. My old FCA dealership, won’t even touch my ICE 500. They don’t have a Fiat tech anymore.

[map]

I'm sure they still have Fiat techs if they work on Jeeps. The basics are mostly the same. FCA has burried Fiat. Apparently they cut dealer discounts on parts for those dealers who are no longer in the Fiat chain. I don't understand Stellantis' logic on that one. Even if they have techs that have Fiat training, they can't do warranty work. As best I can tell, being a Fiat dealer is sort of like being a McDonald's franchise... parts have to come from FCA and they have to pay franchise fees. No fee, no support from Stellantis and no free delivery of parts, or something like that.

As for the 500e, almost no dealers outside CA have any experience with them. They are an odd-ball vehicle that Stellantis wants to bury as quickly as possible. You can see their lack of support and interest when it takes 1 to 3 months for a simple battery replacement. Hackers can put a totalled Tesla back on the road in a couple weeks (in their spare time), while "expert" Fiat dealerships take forever.

We are in the end days of Fiat in the US and the clock rolls back. Old timers, who owned Fiats in their former "last days", can probably relate. The exception is that factory parts are drying up for some items. There's no way to know if alternate supply chains (sourced from the EU) will come to our rescue this time. I figure my 2018 model is good until the first problem arises outside of "oil change" arises. In 2 years, if my brick or certain sensors fail, I doubt I'll find service. I hope I'm wrong.

[tvmaster]

Well that’s not a very rosy picture now is it. On the other hand, the value of a used Abarth seems to be going up. There’s only ONE FCA dealer within 60 miles of us who’ll do warranty work on 500’s, and that’s in busy, heavily populated California. I feel for owners in the midwest…

[ElectricTireShredder]

..IIRC, they charge $7k to $8400 to replace the contactor (power inverter?) even when testing says it isn't bad... The one post I read about a 500e still under warranty said they replace the battery, but made no mention of them testing for the contactor.

There's no way to know for sure, but I'd think FCA would rather scrap a car for $5K than install a battery pack ($12K minus $7K for the "faulty" non-warranty contactor.)

The "contactors" are really just an electromagnet-activated switch* to connect/disconnect the High Voltage battery so it can't drain while parked unplugged. They reside inside the HV pack case, & FCA considers them part of the pack, unavailable separately, so they're likely included by default in the 8-year battery warranty.

An "inverter" converts DC current into AC, like if you want to plug a household device into your car's 12V socket. A BEV's Power Inverter Module uses DC battery current to supply AC to the propulsion motor. The Fiat PIM resides right underneath its OnBoard Charger, above the motor, between the 12V starter battery & the coolant reservoirs.

Before replacing 8-year warrantied HV packs, FCA had been requiring ~$7k PIM replacement (not contactors), regardless of its condition. That may be okay during the car's 4-year warranty, but after that the driver would have to pay. One member of this forum stood his ground by simply refusing to pay without proof, such as a diagnostic showing PIM errors. They finally relented & the HV pack was swapped out for free.


* Technically a "solenoid" or "relay".

[tvmaster]

The "contactors" are really just an electromagnet-activated switch* to connect/disconnect the High Voltage battery so it can't drain while parked unplugged. They reside inside the HV pack case, & FCA considers them part of the pack, unavailable separately, so they're likely included by default in the 8-year battery warranty.

An "inverter" converts DC current into AC, like if you want to plug a household device into your car's 12V socket. A BEV's Power Inverter Module uses DC battery current to supply AC to the propulsion motor. The Fiat PIM resides right underneath its OnBoard Charger, above the motor, between the 12V starter battery & the coolant reservoirs.

Before replacing 8-year warrantied HV packs, FCA had been requiring ~$7k PIM replacement (not contactors), regardless of its condition. That may be okay during the car's 4-year warranty, but after that the driver would have to pay. One member of this forum stood his ground by simply refusing to pay without proof, such as a diagnostic showing PIM errors. They finally relented & the HV pack was swapped out for free.


* Technically a "solenoid" or "relay".

Any idea if the MOPAR extended warranties include PIM replacement?

[ElectricTireShredder]

Someone on the other forum said MOPAR extended warranty fine print says it only applies to vehicles powered only by gasoline!

My super-honest Mercury Insurance agent says their reasonably-priced premium-level* extended warranty coverage does apply to EVs, & is the same as the factory warranty, for mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic, & electrical. (except wear items like bulbs, 12v starter battery, brake pads, etc.).

* They have 2 or more coverage options.

[tomwilburn1@gmail.com]

Hi all 500e owners,

I'm in the process of putting together a lawsuit against Fiat and all Fiat dealerships in the USA for deceptive battery warranty claims in the state of California.

Our 500e battery has been deteriorating beyond the factory range. I took my car (it's within factory warranty) to the dealership to get a diagnostic of the batter discrepancy and was not given measurable data, only a ambiguous note, "normal wear and tear" (I paid around $18X.XX for the service).

My objective in starting this lawsuit is to bring clarity into specific measurable definition of "normal wear and tear", beyond the current ambiguous term.

To be clear, we love the fiat 500e. It's a great first electrical car for us, but as the popularity increases, Fiat needs to expand on its clarity of battery warranty moving forward.


Please PM me if anybody else are going through similar issues.

I have same interest in class action suit re requiring a PIM when not needed. How can we connect?

[ElectricTireShredder]

One member of this forum simply stood his ground by refusing to pay without proof, such as a diagnostic showing PIM errors. They finally relented & the HV pack was swapped out for free.