Hi all, just a bit of fairly obvious advice but easy to forget- I have just replaced the front hinge on my Abarth door handle due to the very poor design from Fiat in making & designing something that is made to break!
The handles on 500’s fail, as the majority of owners know due to the fact YOU MUST SPRAY AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR some lubricant into the front & rear part of the handle mechanism. ( this is never advised or done when the car is serviced at the dealer ) Also when opening the door HOLD THE HANDLE NEARER THE REAR (not towards the front) preferably with YOUR THUMB ON THE KEY HOLE.
This means you are not putting extra pressure & force on the cr*p poorly design hinge that is designed to fail. It is unbelievably that Fiat has been making & using this design for 20 years with so many complaints, and charging up to £400 to replace by main dealers. The total of my cost was under £10 off eBay.
PLEASE FIAT GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER & RECTIFY THIS
I am not saying this advice will totally stop the problem but it will definitely extend the life by years of this unbelievable poor design door handles on your loved 500’s
So go out there with a can of lubricant, gently hold the handle in an OPEN position (from the rear) & give both doors a little squirt
The handles on 500’s fail, as the majority of owners know due to the fact YOU MUST SPRAY AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR some lubricant into the front & rear part of the handle mechanism. ( this is never advised or done when the car is serviced at the dealer ) Also when opening the door HOLD THE HANDLE NEARER THE REAR (not towards the front) preferably with YOUR THUMB ON THE KEY HOLE.
This means you are not putting extra pressure & force on the cr*p poorly design hinge that is designed to fail. It is unbelievably that Fiat has been making & using this design for 20 years with so many complaints, and charging up to £400 to replace by main dealers. The total of my cost was under £10 off eBay.
PLEASE FIAT GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER & RECTIFY THIS
I am not saying this advice will totally stop the problem but it will definitely extend the life by years of this unbelievable poor design door handles on your loved 500’s
So go out there with a can of lubricant, gently hold the handle in an OPEN position (from the rear) & give both doors a little squirt
