Scratched paint from closing the hood

[Alvon Elrod]

Just a heads up to caution you when closing the hood:

If you drop the hood from 8" to close it, as suggested in the user's manual, the hood will bang the fender in 2 places (left and right side, near the windshield, at the 'point' of the side stripe), and will eventually scrape the paint.  

When the hood is in the closed position, there is a nice gap, and you would wonder how the 2 parts would contact each other.  But, when you drop the hood to close it, the jarring motion causes the hood to deflect and band against the fender.  It really needs two firm rubber stoppers to prevent this from happening.

Guess I'll be trying to get some touch up paint to fix.  To close the hood, I suggest that you lower it gently, then push to capture the first and 2nd hood latches.

With hood open:



With Hood closed:

[Fiat500USA]

Thanks for the heads up on that. I'll let someone know...

[George #409]

Alvon, thanks for pointing this out to us.  I checked my car after reading your post and found out that my car has the same problem as yours.  

I also noticed that my hood makes contact with the fender on the corners at the bottom of the A pillar on each side.  There is touch-up paint at these spots from the factory that is already worn away.  I contacted Fiat customer support to let them know about this problem.  Does anyone else have this problem or is just Alvon and myself?

I told the person I was talking to at the Fiat customer support center that Fiat must have changed something with the hood for the USA and Canada version because you would think that after making over 500,000 of these cars a problem like this would have been resolved a long time ago.

[bloglo]

did'nt saw the problem on the hood yet but saw it on the back hatch.

2 little paint chip on the side of the back door. I saw it when i took delivery of the car yesterday.

[jamesday24]

I saw this in two places, but not all the way to bare metal.  One is in the middle of the curved part, the other is at the very front side, just behind the headlight.

[George #409]

As jamesday24 states, I also have noticed that my hood makes contact at the front above the headlights as well.  For me personally, this makes a total of six contact points for the hood.  Two at the very back corners where the hood, the fender and the A pillar meet, two at the middle of the curved part of the hood as pictured in Alvon's original post and two at the very front above the headlights.

I am surprised that there isn't more people commenting on this post.  Is it only a random few cars with this problem or is it that people are just not paying attention to this post and what is happening to their cars?  This is the most serious quality issue that I personally have with the Fiat 500 so far and it is serious enough that it has to be properly fixed by Fiat.

I encourage everyone who reads this post to please check out your car carefully and let us know what you find.

[Alvon Elrod]

Mine was chaffing in the other areas that you described also.  Not happy with it!

Alvon

[SeaDawg]

Fiat500USA wrote

Thanks for the heads up on that. I'll let someone know...

Chris, have you heard anything about this from us commoners withOUT PE's?  I ask because I took the time to open my hood and take a look tonight and I don't see anywhere that my hood is chafing paint off the body.

Now I'll admit this is only about the 2nd or 3rd time I've opened the hood since I picked up the car on May 11 but this time I gently lowered it and engaged the locks (just in case).

[Fiat500USA]

SeaDawg wrote

Fiat500USA wrote

Thanks for the heads up on that. I'll let someone know...

Chris, have you heard anything about this from us commowithoutthOUT PE's?  I ask because I took the time to open my hood and take a look tonight and I don't see anywhere that my hood is chafing paint off the body.

Now I'll admit this is only about the 2nd or 3rd time I've opened the hood since I picked up the car on May 11 but this time I gently lowered it and engaged the locks (just in case).

Hi SeaDawg,

I haven't heard.  I know there is a difference between January cars and March cars, so it's plausible it's an early production issue.  If someone has hood/fender contact,  email me your VIN and I'll pass it on.

chris(at)fiat500usa.com

[prima 109]

Mine is chipping as well.  The fit and finish on my car is damned near perfect except for the chipping.
The last eight of my vin is CT500109.  I have pics.

[SpidArman]

Hi Chris,

I just found an additional 3 hood rub spots down to metal on my car.  I have only opened the hood 2 times since leaving the dealer.  My VIN# is 419.  This is leaving a bad taste as I picked up my car with documented paint chips other than this.

Thanks,

Arman

[Fiat500USA]

SpidArman wrote

Hi Chris,

I just found an additional 3 hood rub spots down to metal on my car.  I have only opened the hood 2 times since leaving the dealer.  My VIN# is 419.  This is leaving a bad taste as I picked up my car with documented paint chips other than this.

Thanks,

Arman

Aman,

Sorry to hear that, but don't worry. The hood issue will be addressed.