Problems · by component
2014 Fiat 5 Series vehicle speed control problems
27 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2014 Fiat 5 Series cite vehicle speed control, 8% of all 323 complaints for this model year.
Complaints
27
8% of all complaints
Crashes
1
Reported by owners
Fires
0
Reported by owners
Injuries
0
Reported by owners
What owners say about the vehicle speed control
Verbatim from NHTSA complaints, newest first
“Issues with shifting out of park. Random acceleration, stalling, lagging, & jerking while on the road & in full speed traffic. When took car to dealership was told issues with my PCM. PCM had been recalled & fixed with previous owner in 2017. Now the second time having a PCM issue, couldn't do anything with the already fixed recall so i was forced to pay almost 2,000. Now still leaving me with the same issues. Cruise control accelerates on its own, almost causing accident with other cars on highway. Will be going 60 in traffic & it will randomly start to decrease in speed while foot is fully on gas. Possible throttle body issue, RMPS rev up to red while only going 35mph.”
“While driving in traffic the check transmission light came on and car would no longer accelerate coming to a stop in traffic. Gears were not recognized per dash lights. Towed to shop for transmission repair which failed again within a six month time frame when once again while driving check engine light, check transmission light, check temp light all alternately started flashing, car quit accelerating and coasted to stop.”
“For the past several months my car will simply stop accelerating while I am driving down the road. I can put my foot on the gas, and it will not accelerate. The RPM's and speed go down and I must pull over to the side of the road quickly and turn the engine off, wait 5 minutes or so and try again. Sometimes I must wait longer before it will go back in gear and accelerate. It has been very unsafe when this happens on the interstate putting me, my passengers, and other cars/drivers at risk because it happens with no warning lights and not enough time to get over. This same problem happened before in 2017, and FIAT issued a recall. The dealership stated that recall was fixed and cannot use it for this problem even though it is the EXACT same issue. They state I need a new transmission now costing $9,876.00 repairs/labor for a 2014 FIAT 500L I bought for $13,000..... If this problem was acknowledged before, why isn't FIAT fixing it again?”
“WHILE DRIVING CHECK ENGINE LIGHT WILL COME ON AND STATE "CHECK TRANSMISSION" AND "MANUAL TRANSMISSION UNAVAILABLE" THEN THE AUTO SHIFTER FOR GEARS WILL START SHIFTING REALLY ROUGH OR NOT AT ALL. ONCE YOU TURN OFF THE VEHICLE IT WILL NOT START AGAIN UNLESS PUT ON A BATTERY CHARGER, AS IT'S STUCK IN 1ST GEAR (PER THE SHOP). TOOK IT TO A SHOP, THEY STATED IT APPEARS TO BE RELATED TO THE FIRST RECALL THAT I HAD COMPLETED AND THE DEALER SAYS THEY CAN'T DO ANYTHING SINCE RECALL ALREADY DONE.”
“ON AUG 19TH MY CAR WENT IN FOR SERVICE DUE TO THE UNSAFE FAILURES OF ITEMS REPLACED DURING THE 2 RECALLS. THE AUTOMATIC TRANSAXLE GEAR SHIFT MODULE AND POWERTRAIN CONTROL MODULE WERE BOTH RECALLED AND "FIXED". YET ON OCOTOBER 7TH 2020, I EXPERIENCED THE INABILITY TO SHIFT AND CONTROL THE TRANSMISSION GEAR SELECTION. I HAD UNINTENDED DIRECTIONAL MOVEMENT. I EXPERIENCED A DIMINISHED ABILITY TO ACCELERATE AND TO MAINTAIN VEHICLE SPEED AS EXPECTED. I WAS ONLY GOING 20MPH-40MPH ON STREETS. THE CAR WAS SWITCHING GEARS ON ITS ON AND STALLING IN TRAFFIC. WHEN I WOULD PUSH ON GAS PEDDLE IT WAS ROLLING BACK WHILE ON AN INCLINE. WHAT WAS MOST ALARMING WAS THAT AS I TRIED TO GET THE CAR HOME IT WOULD NOT ACCELERATE AS I PULLED OUT INTO TRAFFIC. I ATTEMPTED TO PUT THE CAR INTO REVERSE TO GET IT INTO MY DRIVEWAY AND IT WOULD NOT GO INTO REVERSE. OBVIOUSLY THE RECALLS IN BOTH 2014 & 2017 FAILED TO RECTIFY THE PROBLEM. THE CAR HAS ONLY BEEN DRIVEN PER AUG 19TH'S SERVICE RECOMMENDATIONS, AVOIDING AGGRESSIVE HIGH SPEEDS AND WHEN IDLE PUT IN PARK TO AVOID OVER HEATING. I HAVE DRIVEN IT AN AVERAGE OF 18MILES A DAY SINCE LAST SERVICED. EVERYTHING I AM EXPERIENCING WAS SUPPOSED TO…”
“I WAS DRIVING AND AT A STOP LIGHT. THE ENGINE SUDDENLY FLASHED AND SAID NOT IN GEAR. IT WAS IN DRIVE. IT SAID SWITCH TO NUETRAL. I DID AND BACK TO DRIVE. THE CAR WOULD BARELY GO. LEFT ME MOVING AT 15 MPH IN THE MIDDLE OF 55 MPH TRAFFIC. THEN IT SEEMED TO WANT TO LUNGE FORWARD AT THE NEXT RED LIGHT. I DO NOT FEEL SAFE AND THE FIAT DEALER SAYS THERE ARE NO RECALLS. HOWEVER I COULD HAVE LOST MY LIFE. I WAS ALMOST STRUCK TWICE.”
Showing 6 of 27 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.
Data from NHTSA Complaints API (owner reports, unverified) · synced Oct 28, 2026NHTSA vehicle page
Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.