Fiat 500 Power Steering Fault: EPS Column Repair

This page takes the fault from the driver’s seat first: what a failing column feels like, what the warning light and a scan are telling you, and the cheaper causes worth ruling out. It then covers why columns fail, how repair compares with a used or new unit, and how the column gets to us and back. Our other steering work is listed under power steering repairs.

What does a Fiat 500 power steering fault feel like?

Most owners notice it at low speed. The wheel that normally turns with a fingertip in a car park suddenly needs both hands, sometimes in one direction only, and the steering warning light appears on the dash. Early on the fault comes and goes; later it stays.

A light that stays on permanently, with the steering heavy all the time, means the assistance has failed completely. The steering still works, because the column keeps its mechanical link to the front wheels, but parking turns into hard work and a fault that cuts in mid-manoeuvre catches drivers out. Drive it only as far as you need to.

If the steering light is one of several lit at once, our guide to Fiat 500 warning lights explains each symbol and which unit sits behind it.

Could it be the battery or an earth, not the column?

Yes, and it is worth checking before anything comes out of the car. A weak battery or a poor earth can produce exactly the same symptoms as a failing column. If the voltage dips, the column protects itself by withdrawing assistance and logging a fault. Switch off, restart, and it often comes straight back.

That is why the fault so often shows itself on cold mornings, after the car has stood for a week or after a jump-start. A battery being slowly drained while the car is parked, or a corroded earth connection between the battery, body and engine, produces the same pattern.

Ask your garage to load-test the battery, check the charging output and inspect the main earth connections. If all three are healthy and the light and heavy steering keep returning, the column is the part at fault. A battery test costs far less than removing a column that was never the problem, and we would rather you ran it first.

What does fault code C1002 mean on a Fiat 500?

C1002 is the code most often stored when a Fiat 500 column fails. Scan tools usually describe it as a steering column torque position fault: the column has flagged a problem reading your steering input, so it cannot judge how much help to give and backs off.

Two things catch garages out. The code can clear after a reset and look as if it has gone, only to return on the next cold start. And a fault that has only appeared intermittently may leave nothing stored at all, so a clean scan on a good day does not clear the column. Put whatever the scan shows, and when the symptoms appear, on the repair form.

Why does the Fiat 500 EPS column fail?

On the 500, the electric motor and the control unit that drives it are built onto the steering column behind the dashboard as a single assembly. Everything that assembly lives through adds up:

• Heat and age. The column warms and cools with the cabin on every journey and every day parked in the sun, and its electronics age under that cycling.
• Voltage events. Flat batteries, jump-starts and charging faults hit the control unit with dips and spikes it was never meant to see often.
• Moisture. Damp finding its way behind the dash speeds the decline.
• Motor wear. The assist motor itself wears with time and use.

A tired control unit can also make a sound column feel worn out. Assistance that arrives late, differs from one side to the other or drops away for a moment reads to the driver like a mechanical problem, when the steering hardware itself is fine. That is why we test the column electrically, under load, rather than judge it by feel.

Why has the City steering button stopped working?

City is a request to the column for extra assistance, so the wheel turns more lightly for parking and slow manoeuvres. It has no motor of its own; it works through the same column.

When the column has a fault and has withdrawn its assistance, there is nothing for City to increase, so pressing the button changes nothing. A dead City button together with heavy steering points to the column. If the steering feels normal and only City has stopped responding, mention it on the repair form, because the button and its wiring are worth having checked first.

Does the Fiat 500 use power steering fluid?

No. The Fiat 500 built from 2007 has electric power steering, so there is no fluid reservoir, no hydraulic pump and nothing to top up. Assistance comes from the electric motor on the steering column.

That matters when the steering goes heavy, because the familiar advice for older cars, checking the fluid level, does not apply. Heaviness on a 500 is an electrical fault in the column or its power supply, so do not pour fluid in anywhere under the bonnet hoping to cure it. The larger 500L and 500X are different cars; if you have one of those, send us the part number and we will tell you what it uses.

Repair your column, fit an exchange unit, or buy used?

A failed column leaves three routes, and the one that looks cheapest is not always the cheapest in the end.

A used column is easy to find, but it is the same age as yours with a history nobody can tell you: how many miles, how many flat batteries, how close it is to the same fault. Used parts usually come with a short, limited warranty, and the unit has to match your car, VDC or non-VDC, to work properly.

A new column from a dealer brings labour and programming on top of the part, and it is the same design as the one that failed.

Repair or exchange through us avoids both. We remanufacture your own column, or supply an exchange column from stock as a direct replacement if the car cannot wait. Either way the known weak points are dealt with rather than refitted, the column calibrates itself when fitted, it needs no coding and it is covered by a lifetime warranty. The columns and racks we list are among our electric power steering units.

Which Fiat 500 EPS column part numbers do we cover?

The table lists the part numbers we see most often on the Fiat 500. It is not a complete list. Two versions of the column were fitted, for cars with and without VDC stability control, and the number on your column’s label tells us which you have. If yours is not listed, send it to us and we will check.

How does the column get to us and back?

The motor and control unit do not come apart from the column, so the complete column is what travels. The car stays with your garage in the meantime.

1. Book it on the repair form

   Give us the model and year, the part number if you have it, the symptoms and any fault codes, and say whether you want your own column repaired or an exchange unit.

2. Your garage removes the column

   Taking the column out from behind the dash is your garage’s part of the job. Nothing else from the car needs to come with it.

3. Pack it and post it

   Wrap the column well, box it so it cannot shift in transit, and put a note inside with your name, return address, contact details and the fault.

4. Tested, repaired, tested again

   In our ESD-safe workshop the column goes onto our Hardware-in-the-Loop platform, which simulates steering load, heat and vibration, so the fault is confirmed before work starts. It is repaired at circuit level and put through the same tests again before it is released.

5. Refitted without programming

   The column comes back ready for your garage to fit. It calibrates itself once installed, needs no coding and carries a lifetime warranty.

Fiat 500 power steering: what owners ask us