TECH HELP EDITOR
Base vehicle expert
Q Why do I get cold feet driving my motorhome?
I have a 2022 motorhome based on the 180hp Fiat Ducato with a nine-speed automatic gearbox. This is a lovely machine to drive; however, it has a problem that I hope you can offer advice on.
The issue concerns the front cab area where there is a distinct lack of heat to the passenger and driver's feet. The passenger side fares slightly better in that the heater fan outlet is higher up under the console on that side, whereas the driver has no outlet.
The heating is fine in the mid area and in the windscreen application; indeed, we can be cooked on either of the settings while our feet and legs feel they have frostbite. This is fine if we do short trips, but longer trips really show up the problem and many motorhomers tend to do longer trips.
Upon investigation, it appears Fiat modified the heating trunking by removing the clutch pedal, etc, to facilitate the nine-speed box. Fiat Customer Care UK said it is aware of this issue, but claims, “the heating works as it should”.
This is not much of a consolation to customers who have invested their hard-earned cash to find that such a simple function has been disregarded in a change from the manual gearbox to the automatic. I might add the thought of the creeping cold in winter fills us with dread and could limit the use of a very expensive investment.
I have communicated with Fiat Professional Centres who are aware of the issue, but have no solution from Fiat. I am reaching out to you for advice and/or any modification/s to resolve this issue.
Gordon R Maclver
A This is not the first time we have heard of this, although it seems that vehicles with manual transmission are also affected. The issue was not so much to do with the change to an automatic gearbox, because the previous Comfort-Matic was a two-pedal machine as well.
I believe that the change came about due to failures of the clutch master cylinder, which is above the clutch pedal. When high levels of heat were applied to the footwell, the outlet was directed straight to the master cylinder area, which is made of plastic. This caused deformation and initially a stiff pedal that might not return after being pressed, and finally a stuck pedal that might even leak. This theory has not been confirmed, but it seems plausible.
Now, all vehicles, whatever the drivetrain, seem to have no heat to the driver's footwell. Obviously, left-hand drive vehicles would never have been affected, so this fix is only relevant to the UK and Australia.
I took a drive up to a motorhome dealership in Newark, where I suspected that there would be a variety of vehicles to examine and found a 2015 vehicle that did have an outlet in the driver's footwell (it was a facelifted 2015 X290-type Fiat) and every single Fiat or Peugeot (manual or automatic) that I found that was registered from 2017 onwards was missing any form of heating in that area.
I suspect that the change must have come in around 2016 build. It is possible there are 2017-registered
