Can you post a pic up of your light housing? This came up on another thread the other day - I looked at mine and it *appears* as though I have the pop out tabs (which was/is supposed to only be on the Euro spec based on the responses) that allow me to just replace the bulb. This is what I'm talking about, see below:

 

Looks like some vandals took a sharpie to your license plate there buddy.







Seriously though...I haven't looked at mine but if they made a change and there are tabs to pop them out this would be very good news, really makes a lot more sense to replace a little LED than the entire unit.

 

That's so good of Fields Fiat to cover this item under warranty!

 

I will post some photos tomorrow it dark out at the moment.

 

But they can do that just by seeing your plate on the street... as you state in your post. Really, chill.

Anyway, I checked my license plate lights and found the following....

I searched that part number and found.... nothing.

But then I went to moparonlineparts.com and found the left lamp and the right lamp, for $15.87 each. A little pricey for just a simple LED, but probably not as much as buying the whole trim piece.

 

But they can do that just by seeing your plate on the street... as you state in your post. Really, chill.

Anyway, I checked my license plate lights and found the following....

View attachment 36065 View attachment 36073

I searched that part number and found.... nothing.

But then I went to moparonlineparts.com and found the left lamp and the right lamp, for $15.87 each. A little pricey for just a simple LED, but probably not as much as buying the whole trim piece.

I'm chill and of course they can get it from the street, hence many of the cases I had to work - that was kind of my point. Posting it online just exposes it to that many more people should they decide to do something nefarious

Thanks for the pic, I figured the lights had to be changeable without spending hundreds of dollars for the whole housing. Unless something changed after the 2012 model, I really don't see how they (dealers) are telling people they need to replace the whole thing for $200-$300 when the bulbs can clearly be changed.

 

My guess is that maybe they weren't stocking the LED replacements right away, so the quickest way to replace the lights was to replace the whole trim piece, and it kind of caught on.

I was actually kind of shocked that there are LH and RH lights; why couldn't they make them the same? Silly design if you ask me.

 

That's still crazy though - that's like telling someone that you are out of spark plugs, so we'll just replace your whole engine because it's quicker. Of course if people don't know any better and pay it, they get away with it. They can order any part, even if it takes a while to be delivered. That's why I looked at mine after reading the other post, I knew there was no way you had to change the entire housing for a bulb issue.

 

Since my plate is personalized, its a easy read. I don't care who see it. Folks see it everyday, and laugh, while taking photos of it, on the street.

Back to the Op's original issues. Why the h-ll did Fiat, over design the license plate LED lamps. A simple 2 bulbs/or replaceable LED's would have made more sense. Replacing the whole housing is plain stupid.

 

Ok had it done the 2012 have to have the full hatch replaced the 2013 have a different piece, that each led can be replaced which we can't do with the 2012, I was there for the whole replacement and they tried.

 

Mine looked like the one posted with tabs before the replacement ,

 

There is no replacement for the 2012, just the whole hatch Assam.

 

Can't they give you, a newer 2013 piece?

 

the pieces are just a little different

 

Not the Same

Using a false tag number from a passing car just after the accident is much more valid than just any tag number from a parking lot. Can anyone guess why ?

Many modern cars have black boxes which record speed and position, also that information is on the cell phone of the driver. This puts the driver near the scene of the accident at the right time.

Any good attorney could sway a jury with that information.

 

Using a false tag number from a passing car just after the accident is much more valid than just any tag number from a parking lot. Can anyone guess why ?

Many modern cars have black boxes which record speed and position, also that information is on the cell phone of the driver. This puts the driver near the scene of the accident at the right time.

Any good attorney could sway a jury with that information.

My last ghetto of a department didn't even go that far with it. We got the call, if they had vehicle info (tag, etc.) we wrote them an accident report, told them to call their insurance company, and went back on the road. If they didn't have any tag info, we gave them a case number for reference and told them to call their insurance company. Rarely did I go out of my way to track the other person down, we just didn't do it as a matter of policy because we were such a busy high crime department (i.e. these types of reports were not high priority and did not warrant wasting time on). If it was a government vehicle like a school bus or something, I had to go track them down. We basically left it up to the insurance companies to figure it out. Not saying it's right necessarily, it's just how the department operated

 

Hate to resurrect an old thread, but I'm a new 500 owner and the license plate lamp issue is nailing me on day 1. Reading the threads brought me to this link at moparonline http://moparonlineparts.com/mop-parts/#parts and I bought both left and right. Hope it fixes my problem of having not lamps back there.

 

Hello. I'm new to the forum, and I joined after looking for information on the (now) infamous license plate lamps (LEDs) that only come with the rear hatch assembly on the 2012 Fiat 500.

I took my girlfriend's Fiat 500 to the dealership in NYC last month and was told exactly that: the whole assembly was $150+ tax without installation. At first I tried an aftermarket LED license plate fixture by Pilot, but only two of the 12 LEDs on it would light, so I searched on the forum some more, wondering if I needed a resistor, or something (and found someone had used a 10ohm, 50W resistor elsewhere when replacing LED).

I'm not electrically savvy AT ALL. Just a shade-tree mechanic.

My friend found this page which answered a lot of questions: http://www.fiat500usa.com/2014/09/fiat-500-license-plate-bulb-change.html

Apparently the ridiculous design was revised in March of 2012 to where you could replace the individual LEDs:
Fiat 500 License Plate Bulb Part Number
Right 68212034AA
Left 68212035AA

My current plan is circumvent whatever the issue is with the LED License Plate Lights I purchased, and buy those, and cut/solder the wires, because her Jan 2012 has the old non-replaceable bulb assembly, but the Jan 2012 and the March 2012 Fiat 500's presumably have the same wiring, etc, so the LEDs should be interchangeable.

Any input is welcome!

 

Hello. I'm new to the forum, and I joined after looking for information on the (now) infamous license plate lamps (LEDs) that only come with the rear hatch assembly on the 2012 Fiat 500.

I took my girlfriend's Fiat 500 to the dealership in NYC last month and was told exactly that: the whole assembly was $150+ tax without installation. At first I tried an aftermarket LED license plate fixture by Pilot, but only two of the 12 LEDs on it would light, so I searched on the forum some more, wondering if I needed a resistor, or something (and found someone had used a 10ohm, 50W resistor elsewhere when replacing LED).

I'm not electrically savvy AT ALL. Just a shade-tree mechanic.

My friend found this page which answered a lot of questions: http://www.fiat500usa.com/2014/09/fiat-500-license-plate-bulb-change.html

Apparently the ridiculous design was revised in March of 2012 to where you could replace the individual LEDs:
Fiat 500 License Plate Bulb Part Number
Right 68212034AA
Left 68212035AA

My current plan is circumvent whatever the issue is with the LED License Plate Lights I purchased, and buy those, and cut/solder the wires, because her Jan 2012 has the old non-replaceable bulb assembly, but the Jan 2012 and the March 2012 Fiat 500's presumably have the same wiring, etc, so the LEDs should be interchangeable.

Any input is welcome!

Welcome to the forum.

I'd source a newer model full assembly and not worry as you can then replace individual bulbs as needed. Parts counter, online parts (check the vendor section of the forum), or junked 500 from a salvage yard would work.

 

I couldn't really tell you. I just had mine replaced under warranty, with the new improved one.
This is the second time. They replaced it the first time, with the older version. The new version, you can replace the LED's.

 

So the new version is a direct fit replacement for the old part?

 

Yes. The way you can tell the new version. The lamps are place at a angle under the plate hood. While the old version. There horizontal to the plate hood. Direct replacement covered under warranty. Saved, $150 bucks plus labor.