I can't remember whether I posted on this topic before, but anyway...
It appears that Fiat "mis-configured" a batch of Ducatos destined for the motorhome market for about 6 months from Dec '24. Software was installed relevant to the commercial market (N2 categorisation, since most leave the factory at 3650kg MAM).
After final conversion, however, they end up as M1 special class passenger vehicles.
The two categorisations are subject to different speed limits, and now software has got more ubiquitous (and intrusive) this can cause problems.
The vehicles destined for conversion should have software different to the normal N2 vehicles, since there are deleterious effects on an M1 vehicle, most notably to do with the speed limits that apply.
Anyhow, the net effect is that a number of the ADAS safety settings relevant to N2 vehicles cause problems on vehicles converted to M1 Special. The most obvious symptoms are that traffic sign recognition (of speed limits) linked to the speed limiter function won't work "correctly" for values above those relevant to N2 vehicles (generally 90kph/56mph), and Adaptive Cruise Control gives an error message if attempting to set a value above those limits.
There has been long discussion about this in motorhome forums, and particularly in the German Motorhome press. Fiat for quite some time denied responsibility, blaming mis-ordering or whatever, but since it was widespread across all converters they eventually had to hold their hands up as a mis-build.
I became aware fairly early on, but didn't think I'd seen the symptoms on my 'van, bought in March. I did, however, carry out tests on Holiday on the French Autoroutes just to confirm, with no issues apparent. Given the latest thinking on timing, I reckon my 'van was one of the last built before the issue cut in.
Anyway, recently on Fiat's Camper website, it has been showing an outstanding "Service Campaign" against my VIN. (Service Campaigns are Fiat's way of dealing with issues that they don't consider safety related, so they don't get an official recall). The issue outlined above is being treated as a Service Campaign (not safety related).
So, I queried of Stellantis Customer Services, who confirmed that there was an outstanding Service Campaign, but declined to give details, directing me to the dealer network. Ultimately, I got a response confirming an outstanding Service Campaign ostensibly to fix the Adaptive Cruise Control issue (that I don't have!).
Dealer confused, me confused, and now awaiting a reply to a further query to Customer Services.
Patently there might be a different issue, there might be more than one fix under the headline description, or whatever, but it doesn't inspire confidence in the process.
(FWIW, despite it not being a recall, Service Campaign fixes are free).
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