I'm unable to open the bonnet on my Fiat Brava. The bonnet release handle feels "normal" but pulling it doesn't release the bonnet.
The official advice from Fiat is to take the car to one of their dealers (surprise, surprise). I'm unemployed and just can't afford to pay their rates (or anyone elses for that matter) so I have to sort this out myself. I'm not much of a mechanic but I don't mind trying.
Any helpful ideas please?

Adrian, March 2007

I had this problem with my Brav 1.6, too.
In the end, I had to pull off the plastic grille on the front and push the release with a big screwdriver.
It took a while, a lot of tries and a few skinned knuckles.
Once I had it open I cleaned the latch mechanism and then covered it in petroleum jelly (AKA Vaseline) to grease it and keep the water off.

Now it sticks only occasionally, and when I can't get it to open, I drive to a nearby road that's full of pot-holes and while I'm driving over it, pull the release handle. The bumps usually jog the catch open.
The secondary lever catch stops the bonnet from flying right open.

I've found that if I open the bonnet at least once a week, it never sticks.

Phil Rogers, October 2009

Finally I found the way to do this. Remove the Fiat logo plate from the front (this is held on by 2 self-tapping screws, one at each end, plus a nut in the middle) - as it's not possible to access these, the only way is to prise it off (as gently as possible). With this plate removed there's just room to access the 2 nuts which hold the bonnet catch to the body of the bonnet. With these nuts undone the bonnet simply lifts up leaving the catch still within the lock hole in the bodywork. In my case this had seized up so wasn't easy to release hence the problem as the release cable was fine.
Reassembly is simply a matter of refixing the logo plate to the bonnet, refitting the bonnet catch to the bonnet and making sure the lock mechanism is well greased and free moving.

Adrian, July 2007

I've tried bouncing the bonnet etc., but no good sadly.....

Adrian, March 2007

get someone to pull the bonnet release,at the same time push & pull the bonnet,sort of bouncing it if u get what i mean.it should pop up then.the catch will need a good spray of wd40

bob, March 2007