Transmission Not Go Into Gear problems of the 2008 Smart Fortwo

Know issue with transmission. Will not go into reverse half the time. Making it dangerous if needed quickly. Parallel parking on a busy street, the car would not go into reverse, holding up traffic for a very long time. Having to push it into the spot! mercedes says it is a software problem. But that should be a recall because that is their problem. Many people have had the same issue. Driving down the highway at 70mph and the car instantly starts flashing neutral and beeping. Car slows and will not go into gear. We need this car to be recalled!.

The 2008 Smart car, has been consistently, shifting into neutral, while driving, usually, when entering, or exiting a highway, or at an intersection (speed changes). The car shifts into neutral, and then usually shuts down, causing the vehicle to be rear ended, from unsuspecting drivers behind this vehicle. . The problem started when the car, would not shift into reverse, while parked. . Smart offered a software fix, to address that issue. Had that done, then problem progressed, to shifting to neutral while driving, and stalling out. . . At times car, would restart, but it would not shift into gear, indicating only a flashing neutral position. At times, car would not start at all, because would not know what gear it was in. . . If waited 10-20 minutes, or several hours, it might restart, and shift, for a short period, before it did the same thing again. . . Apparently it's a common problem, with the Smart car forums, full of complaints, about the 2008 year, with Smart CO. , at times, authorizing repairs, and replacement with 2009 mechanisms, that do not have the same problems as the 2008 model year. There should definitely be a recall for the 2008 Smart car, model year, before someone is killed, entering, exiting a highway, at a railroad crossing, or at an intersection, where the car, shifts into neutral, won't shift out, and shuts off. . . Thank you.

The 2008 Smart car, has been consistently, shifting into neutral, while driving, usually, when entering, or exiting a highway, or at an intersection (speed changes). The car shifts into neutral, and then usually shuts down, causing the vehicle to be rear ended, from unsuspecting drivers behind this vehicle. . The problem started when the car, would not shift into reverse, while parked. . Smart offered a software fix, to address that issue. Had that done, then problem progressed, to shifting to neutral while driving, and stalling out. . . At times car, would restart, but it would not shift into gear, indicating only a flashing neutral position. At times, car would not start at all, because would not know what gear it was in. . . If waited 10-20 minutes, or several hours, it might restart, and shift, for a short period, before it did the same thing again. . . Apparently it's a common problem, with the Smart car forums, full of complaints, about the 2008 year, with Smart CO. , at times, authorizing repairs, and replacement with 2009 mechanisms, that do not have the same problems as the 2008 model year. There should definitely be a recall for the 2008 Smart car, model year, before someone is killed, entering, exiting a highway, at a railroad crossing, or at an intersection, where the car, shifts into neutral, won't shift out, and shuts off. . . Thank you.

The first time it happened was after starting the car, it would not go into reverse. The dash board shift indicator remained on the "n" , but the gear shift was in reverse. After turning the car off and restarting it, it then went into reverse. We lived with problem for a long time, because we, at least had a solution. Just recently, September 7, 2013 my wife called me from a shopping plaza telling me that the car would not go into any gear (drive or reverse) it took me about 10 minutes of turning the engine on and off before the car was able to go into drive and reverse. Fortunately, she was in a parking lot and not on a highway or trying to parallel on a busy shreet. This is a serious safety problem, which needs to be rectified by the mercedes people. After viewing the internet, there are many Smart car 2008 owners with the same problem. Please advise if a call back has been issued or will be issued. Thank you.

I have a transmission problem with my 2008 passionfortwo, which has occurred four times in the 28 months and 13k miles of ownership. I'm happily driving along until I reach my destination, then I need to go into reverse to park. The shifter works flawlessly and the display clearly shows the correct position of the shifter. But, the transmission does not engage, nor will it engage if I reselect drive. The first two times that this happened, I eventually turned off the key and restarted the car and all was well. The last two times, that work-around had no effect. I turned off the car and let it sit for five minutes and one hour, respectively, and then had no problem selecting any gear. A car that suddenly will not go into gear is dangerous.