Power Train Problems of Smart Fortwo - part 1

The contact owns a 2009 Smart Fortwo. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle suddenly lost motive power. The vehicle was turned off, the contact waited, and then restarted the vehicle, and the vehicle operated as needed. The failure had occurred several times while driving. The contact stated that while depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle failed to brake immediately and drifted to the left. The brake pedal was depressed to the floorboard for the vehicle to come to a stop. The abs warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed that the abs was faulty and retrieved diagnostic trouble codes: 1314 and c1443. The contact stated that the front brake pads were replaced by the dealer, and the rear brake pads were replaced by a certified mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired for the failure to accelerate, and the failure persisted. The vehicle was purchased on July 17, 2025, and the seller kept the repair issues with the vehicle from the contact and failed to provide information on the previous repairs. The contact stated that the failure recurred after retrieving the vehicle. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 74,254.

See all problems of the 2009 Smart Fortwo 🔎.

2008 Smart Fortwo has a recall open for reprograming the transmission computer because of rough shifting and bucking while shifting and lugging the engine to much before down shifting. Mine is a 2008 but the VIN was not included in the recall and I am having the same problems with mine. Can mine be added to the recall?.

Car doesn't shift from park to reverse or it goes into neutral this is a safety issue . Im not the only person with this issue and apparently Smart knows of this problem. This problem is putting people into neutral when they start and leaving you in the road. . They need to be held responsible and knowingly putting people at risk. I was sitting in a parking lot when I couldn't shift into reverse . I've read and heard from others Smart is saying a software error.

The contact owns a 2008 Smart Fortwo. After the vehicle was started and shifted into reverse, it failed to respond. The vehicle was taken to mercedes-benz of orlando (810 orlando Ave, maitland, FL 32751, (407) 680-0784) to be diagnosed, but the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure occurred at least four times previously. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 30,000.

See all problems of the 2008 Smart Fortwo 🔎.

Loud clanking noise while driving. Was diagnosed as faulty condenser fan and lose bolts/screws which hold it in place. Mercedes-benz dealership where it was purchased said will cost $1,700-$1,800 to fix! internet research revealed to me this is a common defect/problem. I paid almost $7,000 for my Smart for two pure coupe. I should not have to be paying an additional nearly $2,000 because bolts jiggled lose. I no longer feel secure in my car. Now im driving in hot florida in the summer with no a/c because I cant afford this fix.

See all problems of the 2014 Smart Fortwo 🔎.

Iintermittently fails to shift into reverse when stopped or parked.

This car is an ev. Water in the brake light switch, will not let the car recharge. Water and mud in the 12v power cable on the drivers side of the battery pack has caused a 12v power cable fitting to crack. Both of these problems are on the bottom side of the car. These problems will not let the car recharge! this is not a flood car! it has 76,087 mile on it!!!!! my dealer is a joke! I have not been able to drive my for 8 months. Also the key fob is broken. This also will not let me drive my car. I am still paying for this piece of junk! (xxxxxx) owner. Redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

See all problems of the 2013 Smart Fortwo 🔎.

Tl the contact owns a 2008 Smart Fortwo. After starting the vehicle, the transmission shifter would not switch to the reverse position. The failure was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer and local dealer were not notified. The failure mileage was 45,000.

Possible safety issue with Smartcar 2009, VIN: [xxx] intermittent issue with gearbox shifter not allowing car to be shifted into reverse. Safety issue. When trying to back into a parking space, or leave a parking space. If a similar smarcars are stuck on train tracks, and cannot maneuver to get off the tracks this could be a very serious safety issue. . Read more...

Randomly, after starting the car and selecting reverse, the dash display doesn't display 'r' or it flashes 'n', and the transmission doesn't engage reverse gear. Moving gear shifter between park and drive several times or restarting vehicle helps sometimes. This would be very dangerous if needing to reverse in an emergency situation and the car doesn't move.

Transmission gets stuck in park and sometimes seems like it struggles to change gears.

It will stop working and will not go into drive at all the car just sit there and will not drive at all, this is not good when sitting in traffic lights.

Within the space of three months, in the middle of driving my Smartcar, my dash display has gone from showing d (for drive) to n and then flashing three vertical bars. I have lost all control of driving the car and luckily there was space on the side of the road to coast to a stop. When trying to turn the car back on, the three bars remain. There is a way through the shifter to restart the car or at least getting it into neutral. A series of pumping the brake, turning the start key and trying to move the shifter back and forth through gears. Eventually, the car will start. Unfortunately, the three bars of death (as nicknamed on the Smart car forums) can happen for any numerous types of faults such as weak battery to faulty communication with the transmission, to heater/air conditioning operating unit is defective. The list is long. The problem is my car has completely stopped working in the middle of the road without warning and this could be very dangerous.

Tl the contact owns a 2009 Smart Fortwo. While driving various speeds, the transmission shifted into neutral without warning. The contact also stated that the vehicle would completely shut off, causing the brakes and steering wheel to fail. The vehicle was taken to world wide motors, inc (3900 e 96th st, indianapolis, in 46240) where they updated the software system in the vehicle; however, the same failures occurred multiple times. The manufacturer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 41,000.

The cars transmission will not switch to reverse intermittently its an electrical things.

While driving rear motor caught fire,.

On steep uphills and when you have come to a stop because of a red light or a stop sign, the engine seems to be too weak to push the transmission forward and actually the car my roll back and brakes go in a lock mode which creates a big safety issue.

See all problems of the 2016 Smart Fortwo 🔎.

While driving car will drive fine. . Stop to parallel park or reverse. . . Car will not go into reverse gear. . Or drive gear. . . . Shut car off to reset everything then car will not start up for awhile. . . . . If at all taken to Smart center to no avil called Smart all they want to do is give me a $500 dollar discount on another Smart car. . . And no answer to the current problem im having with a current Smart car car only has 43,277 miles.

Seat belts for both driver and passenger sides became twisted within the first couple of years of ownership. Despite attempts by service technicians to untwist and repair the mechanism the seat belts remain twisted. Seat belt latch on driver's side finally failed at about 25,000 miles. Both seat belts had to be completely replaced at our expense. Also, the car doesn't always shift from park to reverse properly. It sometimes takes several attempts to get the transmission to engage.

Transmission will go into three bars and not shift on highways and parkways, usually able to safely drive under power to side of road sometimes goes into neutral and have to coast to side. Occurs with elevated ambient moisture. Started at 32,000 miles. Known issue, transmission has a limp mode for this occurrence. Very difficult to diagnose, appears electrical in nature. Smart dealership will not address.

See all problems of the 2012 Smart Fortwo 🔎.

Vehicle doesn't always shift into reverse from park. Sometimes will not go into drive from park many people with same problem online. Please please help us get the manufacturer the fix this. This is not normal wear and tear.

I also have the problem with the transmission. The transmission will not go into reverse or drive after engine starts. It happens about 2 to 3 times a year. It can happen after an overnight stop or just a few minutes. It always works after a few minutes however, a couple of times the non engaging transmission allowed the car to roll into a vulnerable position in the street. I felt lucky there was no traffic.

While driving the car, the engine will rev and then there is only neutral showing. I have no reverse or drive. Thank goodness when this happens I have had a place to pull off the road. I turn the car off and sit for a few minutes, turn it back on and have all the gears. I have tried driving in the "manual" position but it still happens. Lately it is more and more frequent. One of these days this car will get me smushed. Smart needs to do a major recall on this! I am only the second owner of this car and got it with only 18,000 miles on it. I now have 35,025 miles on it. Took it to a mechanic and gives a po803 code, which states a clutch sensor. Smart cars code says it needs a new clutch! wth!?? and if it needs a new clutch then why does this only occurr in the colder weather and not the summer!!??!! I am so pissed! Smart car take responsibility for your screwup in the design of this car! this has happened so many times!!!.

The vehicle fails intermittently to shift from brake to reverse or from reverse to drive. When the failure occurs, all that is seen on the front dashboard is a blank screen and the car alert systems lets out a continuous beeping denoting the failure of the shift. It sometimes requires immediate turning off of the engine and restarting in order to get to the desired gear. Seldom that does not work, and turning off and waiting 10 minutes seems to allow gear shifts. This is dangerous especially in the reverse to drive failure as when coming out of a driveway on a busy road, it may cause an accident. This has occurred after warranty and I was told there is a Mercedes Benz software upgrade meant to solve it. But this is a charged service. As a safety issue, I implore that this should not be a charged but required safety recall. Upon viewing the complaints it seems a few other suffer the same degree of failures. As the car is a niche brand, the consumer base is smaller and you do not have as large a complaint pool as a Honda accord, which is fairly popular and has a large consumer base. I humbly request the nhsta make daimler ag and Mercedes Benz USA responsible to repair this and have every Smart on the road's transmission software upgraded free of cost.

In traffic, attempting to parallel park, car fails to shirt into "r" must turn car off in middle of road, restart three times to finally get car to engage "r" or "d" to move the car safely out of traffic. 1- this has happened to me many dozens of times, I previously reported a similar problem. 2- I see many other similar complaints. Why has there not been a recall issued?.

The car just shuts off at anytime whiledriving in d your just a sitting duck cant use gear to unlock trammission so it could be moved out of way of on comming traffic, theres no warning the cars is in the shop now, this has happen to other Smart Fortwo owners, its a death trap wating to happen needs to be fixed before more people lose there life, look at gm . 54cent could have saved many lose lives. Please help the public,,.

Put car into reverse. Display would not show reverse nor would it go into reverse. I turned car off, waited until computer reset then turned the key. Car sequenced through the gears to 'relearn' the sequence. I started the car and it still won't find the reverse gear. This is extremely dangerous. Clutch ewas replaced by dealer 5 months ago and software was upgraded.

Drivers seatbelt buckle does not latch at all. Mercedes will not pay for it or fix it and want us to pay out of pocket .

The car has a problem with not going in reverse when you put the gear shifter in 'r' position? usually after driven and the car is warmed up. The car just rolls when put in reverse, as if though it's in neutral. . When giving gas it just revs the engine and nothing happens. . The car is automatic transmission. And it can be dangerous putting the car in reverse if it's on a slope. The vehicle can roll. This is a normal problem with the 08-09 year. This should defiantly be a recall issue. Thank you for taken the time to read my complaint.

I was driving on a suburban side street when suddenly the engine cut off and the car came rolling to a stop. Fortunately I was not traveling fast and there was room to pull over but I could have been injured if the incident was on a highway. A local mechanic could not identify the problem so I eventually had it towed to the dealership which tested it and found that the coupling motor (a component of the transmission) was faulty and needed to be replaced. The car is running okay now but the repairs cost over $1,000 and it is only 4 years old.

My Smart is not going into reverse gear. This becomes very dangerous when trying to get out of traffic while exiting a driveway or parallel parking on a busy street. Other drivers become impatient especially when there are cars in both directions blocked because of the Smart unable to reverse. Smart provided a software update for this known problem but it still persists. I have two friends with Smart cars and they both have this problem. I've also google searched "Smart car reverse" and what pops up is gear, problem and gear problem. There seems to be many Smart owners with this problem.

It was a very hot day and had been driving on the interstate for about an hour. I slowed down to turn onto ramp and car went out of gear (while driving!). Screen went blank. This has happened to me once before in a similar circumstance so I pulled over. Turned off car and found advice on the Smart car forum (this has obviously happened to others as well). After about 3 times of completing the cycle to reboot the system, it finally worked and I continued on my way. The first time this happened dealer did a software update at my cost ($200+) because it was out of warranty. This car is dangerous. . . Will someone need to die before something is done with a recall of these cars?.

I have a Smart Fortwo having trouble with the reverse call the dealer they told me that it was a software problem and that this is the second time that they had to up date it so the reverse would work I have call many Smart car dealers thru out the states and it is a problem so my question is why isn't this a recall because I have to pay for this because the factory warranty is up and my reverse went forward to I don't think its fair that I have to pay for this since this has been an on going problem with these cars please help.

Tl- the contact owns a 2013 Smart Fortwo. The contact stated that the motor hesitated and the accelerator pedal was slow to respond and pick up speed as the failure progressed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who replaced the spark plugs, brakes and rotors but the failure continued. The contact constantly had to put the gear in shift and change gears back and forth due to the transmission being slow to change over. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact took the vehicle to more than two independent repair shop for further inspection and diagnosis. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and was unable to supply a permanent remedy to the dealer to repair the vehicle. The approximate failure mileage was 11,000. Dyd.

The contact owns a 2008 Smart Fortwo. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to shift into reverse gear and the failure was experienced several times. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing and the vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 27,000 and the current mileage was 29,942.