general problems of the 2009 Smart Fortwo Cabrio

Reverse doesn't engage when shifting the gear to r, either I have to turn off the vehicle or go the manual shifts then eventually the reverse gear will engage. Sometimes it takes minutes to engage and it becomes problematic when conducting in traffic and it is very hazardous.

On five occasions, suddenly and without warning, my Smart car shifted in to neutral by itself while driving on the highway. While the shifter was in drive, the indicator below the speedometer was blank, and the car would not move. This problem always seems to occur after driving at higher speeds. I took the car into the dealership and they claimed to have repaired the problem with a computer reprogram. After the "repair" the car had the same problem. This is a very serious safety issue because the car without warning completely loses power and on more than one occasion I have almost been rear ended.

Wmeek31x09k276923 intermittently fails to shift into drive or reverse when when car is stationary. Most often, this is upon starting the car and attempting to charge nge from p for the first time. At times the transmission indicator shows n when the gear shift is in r or d. Other times it is blank. Shifting into park and then back to the gear sometimes resolves the issue for the time being. Other times, turning the car off and then restarting temporarily resolves the issue. Most recent occurrence to date: may 17, 2018.

As I pulled up to the garage and opened the garage door I noticed a banana slug on the ground, so I backed up and put the car into park. I exited the vehicle and left the car running to pick up the slug and move it. As I was doing so, the car started moving towards me up the incline of the driveway. I quickly opened the car door and started to jump in. It didn't occur to me that the car was moving through the garage door frame. The mirror snapped off and my left leg was crushed in the door as it scraped along the garage door frame. My left foot was wedged outside the car and outside the door frame and was crushed on the top of my ankle. The car had ground to a near stop due to the wedging of the door against the garage door frame. I looked down and saw that the shifter was in park, so I moved it to reverse and the car started moving backwards. I was not able to step on the brake to move the shifter into reverse, so the car obviously still thought it was in drive. I was then able to stop the car and turn it off. The dealer could find nothing wrong but updated the software for a 'no shifting into reverse issue'. They could not duplicate the failure and no problem was found with the vehicle transmission, so the damage was replaced at my expense. The next day, the car would not go into reverse and they replaced a sensor at their expense.