I have only had my Smart for 2 yr's and only have 21,000 km's on it... But it has been to the Dealership 8 or 9 times with Transmission problems! I had to get towed in several times due to the Stuck Shifter, and I am also experiencing the car not moving in Drive or Reverse... and the D and R not showing on the Display... This is happening 1 to 3 times per DAY... and they tell me they cant find the problem?! I am going to get KILLED in this car... because of the Incompetance of the Barrie Mercedes Benz dealership (physically located in Innisfil)... How can they just let me keep driving a car that I've had sitting dead across a busy road... and unable to move? I believe they take it for a test drive and if nothing happens... you get it back with nothing done at all!!!..... Hey.. if they dont know whats wrong, are they calling the Manufacturer to ask for advice? Or why not KEEP my car for a few days and have someone drive regularly..?!.. I am ready to Fire off a letter to every TV station, Radio, the auto section of every major Newspaper, the Ministry of (anything that has to do with Vehicles, or the sale of substandard products), Ombudsmen, Auto Magazines... etc... As well as Splashing it all over the Internet!!... SURELY with so many people having these same problems... they MUST have some idea what the problem is! (Maybe its time for a RECALL...??)
Tags: car, problems, smart, transmission
Replies to This Discussion
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From what I have been told by the local Handler here in Kaiserslautern and a Smart enthusiast in the UK, this is a North American problem. The shifter is set-up like a normal automatic transmission with Park, Drive and the typical Automatic Creep. Cars sold outside North America have a different shift mechanism with an H pattern. 0 upper right, R lower right, + upper left and - lower left. There is no Automatic Creep which causes clutch wear. There have been some problems with selecting Reverse going from the left portion of the H shift (the + - side) but if one moves the lever to 0 and back to R, reverse will be selected.
The guy from the UK told me the only solution to a problem such as yours is to change to the European shifter and change whatever programming (if any) is necessary. I doubt that is an option for you unless your warranty covers you in Mexico. Mexico gets the European Smart models.
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I've had my smart for just over 2 yrs & have had no problems. However, a wrecker driver I talked to today (we own a body shop) told me he has towed 5 in the past 2 weeks, and he was told there IS a recall. I haven't been notified yet, though.
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Permalink Reply by Alton R Pilgrim on -
I would get a scan gage ll and read the code off it when it dose happen. Had about the same thing with a Dodge dealership and an oil leak they could not find until i parked at dealership down the road from them and the oil leak showed up in there driveway and i called them and told them to come down and take a look. They did and then fixed the leak. Seems from the factory they only allow them so much time to diagnose the problem and if they don't find it in that amount of time, they move on and just tell you they don't know what is wrong? Like i said your stuck with the car so your only recourse it to find the code your self if it throws one.
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Very interesting....I too am experiencing the same mechanical problems. I will let you know how I am taken care of and would be interested in some form of recourse if not taken care of properly make sure you document everything as it's your best means of protection.......I felt like my life was in danger while driving the 401 the other day!
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