At my work, trannies seem to be everywhere nowadays, and some are quite engaging indeed, making them almost unavoidable. Thing is you sometimes don't know if tranny engaging will cause a problem until it is too late. By then, the only thing you can do is call the dealer and hope it won't cost you too much.
Talk about karma! I made light of engaging trannies at work, and then this morning my smart's tranny failed to engage! I was backing down the driveway when I had to stop midway to go back up the driveway. I'm sure I stopped completely, but when I shifted from R to D, the car kept rolling backward. Then, at the bottom of the driveway, it refused to go forward. And when I shifted it to R again, it wouldn't reverse. I quickly turned off the engine; upon restarting, everything went back to normal and has been ever since. My confidence was completely shattered. Should I sell my beloved cabrio for $3K over MSRP?
Tonight, I'm burning incense and sacrificing little models of Scion IQs and Ford Focuses (or is it Foci?) to the great smart gods out there to get back into their good graces.
A bit behind the times, but I feel good knowing mine is not the only car refusing to back up, especially after the dealership said "We can't seem to replicate the problem." (or was it :"You've obviously been smoking the drapes again"?) Will return to dealership with your suggestions. Then will sit in waiting room to burn incense -- but cannot sacrifice my model of a Morris Minor, sorry.
Mine has only had that problem twice, and both times when I was in reverse going down my driveway. I think an earlier poster had it right when he said it might be because I didn't stop completely before shifting to D. Now that I'm aware of it, I haven't had the problem since.
I had the same thing happen today for the second time. I reversed 15 feet, put it in D and hit the gas... revved more than usual... I look down, it's in N, then I realize I never actually came to a stop. When I did, it went into D and worked just fine.
I had that same exact issue a couple of weeks ago. The deal informed me that it is a problem that Smart is aware of. It's acutally an issue with the clutch and they replaced the clutch within a couple of days, and now the care is perfect.
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smart - aka Smurf
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