Clutch, D, N, gear 1 problems

[Polish Bunny]

We got our smart 2 weeks ago (now 750 miles, bought with 256 miles), and we have problems already.
First when we drive in Automatic, we stop at the signal light and want to accelerate the automatic jumps into N or gear 1 at 6-7 RPM. (It happen already 6 times). And I been driving sick and automatic vehicles for years.

We go to the dealer they hooked it up to the diagnostic , drove the smart and of course everything is working just fine.
I just feel like they don't believe us. We wouldn't waist 45 min. to drive one way to get to the dealer to make something up.
But I also don't want to have a brand new car, that has issues.



Did you have something like that happen with your smart and how did you resolve it?

Ciao,

[Old smart]

First thing to do is, you drive it with the smart tech with you, and drive it like you do when the problem happens.

[JPaul]

Originally Posted by Polish Bunny

... want to accelerate the automatic jumps into N or gear 1 at 6-7 RPM. ...

Just a thought: since when the car is in "D" a simple touch on the "-" paddle will go to "manual" and put the car in a lower gear, is it possible that at very low speed, it would go from "2" to "1", or from "1" into "N"?
I've hit the paddle accidently quite often, especially at low speed in tight turns.

[Alan_Hepburn]

That happens every once in a while with ours - creeping along VERY SLOWLY from a stop using extremely light gas pedal pressure. It will either stay in first for a long time, or it will get confused and shift from first to second, back to first, and then back to second. The solution is to be more aggressive with the gas pedal so the computer knows what you want to do...

[Brabus]

Originally Posted by Alan_Hepburn

That happens every once in a while with ours - creeping along VERY SLOWLY from a stop using extremely light gas pedal pressure. It will either stay in first for a long time, or it will get confused and shift from first to second, back to first, and then back to second. The solution is to be more aggressive with the gas pedal so the computer knows what you want to do...

I've never had any of these problems with my 2008 & 2009 Smarts. I've had it shift gears quickly, but never back and forth and never has it gone into neutral.

[HVICKERS]

I push the pedal and go down when change from 1 to 2
pls help me
i have
2004 smart fortwo black 700c.c.

[fortow]

Originally Posted by Polish Bunny

...we stop at the signal light and want to accelerate the automatic jumps into N or gear 1 at 6-7 RPM. (It happen already 6 times). And I been driving sick and automatic vehicles for years.

...

There's a bit of humour there sorry to say - If you've been driving "sick" vehicles for years then you must be used to this.

The smart is a very different kind of car and takes some time to accustom your driving behaviour to it. The gear shift lever can easily be pushed into N from D. Perhaps that's what may be what's happening there. People have had that happen at speed when it gets caught in clothing or when a young passenger nudges it. The shift consol is in a bad location.
Also, the paddles are very sensitive and an inadvertent touch of the right paddle can put the car in manual mode.
You might also note that first gear is very low and will quickly rev to redline. Treat first gear as one that just gets the car moving then immediately shift to second.

Another bit of advice would be to not use the auto mode. It's so easy and convenient to shift manually that there is no reason to be using the annoying auto mode that shifts at too low an rpm, wants to always shift up when you don't want it to, and shifts roughly.
You can shift when you want with manual mode, keep it in the gear that is most suitable, and make the shift so smooth that a passenger won't know you shifted - you do that by shifting first with the right paddle, then immediately release the throttle and reapply it smoothly. When the car downshifts the computer does it's own rev matching so the shifts are smooth but just be sure not to shift down at too high an engine speed. Do not shift down if the tach is at 3000 or higher.

The dealer may be right, there may be nothing wrong with the car. You may just be doing something that causes that behaviour without realizing it. That's not to say that the car is perfect - if these things happen then the engineering wasn't well sorted out. Once you know how it behaves though, things should go better.

[one good eye]

yeh it was foot break switch