Gear Knob Stiction - % of owners with problem.

[jpkherd]

After reading about it for months and putting almost 3k miles on my Mid February Smart Pure, it has happened to me.

Saturday afternoon brought the first symptoms. Intermittent problems getting into D or back to P. 1:00 am Sunday morning the Mrs and I were leaving our favorite watering hole only to be locked up by the famous gear shifter problem.

In re-reading, this looks like a very common problem. While it is not a safety problem, so it wouldn't be covered by an NTSB Recall, this surely seems like a problem that needs some proactive correction.

My Pure had to sit all night before a tow truck, arranged by Smart Cust Service had arranged. As of this afternoon, the car has not arrived at the dealership.

Tip to Penske and the Smart people. GET THIS FIXED. Bring people in and fix it. This is too common a problem and it will lead to bad feelings.

I hope to hear something today - if my car ever gets to the dealer.

JPK

[Kermit]

Hey JPK - you should change this to a poll (if you even can now that it has a reply) That way you can get some #'s on who's had a problem.

Count me in as a "no". Almost 9k miles on my car - knock on wood.

[rawlus®]

no for me. but i'm prepared to do a roadside fix if it does happen.

[jpkherd]

Great idea. Poll added!

JPK

PS. I thought I was out of the woods too, but it looks like it can happen at any time.

[bottlerocket]

I've never had it either, coming up of 4k miles

[Old smart]

I side-stepped the four choices in the poll. I had mine pre-serviced before delivery as part of an open service ticket (while installing the fanfare horn).

My sc's policy has been that they would not do it before a problem occured(?).

I convinced them that an occurance was about to occur - soon! Pick-up, roll-back, and all. I'm confident now; I'm happy now.

[Pamela&Jon]

Our little girl got stuck in PARK yesterday on Market street in San Francisco. we called the 1-800 number for a towing. After about 30 minutes or so of the Penske kid walking us through different solutions he called the towing company (including the yellow tab fiddle)

We waited about an hour, the guy who came really knew what he was doing (I think most flatbed tow trucks do high end cars).

We expected to hear from SmartSF first thing, by 10:30am when I had not heard from them I called, they did not even know they had my car! When I heard back, they also confirmed that it needed lubrication.

We are too somewhere in the 3k range --- I would STRONGLY recommend that you take you Smart in for some preventative medicine. Having her towed was not such an awful experience, but why go through that if you can make a 15 minute appointment and avoid the experience!