Key is stuck in Ignition

[Benedikt]

We had a similar problem. After about the first week on owning our smart I started to notice it becoming difficult to press in the button to shift. It didn't do this all the time though. I didn't mention it to my wife and she didn't notice. She is the primary driver. I read the thread about this problem and kept it in the back of my mind. Today (ironically while heading to out first ever smart rally) my wife had problems with it. I talked to another person at the rally that also had this sort of problem and decided I would take the car in to get looked at first thing in the morning. We did some shopping and the problem became worse. When we got home we couldn't get it into reverse or park. We called our dealer and smart road service to have the car towed. While on the phone my wife managed to get it into park. We waited well over an hour for the tow truck and finally decided to give it another shot on our own. Once again we played with the button. It looked like it wasn't going to budge, then suddenly, shifted smooooothly. WAH? Then we drove to the dealer hoping we wouldn't have to shift into reverse along the way.

In our case it's definitely something with the shifter button. They're going to check it out in the morning. I'll let you know then what they say.

[Dave777]

Originally Posted by Benedikt

We had a similar problem. Today (ironically while heading to out first ever smart rally) my wife had problems with it. I talked to another person at the rally that also had this sort of problem and decided I would take the car in to get looked at first thing in the morning. .

Wow. Interesting, but not surprising. Hope they get a new one in for you right away.

http://clubsmartcar.com/index.php?showtopic=14231

[anthony94114]

In general, I'm starting to wonder how torture-tested the smart 451 was. There are a *lot* of issues coming up. When MB brags that the new C-class was driven upteen trillion miles before the new one was released... is there any word if the fortwo benefitted from the same experimentation? I'll have been out of my car for at least 5 days before I get mine back for another issue. Lots of love, but beginning to worry.

[Karl Roth]

the shifter assembly is NA specific. So far my early build has been ok what have you had go wrong anthony94114? and this is a smart we are talking about.
Thanks karl

[Benedikt]

Ok I'm back on the road.

In my case they took the shifter assembly apart and lubed it. Works great now. They said that they are doing this at the factory now but some of the first ones slipped through. They thought that this had already been taken care of by the time my # came up. Basically ,from what I understand, there are 2 plastic parts under there that either didn't get enough lube or didn't get lubed at all so sometimes the button would bind and sometimes it wouldn't. It was a fast repair and I'm back on the road. I just wonder how long this will remain lubed? Will this be part of regular maintenance?

Overall still very happy with our smart.

[Bmoore13]

Picked up my smart 451 on April 12th and it headed back to dealer on a flatbed truck today May 2nd. Could not place the car into park, so the key is stuck. I had some issue this week on shifting into park.

[bradgarbus]

Well, sorry for all you folks that are now having this issue crop up. I sounds like very one will eventually have it if your smart is stiff shifting into park...

The best news is it sounds like they are aware and have corrected it on all the new cars. Might explain why there is a caged lot at my dealer that has like 20+ smarts just sitting, probably waiting for the techs to come fix this issue before they release them.... Very interesting...

When I worked for Ford many years ago we would call this a "HOLD" it gets really messy if it goes on too long.

I think it's great they at least KNOW what is causing the problems... That's half the battle...

I feel bad for those that are backing out... It just is encouraging me to purchase the best extended warranty smart offers. I love this little car and all it stands for.

[dilfarbe]

Picked up my Smart from the Beverly Hills Smart dealer last week. Got to drive it 2 days and about 100 miles before the shifter stuck in park. Dropped it off at the dealer Saturday, no mechanics on duty to look at it. Waiting to hear from them.

[SnakeFarm]

I THOUHGHT things were going to turn aroudn for my smart car experience but noooooo!

They called me in to get my replacement hood yesterday. I took the car in and waited about an hour before they came back and told me that the panel they had ordered had arrived chiped and warped. They drove my car back out to the service bay and when I picked it up I noticed the shifter button was hard to press in. When I got home it was hard to get into park but I did not think much of it because of my newfound faith in PAG/Smart.

pfffft!

I had to go to a meeting about 11 miles away and when I got about a mile from my house I decided to pull over and put it in park just to test it because I did not want to get stuck too far away. Good thinking!

I was initally stuck in drive and neutral. The shifter button was stuck and the shifter would not go beyond neutral. I could turn off the car in nutral but the key would not come out and the electrical system was on. In a panic I called 1800smartusa...

Useless!

They tried to tell me not to worry my pretty little head, nothing could be done and a tow truck would be dispached, then that my dealer was closed so they would have to store my car at the pound overnight and did I really want that or wouldn't I be happier just leaving it till morning when we could get it all sorted out...

HOLY CRAP!

(i said to my lonley, stuck on the side of the road in the dark self)

The very nice tow truck man actually called me and then called smart because I told him it was stuck in park and they told HIM about the secret yellow lever under the center console "by the carpet"... He told me about it and after I looked all around I FINALLY found it but could not figure out what to do with it. so...

I called my wife who loves me and knows what to do when I get that way.

She came, picked me up and took me home where I got on the forum here and looked up A2Jacks excellent post with the yellow tape showing the location of the secret yellow latch and instructing what to do with it.

At about midnight, we got the kids back in bed and My wife ran me up the road where I was able to get the little bugger out of park and limp it back home where I put it back in park and could not get it out again.

I'm pretty sure whoever drove the thing at the dealership screwed it up somehow because I have not had this problem until yesterday. I am not REAL thrilled about taking it to them for service. The towing instructions SCARE the crap out of me AND the nice tow truck driver. I don't think he really wanted to mess with it at all.

OK, I'm losing sleep over this crap now.

[JPaul]

SnakeFarm, it's another patience's test. All will be well, sooner than later, we hope. And don't worry, it's under warranty. It's just a bit much of an inconvenience of the first order. We hope for the best, fast!

I wish I had your usual sense of humour and your sharp tongue to return the elevator now.