Some surprising (and upsetting) news today...

[headless]

Great news, hope it get fixed quickly.
As I stated earlier, I bet it was bent in transit to the states, at least they are holding their hands up to cover the full cost of fixing, so all is good.

[JPaul]

Sorry for all the troubles. But I'm glad that, once more, it'll end up with smart doing the smart thing!
Thank you for opening a new path.

[jwight]

Good news! I do think smart tries to do the right thing but sometimes you have to get to the right person to make that happen. Glad it worked out for you; our 08 is chugging along problem free and we're probably going to orphan the soon-to-arrive 09.

[redbluff]

Originally Posted by Westfield 11

You are just lucky that you posted in Technical instead of in General Discussion. I guess you never got the memo about smarts being perfect in every way and the only problems being caused by improper usage. Next thing we know you will be saying that parts and service problems are caused by Corporate decisions and policies and not by a few bad dealers. This is a dangerous path you are walking on and will lead to heresy and free-thinking if not stopped at once.

Seriously, it seems that parts issues are becoming one of the biggest problems out there in smartland, something that Penske should have solved months ago. Although the fact that the 2009's appear to have more problems than the 2008's cannot be helping things.

Perhaps the car being designed by Germans, has blinded us to the fact that it is being built by the French. Anyone remember Renault or Peugeot and the reputation they earned in their US experience? At least these cars haven't started to rust away like those...... The DeDion tubes ARE holding up... .....right?

Thanks for the comments. There are more issues with these cars than is being told. I would like to see the service repair metrics and failure data. As I said I love the car. Heck I better with three of them but as I said I am starting to see a trend of problems. Time will tell.

[jimvw57]

Great news!! glad they are doing the right thing.

[jwight]

Originally Posted by redbluff

Thanks for the comments. There are more issues with these cars than is being told. I would like to see the service repair metrics and failure data. As I said I love the car. Heck I better with three of them but as I said I am starting to see a trend of problems. Time will tell.

Right now there are only 83 smarts listed on TrueDelta.com Not very representative considering all the posts about problems just on these forums.

[Duckhunter]

Originally Posted by redbluff

Thanks for the comments. There are more issues with these cars than is being told. I would like to see the service repair metrics and failure data. As I said I love the car. Heck I better with three of them but as I said I am starting to see a trend of problems. Time will tell.

I would like to also know of all of these problems. I guess I must be extremely lucky as mine has not had any so far except dirty front wheels. I do know some of the early ones had shifter problems that seem to have been fixed. Sunscreen problems that seem to be fixed. Battery problems that are being fixed. A few alarm sensors that were improperly mounted that have been remounted. The heated mirrors on all of the time some people complained about was adjusted for the 09's but caused another problem with draining the battery and they have come out with a repair for that. The transmission shift issue has been upgaded per request from users. I think all basically 1st year production cars have some bugs.

[SuperGeek]

Originally Posted by jwight

Right now there are only 83 smarts listed on TrueDelta.com Not very representative considering all the posts about problems just on these forums.

Now there's 84

[a2jack]

Redbluff. Quote "So I too love these cars but now after a year with them and experience with service and parts it would be hard to recommend the car for long term higher mileage thinking. ok let the bashing begin."

I agree 100% with your conclusions on Smart reliability. I would hate to depend on this car as my only mode of transportation.

We puchased the car as a toy (Only Microcar to be sold in the US in decades) We do run high miles on it, but mostly highway and we always have the Subie as a back up... Good thing too!

We will retire the car soon and put it back in use as a fun toy...In reality that's all it will ever be.

Now at 21,000 miles It has been indeed, "another French car". A2Jack.

[PeteInLongBeach]

Originally Posted by a2jack

I agree 100% with your conclusions on Smart reliability. I would hate to depend on this car as my only mode of transportation.

We puchased the car as a toy (Only Microcar to be sold in the US in decades) We do run high miles on it, but mostly highway and we always have the Subie as a back up... Good thing too!

We will retire the car soon and put it back in use as a fun toy...In reality that's all it will ever be.

Now at 21,000 miles It has been indeed, "another French car". A2Jack.

Well, the smart IS my only regular car, as they have been for hundreds of thousands of people over the last 10 years outside of the US, and I do not see any reason it should be perceived otherwise (or condescendingly as "a toy").

Regarding some recent remarks about french cars on this forum, I would guess that most of you have had no personal & diverse ownership experience with them over the long term. I have. Over the last 35 years most of my daily cars have been french (Citroen, Renault, Peugeot). Whereas some of the fit & finish could be sub-par, the engineering and durability have generally been first rate. If my sister can drive a Renault-5 neglectfully for over 100,000 miles without any problems, that's significant. Perceptions about "french car" quality arose due to limited dealer & repair networks, parts, information, resources, and a general misunderstanding of uncoventional designs. This lack of comprehensive and quality support often resulted in negligent maintenance and substandard repairs. The ultimate results of the scenario are obvious. Regarding rust, it was quite dependent on the manufacturer, year, model, etc., but in general I have found that french cars were no worse than their contemporaries. In the 1970s/1980s you could find significant rust issues from most car manufacturers, regardless of their country of origin. To imply that this was a condition somehow unique to french manufacturing is inaccurate.