Stuck in N when I try to reverse

[kwagar]

Dave Schembri's correct e-mail address is dschembri@smartusa.com

I exchanged e-mails with him earlier this week so I know it works. I also know he is out of town until next week.

[Smart Enuf]

Originally Posted by Egadfly

Maybe, but my problem (right now) is that I go from P to R and the car gets stuck in N. I am parked and the car has just been turned on. I can get P, N, or D, but not R. It's a pain when I need to reverse in a parking lot, and god forbid there is an emergency on the road where I need to reverse.

Oh, that's a different problem than what you were describing in your original post, which had to do with being stuck in N after backing out of your driveway on some occasions.

[Egadfly]

Originally Posted by Smart Enuf

Oh, that's a different problem than what you were describing in your original post, which had to do with being stuck in N after backing out of your driveway on some occasions.

It is stuck in N when I TRY to reverse out of my driveway. I could have been clearer in my opening post.

[Robbie51]

wow i am not alone!!!!!!! i have the same issue that happens almost every morning. i never had the problem until after i went to get my car serviced for other problems i was having. dont know if this is a coincidence or not. when i put the car in R it doesnt register and the display panel will be blank. most of the time it takes me several minutes to get it to finally register in R and the only way i can do this is by going through all the gears several times over and over again. another recent thing i have experienced is, (its happend about 3 times now) in automatic mode, when excelerating the car will not shift. instead it will show an arrow up as if it were in manual mode?????? i love my smart, but honestly am getting fed up and the 4 hour drive to my dealer isn't helping any. anyone have issues with the gears shifting like i do??????

[konati]

A newyou clutch is what you need to correct this problem

[Egadfly]

Originally Posted by konati

A newyou clutch is what you need to correct this problem

I've been reading about this problem in several forums in the last week because of my situation. I am hearing everything from simply a DIY lube of the shifter to a shifter replacement, and now a replacement of the CLUTCH. I am also hearing that the problem seems to progress from my case (stuck in N when trying to reverse) to other situations where the car is stuck in other gears.

I am in touch with Dave Schembri and some other representatives from the dealership and from the company. I'll report back if anything transpires to resolve my situation.

Thanks to everyone here for their advice and information.

[Egadfly]

Originally Posted by konati

A newyou clutch is what you need to correct this problem

Just an update for anyone who cares. My dealer agreed to take my car in (after some "negotiations" between me, SmartUSA, and my dealership).

The problem was fixed in 2 days. The technician says that my CLUTCH PLATE was replaced and this should fix the problem.

I was surprised because I hadn't seen that fix listed anywhere on this forum (since others are getting lubed or new shifters). I thought I'd throw this out to people. We'll see how it is from here on out. I'll be keeping an eye on things.

They also fixed another minor problem that I reported to them (rear window latch not closing).

Egadfly

[jwight]

Thanks for the update; something else to worry about now.

[pcvinsel]

You are not alone, I'm experiencing the exact same thing! I noted this problem last month when I had it in for it's 2.0 Update and they couldn't reproduce the problem. I brought it back this morning and was unable to reproduce it with them even though it had happened as I was trying to back out of the drive-way when I left the house. He said there was no reason to leave it since we couldn't reproduce it so I went home. When I got home, sure enough it happened again! The tech called me to tell me that he had sent off a query to Smart to see if there's anything he can do.

After lunch, I decided to try once more so I drove to the dealer but was unable to make it happen. On my way home again, I was thinking about the problem and pulled into a parking lot to see if I could figure out a sure fire way to reproduce the problem. I was able to get it to happen once, but not every time.

This is a real problem, and happens often enough that I'm alway worried when I have to parallel park. I have figured out a sure fire way of getting it to go into R when it happens:
* shift the transmission into "1" (sometimes it won't even go into "D" properly, but "1" always seems to work)
* let off the brake until the car starts moving (just an inch seems to be enough)
* shift back to "R"

It doesn't appear that they'll do anything unless they experience the actual fault (oh yeah, even though the thing obviously knows somethings wrong since after about 30 seconds, it starts beeping and flashing "N" on the dash, it doesn't log any errors in the ECU) so I'm at a loss as to what to do next. I asked the tech if there's anything I should do when it happens and he said there wasn't.

Peter

[pcvinsel]

Oops... I hadn't read the last page of posts... New clutch... Interesting...

Peter