Broken into?

[Aircooled]

This is going to be a hell of a first post, but hey how's it going...

Anyway, I picked up one of the first run Fortwos made here for America sometime in mid 2008, it's been a great little driver and all but I just woke up, went out to grab something from it and I'll be damned if the glove compartment isn't wide open and some of my stuff is missing. It strikes me as odd because we don't have any exterior key lock cylinders that I know of, hell the only thing I can think of is the button in the center. There doesn't look to be any force around the windows to peel them back, nothing was broken, they just took what they wanted and took off.

On a positive aspect, I'm just glad they didn't break a window. On a similar note, is there something I'm missing here, an easy way, flaw, to get these things open in a hurry? I guess I'm just a little confused how this happened.

[forestacademy]

Well since none of us dislike out cars enough to abuse them I'm sure we wouldn't figure this out. But my guess is perhaps since their is no window frame it may be possible to pull the windows out far enough to reach a door latch. Not that I would try this because I don't want to break my car, evan in an emergency.

Well depends on the emergency I guess


I take it you don't have a factory alarm.

Guess you will be locking that glove box from now on.

And Im sure you will be asked "are you sure you locked it?"

[forestacademy]

Oh, and welcome to the forum, I wish you had joined us sooner and not under such bummer conditions.
I hope you stick around. There is a lot to learn here and we are always learning from new/experienced owners such as yourself

[Aircooled]

Guess I've never tested to see if there's a factory alarm, but I doubt there is (didn't even realize the option was there). Yeah I wish I joined under better conditions as well, trust me

[forestacademy]

Ok here is the bright side.

Wile your car was violated, it was not Broken into. You don't need to take it in for repairs. I have know many city folks who stooped locking their doors to save them from having to replace broken windows.

The factory alarm has motion sensors included. Even if you leave a window open, when someone reaches in the alarm goes off. One problem, you cant retrofit a factory alarm. When your ready to trade in that smart for a new one you might want to add that to your list of features. It will also go off if some drunk tries to tip it.

[Old smart]

Is it a cabrio?

Some time back there were postings concerning the ability to open gaps around the top's rear and side flaps. Maybe enough to hook a door handle, or push the unlock button on the dash?

[Jordon]

There is a exterior lock cylinder, it is on the drivers side below the handle. It has a little cover that has a key on it. Pop it off and you can unlock the car with the key. This is there if you ever have a key with a bad battery or if the car is too dead to unlock the doors itself.

[PerryA]

Unfortunately, someone standing next to a Smart looking it over and peering inside is not an uncommon sight and won't arouse much suspicion. That's one reason I try not to leave anything in sight inside the car. The car itself attracts attention, something nice on the seat or floor provides the temptation.

A likely culprit is the rear hatch window. I sometimes have to slam it three or four times to get it to latch. You may have thought it was closed but your thief found out it wasn't. Watch for the three flashes when you press the lock button on the remote and listen for the solid thunk vs. the rapid click-click when it doesn't lock because a door is open.