car problems/questions

powerofvoodoo · 08-09-2009, 09:05 PM

I've had my smart for just over a week and have a few questions about it. I've already put over 1,000 miles on her so I'm comfortable driving her, I just need to know if some things are normal and what to do about others.
1) When I'm in traffic and driving between 5-15 mph, it's really jerky in auto or manual. I won't even be touching the brake or gas pedal and I'm jerking along. I get motion sick very easily and it's hard to drive when you're car sick! I'm guessing it's because it's in the awkward in between stages between 1st and 2nd gear but is the jerking normal?

2) My car alarm has a mind of its own. I picked up the car on a Thursday and while I was at work that Sunday night, someone came up to me and said that my alarm was going off. I went outside and turned it off and went back in. Not even 5 minutes later, someone else came up to me and said that it was going off again! This time I disabled the alarm because they told me that no one was standing near my car at the time but it was incredibly windy. Another person realized that I was the owner of the smart and said that it had been going off the night before as well. I made an appointment to bring the car in but the dealership is an hour away so I cancelled it after reading the owner's manual - I figured that the door wasn't shut tightly enough and the wind pushed against it enough for the alarm to go off. I've since tried to do it myself but I've never been able to mimic the problem. I haven't heard it go off all week so I chalked it up to a fluke.
Tonight, I heard it go off. I grabbed my keys and ran to the front door (my car is parked on the street and our neighbors have little ones - I didn't want to wake them). When I was putting on my shoes and unlocking the door, the alarm stopped. I went outside and looked around the car but didn't see anything. I went back inside and locked the door. It went off AGAIN. By the time I got the door open and started to go outside, it stopped. It didn't go off for more than 30 seconds each time. I have again disabled the alarm. This time there was absolutely no wind and again, there was no one near the car that could have triggered the alarm.

What is going on? These are just the times that I've heard about it going off so I'm sure that there have been others that I'm unaware of. Has anyone else had a similar problem? I tried looking it up and found some things but mine seems a lot more random - it looks like it's gone a week without going off.
I'm reluctant to suck it up and take it in because it's so far away and I wouldn't be able to just leave it there while it's getting looked at but I guess that's what I'll have to do.

jes

Neonspinnazz · 08-09-2009, 09:28 PM

As for the jerkyness, has the transmission been upgraded to 2.0? This upgrade is free at your local smart center on 08' models. 09' models already have this upgrade.

powerofvoodoo · 08-09-2009, 09:31 PM

I have an 09 so I guess it is upgraded.
For clarification, it's an 09 Passion Coupe with the comfort package and alarm system.

wiltjk · 08-09-2009, 09:40 PM

I can only offer an opinion to (1). All I've ever really owned are manuals. In low gears, there always has been "jerkiness". I think that's what I like about the smart. It's automated manual really behaves like a real manual.

To compensate for your motion sickness, I think operating in manual is your best bet because you will be in control. If you are new to "real" manual shifting, then give yourself more time (more than 1000 miles) to perfect the finesse. Try to get to a higher gear to lessen the jogging while in gear. 2 is better than 1 and 3 is better than 2. With practice, you should be able to handle low speed conditions with the smoothest operation.

Neonspinnazz · 08-09-2009, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by powerofvoodoo

I have an 09 so I guess it is upgraded.
For clarification, it's an 09 Passion Coupe with the comfort package and alarm system.

Since it's brand new I'm going to guess that this is normal operation in 1st and 2nd. Over time the shifting smoothes out and you might not even notice it.

But I don't own mine yet, I'm just taking info from past threads and applying them here.

EDIT: wiltjk got there first!

Neon...4 days to go til I get smart (hopefully)

powerofvoodoo · 08-09-2009, 09:46 PM

I do operate in manual - it's more fun

I figured it might be something to get used to/work out the kinks on, I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't a real problem (I've only driven *real* manual cars a couple times).
Thanks!

wiltjk · 08-09-2009, 09:52 PM

I would say you are in fine shape, then! It really took me about 25K to get the whole shifting thing down back in our 79 Mazda GLC days, but I'm a slow learner ;-)

John_H · 08-09-2009, 10:08 PM

I know others have had a problem with "bucking" and while I've noticed an occasional buck, I'm usually ably to get the car to settle down by working with the gas or brake gently. Abrupt movements with the gas pedal might be a reaction to the bucking with an unnatural feel.

My car bucks.

Too many smarts have shipped with the microwave motion sensor installed upside-down causing alarms at unusual times. This would be an issue your Smart Center should be very familiar with; I'd suggest you give them a call and see what their thoughts are. They'd probably ask you to come in and they'll take care of it in minutes.

google search:

site:smartcarofamerica.com microwave sensor

NeWave · 08-09-2009, 10:20 PM

John: you got that a little backwards.. tow sensor upside down. The motion sensor doesn't really care how it's installed.

As for that alarm, it's a known issue to the dealers. I also park on the street and that was origially thought the problem. It's not. It's the Motion sensor and/or tow sensor. It'll be fixed within a couple hours if they have the parts. Also, the tow sensor might be in upside down. Before mine was fixed, a gust of wind (or some light shaking from myself) would set it off if I was parked facing slightly downhill.
I had the issue.. actually I had "the worst case He(the tech) had ever seen"..Every one up until mine took only the motion sensor to fix it. It took three tries to finally get it. First two times was the motion sensor.. third time they replaced everything related to the alarm. 2 days later I got a peep out of it, but that I believe was a fluke. not a sound for over a week...

dovienya · 08-09-2009, 10:32 PM

A tidbit that I got from my dealer regarding a bit of jerkiness at low speeds:

Supposedly, the 'gas' pedal has a sensor to tell if your foot is on it. So if you take your foot off the pedal completely to slow down, it will signal the trasmission that you are trying to stop, in preparation for braking.

I want to be skeptical of that. I really do. However, I have started making it a point to not fully remove my foot from the accelerator when I am slowing down, and I swear there's been a significant improvement.

Take it for what you will. That seems like an awful lot of extra engineering to have done with no real point, but I am happy with the results. Placebo? I dont know. If you try it, I'd be curious to hear what your results are.