Car won't start - Thoughts?

[24-42]

To us in the automotive world, Penske's reputation, aside from racing, is well known ( I would not want it). I also have been afraid it might come to this.

I take no pleasure in the 451 having problems, I never thought it would be easier to get parts for a 450 than a 451.

I sincerely hope this is cleared up, the car, the customers, and even the dealers (in most cases) deserve better than this.

Donald LaFavor

[esrazor]

I started the car won't start thread before I found this one. Here's what I posted.

I had exactly 300 miles on my car when I tried to start it today, in a parking lot, and it wouldn't start. I had already driven it several times today with no problems. Instead of having the gear selected showing in the dash, I had three horizontal bars going across and a warning sound beeping. Called smartusa, was put on hold for a few minutes, then was told my computer didn't know what gear the car was in. They had me put my foot on the brake pedal, turn the key to the on position, move the gear shifter through all of the gears and return it to park, turn off the key, and then restart the car. I actually didn't even turn the key to off because I could tell the problem was fixed as a "P" showed up in the dash. I was very glad it was such an easy fix and that it didn't need to be towed!

[Smartfor2guy]

Originally Posted by bradgarbus

Let us know if this works... We are bound to see this again...

BSI open the glass and the tailgate started and drove down the road to take some stuff to the neighbor...

[Arizona Smarty]

My car won't move either. Just tonight, I can't get it out of Park. We've disconnected the battery and rocked the car while in reverse (both suggestions we've read in the forum). Now, it's sitting in a parking lot by itself. Can't call a tow truck, because it's stuck in park. It won't even get into Neutral to push it. I will give the keys to my service advisor at the Smart Center tomorrow morning and let him have at it. Very disappointed. This is the first time it's stranded me. I'm at just over 4000 miles.

[bradgarbus]

Originally Posted by Smartfor2guy

BSI open the glass and the tailgate started and drove down the road to take some stuff to the neighbor...

I had a feeling that sounded like a load... I was something I saw in a different thread, just wanted to share the idea as I had heard of this before... At least we have dispelled this legend...

[bradgarbus]

Originally Posted by Arizona Smarty

My car won't move either. Just tonight, I can't get it out of Park. We've disconnected the battery and rocked the car while in reverse (both suggestions we've read in the forum). Now, it's sitting in a parking lot by itself. Can't call a tow truck, because it's stuck in park. It won't even get into Neutral to push it. I will give the keys to my service advisor at the Smart Center tomorrow morning and let him have at it. Very disappointed. This is the first time it's stranded me. I'm at just over 4000 miles.

Now I am really getting concerned. There have been a few cases of this issue and other very similar cases. Then there is the engine light... That is another issue that looks like it happens frequently...

What are the French doing? Having races to see who can toss one together the fastest or are they sipping a bit too much wine on the assembly line???

I HOPE SMART IS PAYING ATTENTION!!!

Once or twice is a fluke, but we are seeing multiples of both issues. NOT GOOD PRESS if someone that is having these issues go to any of the hundred or so media outlets that have been covering the smart car comes to America story. The media would jump on this.

I would rather see them stop the assembly line, correct these problems than to keep sending these problems out the door......

Sorry, I'm venting. It makes me angry when companies make a product, then try to ignore issues, pretending they are all flukes, as we can see here on the forum, looks like this might be more than just a fluke.

I personally am purchasing the high end extended warranty and I will milk it for everything it's worth if they don't correct these issues before my car rolls of the line.... I also have a habit of using the BBB, AG, Media, and every resource possible when companies really make me mad. I hope smart gets this fixed SOON!

The sad part is the dealers are stuck smack in the middle without loaner cars to provide (like all other car manufacturers). I hope they start also putting pressure on smart to address these issues. I am sure we only see a small percent of what is actually going on here in this forum.

Getting off my soap box...

[jonnysan]

AS it applies to 3 lines thru "P" anyway.....read on and this should become a sticky because I think there will be more of this problem cropping up. Check out esrazor's post!

Car won't start - Thoughts?

John

[a2jack]

Originally Posted by Arizona Smarty

My car won't move either. Just tonight, I can't get it out of Park. We've disconnected the battery and rocked the car while in reverse (both suggestions we've read in the forum). Now, it's sitting in a parking lot by itself. Can't call a tow truck, because it's stuck in park. It won't even get into Neutral to push it. I will give the keys to my service advisor at the Smart Center tomorrow morning and let him have at it. Very disappointed. This is the first time it's stranded me. I'm at just over 4000 miles.

Smarty. Your dealer should have known how to at least release the shifter, so that the car could be driven home or to his shop. Good luck with this guy.

Here's the shifter release link. A2Jack.
Shifter stuck in park - Here's the get me home fix.

[Arizona Smarty]

Thanks A2Jack. I wish I had found that shift release link last night (at midnight...dealer closed). Since it's morning now and I'm not so crabby...I will let Smart go get it and do that themselves. They're getting to know me now. It's been in twice for the "engine malfunction" light.

[jrfuisz]

There are several different problems here that people are confusing -

1. The recall for the cars that get stuck in Park. From what I've found on the forum, there was a problem with certain cars on the line. They know the VIN numbers of the potential cars effected. There is a bulletin out on this. That problem was resolved at the factory and they tried to catch any cars coming in to fix the issue before the cars were delivered.

2. There is the normal tranny problem where occasionally the shift lever comes out of sync. That is where you get the 3 bars and re-teach the computer where the lever is. That is an easy fix - at page 132 of the manual. The only problem is the manual is wrong - you need to run the lever through the gears after waiting the 30 seconds. I'm guessing everyone is going to have to do this at some point as part wear - not a big deal at all.

3. It looks like there are engine light ECU issues, but I suspect that there will be a software update at some point to correct those issues.

4. My tranny ECU fried which means electrical short of some sort. I haven't found any other issues with the tranny ECU. I've found a few bad transmissions which were replaced. BUt nothing where the ECU fried.

MY $0.02 -

Problem 1 is unfortunate, but it is has been resolved and not it is just an issue of working out the problem with the cars that made it out to customers before the problem was known. 2 and 3 are teething issues. All new products have them to some extent.

My problem is a combination of getting parts (to be expected on some level) and the cause of the problem. I have no reason to believe that Penske will not get the parts. The question is can they find and find what fried the ECU. That is why I lemon lawed the car. If one ECU fries, just replacing it only buys me time until it fries itself again. Unless it was on on board short, there is a problem somewhere else in the system.