door won't shut!

[unicycle]

Well, the weather's heating up, and so is my latch problem....

Over the chill winter months, I'd nearly forgotten about this issue, and in fact, when I took the car in for its 20000 and 30000-mile tuneups, I forgot to mention the latch issue. Also, I didn't think they'd detect it unless they could simulate a warm cabin of my car, so I didn't bother to look into the problem even when I thought of it later.

But the past week, I've been having to do the ol' latch trick where I open the inside handle and then retry the latch. So far, that's worked all but once, and that time, I used a squirt of oil and fixed it myself. I'm going to have to call the dealership tom'w and see whether I can have this fixed soon, and if they can order the part ahead of time. I don't want to have to leave the car there overnight if I can help it.

[unicycle]

OK, it happened again today, but for the last time.

Over the past two weeks, I've occ'ly had to do the open-the-door-from-the-inside trick, and I also gave the latch a bit of WD-40. But today, I could not get the door to stay shut.

I remembered from past experience that the latch would eventually work if I drove around for a bit and used the air flow to cool the latch enough to shrink it back down. Sho'nuff, this worked. Meanwhile, I'd wrapped the seatbelt thru the door so that it wouldn't open on me by surprise. A few minutes of fast driving fixed the problem ... temporarily.

I'd already called my dealership, so I drove right there and dropped off the car. I'm hoping to get it back tomorrow... with the new latch and with system 2.0 for the car, along with a few other updates.

Incidentally, I found out that if this weren't under warranty, the part (the latch) would cost $160.

[Kermit]

If this happens to me - I'm going to swap the part out on a car that IS under warranty and have it replaced that way......oh crud....did I say that out loud?

[psychobeth]

Oh, peachy. So I have that to look forward to? Doesn't get too hot here - only 100+ in the summer and Tiny Red will be sitting in the sun all day when I'm at work...

I guess the good thing is that (1) I don't work too far from home and (2) I usually close so don't leave until 11 pm...

If it happens, I'll certainly mention that service advisory and, being a Taurus, can be very stubborn...

[RACNXTG3]

haha weird. some guy has a roadster and his door flys open at 80mph. idk i thought it might be very very loosely related here

[unicycle]

Originally Posted by psychobeth

Oh, peachy. So I have that to look forward to? Doesn't get too hot here - only 100+ in the summer and Tiny Red will be sitting in the sun all day when I'm at work...

You prolly have nothing to fear. I think the problem would have shown up by now, and it only happened to a few of us. Just pray that you didn't get one of the exploding smarts that keep turning up in Europe.

April Fools!

[chieftmc]

Originally Posted by unicycle

....Incidentally, I found out that if this weren't under warranty, the part (the latch) would cost $160.

30,000+ miles and it's under warranty

Extended "service contract"?

[unicycle]

Originally Posted by chieftmc

30,000+ miles and it's under warranty

Extended "service contract"?

You'd better believe it! I knew I'd be driving this car over 100,000 miles in no time. In fact, I'll have to see if there's an extended extended warranty....

Update: I got the car back today, but...

Someone had goofed. No one knows who, but the part I'd called about -- which was in the computer as being 'on hand' -- was gone. They gave me the 2.0 upgrade and a lovely car wash, but I have to bring it back in a few days for the latch replacement.

The nice thing is that even tho it's not my smart dealership's policy to give a loaner, the Mercedes guy taking care of me is going to try to swing it for me. Otherwise it's really inconvenient for me to have work done on the car. In the meantime, I'll be entering and exiting the car thru the passenger door. Seriously.

More to follow.

[unicycle]

I took the car in for the latch replacement (for the 2nd time -- this time I was assured that the part was on site). All went well. The door shuts (they tested it by allowing the car to heat up a bit, which was what always set off the problem).

The only problem is that according to my extended warranty, I needed to pay the $100 deductible. That's no big deal, considering the cost of the part and labor, but then I remembered that I'd brought this to their attention MONTHS ago, well before the car had hit 24k miles. Ah well. I guess I should have taken care of this latch issue back then, but it's not like the dealership is too convenient for me.

I'd been hoping to get a loaner, and my Mercedes rep had worked this angle for me, but it didn't pan out. BUT... he told me that the next time I bring the car in, he'll give me nitrogen in the tires for free. This normally takes an hour (which is why I couldn't have it done today) and costs $90 or so. Woo hoo!

They also washed the car again for me. The entire service department is awesome at Manhattan Mercedes.

As for the nitro tires, I'm hoping to get a tiny boost in the MPG department (N is lighter than O), and they 'never' deflate, which is a plus.

[mginsa]

Originally Posted by mginsa

When I picked up my Smart 10 days ago I noticed when the serviceman brought it to the sales office he had to slam the door 3 times to get it to latch. I figured a seat belt in the way. A day later when I pulled the driver door closed it didn't latch. After 2 or 3 more tries I pulled the indoor handle and it latched. Figured I'd have the dealer take a look when I went back to pick up my plates in a few weeks.

Then it got worse - one out of four or five times, then one out of 3, then finally it would not latch no matter what. I literally tried it 100 times withwindows down, soft, hard, gentle. So I drove to the dealer holding the door closed (and a continuous beep telling me it was open). The service rep tried 20 or so times and gave up. I put it in the shop, had to rent a car (all they had was $65/day) and called the next day.

The rep told me it had fixed itself! It now worked. He said he had 3 other owners report the same problem but they didn't know what caused it. He put in a call to Smart USA but they never called back.

There are a lot of things I like about my Smart, but wondering if my door will latch each time I drive it is extremely frustrating! I REALLY hope SmartCar figures this one out quickly.

Michael

So about 1 month later after the door "fixed itself" the door would not close no matter what. I left it at the dealership, demanded a loaner car and told him to call me after they had replaced the door lock. Three days later he called and said they had replaced the entire locking mechanism.

Now, 6 months later, I have not had another problem with the door.

Michael