Transmission

[saronian]

I had mine repaired last week at smart center San Francisco. The problem was well known to both scSF and smartUSA, the fix is an upgraded clutch plate assembly. It's covered by the factory warranty. The problem was being seen more in San Francisco than other areas, and they are looking at the hilly terrain as a contributing factor.

My smart was in for the 20,000 mile service and they were able to do the repair on the same day.

[rfernatt]

Does anyone know if all the '08s are potentially affected by this problem, or was it a running change? I've never had a trans issue with my car built in Jul/Aug 2008, knock on wood, but I'm also close the factory warranty expiration. We have our share of hills, but most of the time the car is in 5th during my commute.

[theguywiththelongestname]

Blank display when attempting to shift into Reverse has occured a few times in my '08 smart...perhaps I should get it looked at?

[jmatero]

It was my understanding that all 09's have the new assembly. The 2.0 software update appears to be killing some 08 clutch assemblies.

[smark]

Same here. After a long highway trip the transmission will not go into reverse. The engine will rev up. After moving the shifter back and forth, the tranny will final go into reverse. The first time the car did this. We were on a group Smart trip. Hour drive. Warm day. Only 15,000 mile on the car.

[Old smart]

A few times when first using the car in the morning (always in manual) I will make the first call for a shift to 2nd. It won't make the shift, but go to a neutral spot and the RPM will drop to idle speed. Then it will re-engage 1st, and because 2nd had previously been called-for, and then shift to 2nd. Once that episode has passed, everything is thereafter normal. Yup, this started recently but sometime after 2.0.

[karen103a]

Originally Posted by Old smart

A few times when first using the car in the morning (always in manual) I will make the first call for a shift to 2nd. It won't make the shift, but go to a neutral spot and the RPM will drop to idle speed. Then it will re-engage 1st, and because 2nd had previously been called-for, and then shift to 2nd. Once that episode has passed, everything is thereafter normal. Yup, this started recently but sometime after 2.0.

Ours does the same thing but in D. Sometimes he gets confused about which gear to be in when slow-rolling, and can't decide between staying in 2 or going back to 1, so he goes 2, rev, 1, 2, really quickly. Also happens when slowing down and going over a speedbump or into a driveway. We try to either keep him rolling and accelerate slowly which keeps him in 2, or come to a total stop which puts him back in 1. If slow-rolling and you try to accelerate too much, he stutters 2-1-2...

[Dave777]

I've had the reverse issue a few times, and mostly, but not always, it's been when not coming to a 100% complete stop first, then waiting a second or two before shifting.

The transmission will by my number one reason to leave this otherwise nice car for a Scion iQ when they arrive.

[gstreetcomic]

It is only by vin number according to my dealership, and this little thing happened to my car way back in March thankfully under warranty and my car was made in June which apparently was the case for 08 cars made in that time frame. I had the clutch plate replaced lucky for me the Smart Center i go to had one in stock. This happened after i was showing off my car to a fellow Smart owner. What a time to have that take place.

Originally Posted by rfernatt

Does anyone know if all the '08s are potentially affected by this problem, or was it a running change? I've never had a trans issue with my car built in Jul/Aug 2008, knock on wood, but I'm also close the factory warranty expiration. We have our share of hills, but most of the time the car is in 5th during my commute.

[ulflyer]

Gstreetcomic: Did your dealer suggest that after a certain VIN/date of build the problem was corrected? Any clue what VIN or time frame? I've got an Aug car.