[atikovi]

Going to an auction tomorrow that has a 15,000 mile car2go running as is, because of no reverse. What are the chances that it's an electronic issue and it doesn't need a whole transmission replacement?

 

[Bob Ricewasser]

I would think that it would most likely be an electronic issue or possibly a solonoid failure. Try and get a DTC first and see where that leads you.

 

[jwight]

Just back away....😄

 

[jzchen]

Just back away....

Actually,

"Forward Ho!"

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk

 

[atikovi]

Yea, you don't really even need reverse in a Smart.

 

[Saise1965]

Push it backwards! But seriously, a car with under 15k miles and gearbox issue? That has to be electrical surely? Unless they drove it at 50mph+ whilst holding it in reverse? Are there any oil leaks from the gearbox ?

 

[k_stokes]

Contact a dealer and give them the VIN to find out the in-service date. It might still be under warranty!

 

[smark]

Should be still under factory warranty.

 

[k_stokes]

Should be still under factory warranty.

It may or may not be -- you could buy a MY 2017 towards the end of 2016, so it could be in warranty or could be out of. A dealership can look this up by VIN in seconds.

 

[Goggles Paesano]

Problem is the ecu i be told by dealer. Some other car sharing program sold off or went belly up and a ford dealer bought all of them. Sold them and when people bought them and tried to get a key, they were told need an ecu as the car sharing company had a special ecu so they could have a master key to run them.

 

[k_stokes]

Problem is the ecu i be told by dealer. Some other car sharing program sold off or went belly up and a ford dealer bought all of them. Sold them and when people bought them and tried to get a key, they were told need an ecu as the car sharing company had a special ecu so they could have a master key to run them.

You're being sent down the wrong path. These were car2go cars, operated by Car2Go/ShareNow, owned by Daimler. They pulled out of North America due to changing market conditions, and the loss of the gasoline fortwo (they were running Mercedes-Benz CLA, GLA and B-class in Vancouver before they closed up, as they needed more cars and couldn't buy more Smarts!). They -were- special-edition Smarts, but not nearly that special! They had vinyl seats (not otherwise available in a Smart), and they had a key holder, attached to a fleet management system. The ECU will not impede the car from going into reverse. As long as it has a key, and the key starts the car, the ECU is not the problem.
In some markets, they were master-key'd, but in most they weren't. The master key'd cars are just that -- a bunch of cars which all had the same programming in them, to work with the same key shaft. They didn't actually have anything special about their ECU, just "the same programing on all of them".

The cars are unlikely to have, but could have artifacts of the fleet management system still in them. All of the 451 Smarts had their management via the proprietary radio - which is why all of the ex-car2go 451s have aftermarket radios in them. The 453s were done via proprietary firmware on the stock navigation-equipped radio. You will have to jump through that hoop, but it won't affect operation of the key or reverse gear.

 

[Goggles Paesano]

You're being sent down the wrong path. These were car2go cars, operated by Car2Go/ShareNow, owned by Daimler. They pulled out of North America due to changing market conditions, and the loss of the gasoline fortwo (they were running Mercedes-Benz CLA, GLA and B-class in Vancouver before they closed up, as they needed more cars and couldn't buy more Smarts!). They -were- special-edition Smarts, but not nearly that special! They had vinyl seats (not otherwise available in a Smart), and they had a key holder, attached to a fleet management system. The ECU will not impede the car from going into reverse. As long as it has a key, and the key starts the car, the ECU is not the problem.
In some markets, they were master-key'd, but in most they weren't. The master key'd cars are just that -- a bunch of cars which all had the same programming in them, to work with the same key shaft. They didn't actually have anything special about their ECU, just "the same programing on all of them".

The cars are unlikely to have, but could have artifacts of the fleet management system still in them. All of the 451 Smarts had their management via the proprietary radio - which is why all of the ex-car2go 451s have aftermarket radios in them. The 453s were done via proprietary firmware on the stock navigation-equipped radio. You will have to jump through that hoop, but it won't affect operation of the key or reverse gear.

Never said it would prevent them from going into reverse (guess I didn't type it right as I was on my phone as I just reread my post). Sorry if the post was misleading.

I was just warning him what the dealer once told me what happened to other people asking for another key and got shocked at the cost being $1k not a couple of hundred. I highlighted what you wrote.

 

[Cane Prevost]

I have a former Car2Go 451. Mine is a 2013. It has factory radio and I had no problem at all getting an extra key made.