Body, doors & structure

Smart ED Body problems by year

4 complaints filed with NHTSA about the Smart ED's body, doors & structure. Doors, hoods and latches, frame rust, sunroofs, leaks, trim and structural failures.

Body complaints by model year

22013 2014 2015 2016

Year	Body complaints	Crashes	Injuries	Recalls
2016	2	1	0	0
2013	2	0	0	0

Latest ED body complaints

2016 Smart ED Body, doors & structureCrash

The roof detached on the highway. It was just replaced by Mercedes Benz in Manhattan and a couple of weeks later when it went on a highway, the roof flew up and I had to hold on to it for dear life while I was searching for a shoulder since they don't have them everywhere on the East Coast. I didn't want anyone behind me to be killed. I didn't want myself to be killed either. It's very hard to drive with wind and a roof coming against you. As soon as I found a shoulder I bumped a street sign in a bush because it...

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was so narrow and then the tow truck driver had to come and bring a ratchet straps to secure my roof to the car. He had to block traffic with his tow truck so we didn't get hit and die. Then I had to drive five hours with my roof detached from Washington DC to New York because it was Labor Day and they were no mechanics open. It was TERRIFYING. I have nightmares. I had lives on my hands and my own. If it had flown off completely, which it would have if I didn't pull it down as I pulled over, someone would have been killed and I could have crashed driving and holding my roof down at the same time.

2013 Smart ED Lights Body, doors & structure

Regarding lightning: water/humidity had access to the sam unit and the right-side signals/stop light stopped working. The vehicle was in motion when it suddenly stopped working. Regarding body/other: some of the convertible-roof steel frame/bars got bent when closing the top and the bent bars would prevent the top from closing unless you forced the steel/metal bars.

2016 Smart ED Body, doors & structure Engine & cooling

My 2016 smart car at only 51000 miles had transmission failure while driving down freeway almost resulting in crash. My car went from 65 miles a hour, then warning light said transmission failure and car was unable to excel rate or break, the emergency break was the only thing that saved me. Mercedes diagnosed a wig was able to fly up under car and get wrapped around axels, transmission, and break belts. The car was totaled from a wig. This is unacceptable that the underneath is left vulnerable to a object being able to cause so much damage, that could have easily resulted in a fatal car crash. This happened on hwy 59 south houston, while driving.

2013 Smart ED Body, doors & structure Visibility & wipers

In compliance with my 2013 smart fortwo vehicle owner's manual, I washed my vehicle in an automatic car wash, located at a fuel station. Upon the start of the drying cycle, the front "hood assembly" detached from the car and flew back, striking my windshield. It was caused by the failure of one of two plastic clips, located in the front grille. The clip was stressed to the point of breakage. This event blocked all visibility, therefore, causing a possible crash hazard and/or a pedestrian strike. The event also...

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placed risk to occupants, in the event of windshield glass injury and/or hood penetration into the occupant cabin. In this specific incident, the vehicle was at low speed, and risk was minimal; however, I do not know the wind speed of the dryer mechanism. It seems possible that similar exposure to such forces could be replicated naturally, during normal driving conditions. In such case, the possibility of mechanism failure exists. For instance: if wind speeds/gusts and specific directionality is combined with the opposing directionality, and a much higher velocity of a vehicle (than that of one in a car wash). Research conducted, after the incident, indicated a high prevalence of occurrence; this information was found on public smart car internet forums, by the fuel station company's district manager, and management of a well-established, national car wash franchise. Note: according to the 2013 smart fortwo owner's manual, owners can utilize automatic car washes. It does not warns against the possibility of the above described situation. Specific instructions state: "washing your vehicle in an automatic car wash: when running your vehicle through an automatic car wash, water droplets can run down the inside of the side windows. Unscrew your vehicle's antenna before driving into an automatic car wash" (p.154, Smart operator's manual, oct 2, 2012). *Tr

Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked daily. Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data