I have a 2008 smart car that I love. I bought it last week. Three times now when I go to take off it stalls and a little blinking wrench comes on. The book says to take it in for service. Just wondered if anyone else experienced this?
Its smart because that little blinking light will tell the mechanic where the trouble lies. Could be anything but likely something to do with the fuel/air mixture and the sensors associated with it. Wonder if this is why it was for sale though in the first place?
Thank you for your response. I have made an appointment at the smart car dealer this week.
I hope it’s am easy fix.
“I hope it’s am easy fix.”
For your sake, I also hope that it is an easy fix.
However, you may wind up learning why so many of us in this forum counsel that people should not buy used European cars.
Cars made by Mercedes (like yours…), BMW, Audi, Jaguar, Land Rover, and other European manufacturers can be pleasant to own while the warranty is still in effect. However, once the warranty expires, many owners of European-made cars dump them as the repairs tend to be frequent and expensive.
Just for our edification, can you let us know what the dealer did to fix your car?
I will be happy to! I appreciate your input. I will post to you on Wednesday evening when I return home.
I have not forgot to post about my car but they had to keep it until tomorrow. So I will post over the weekend
I have a feeling your love may fade…
It’s also possible that the previous owner, or owners, had an experience with that blinking wrench, were told the cause of it, and bailed out on the car rather than lighten their bank account.
I hate to be too pessimistic but I’m kind of leaning with wesw… 
Just curious, but what state are you in? In some states you may have a legal recourse if this turns sour.
“Smart” car. Smart applies to the manufacturer. Not the consumer.
when the smart cars came out there were quite a few around here. it seems they have all disappeared
We’ll hope for the best. How bad could it be?
@wesw, same here. There were a number of them floating around here and right now I think there’s only one remaining. The main user at one time was a Chinese restaurant which had a pair of them as delivery vehicles.
There were also a few Whee-Gos around here which was basically a Smart with an electric motor.
Both cars and company have evaporated I guess; very soon after a lot of hype.
The “plant” is now a local hardware store…
A 2008 Smart car uses a 1.0L MFI DOHC 3cyl engine. It almost appears that “stalling” was engineered into the car. That’s just me but…
A local insurance company in my area bought a dozen of these Smart cars for their agents. Within the first year…all of them were incapacitated by wrecks of one kind or another except one. The one that stayed pristine was the insurance company’s owner’s personal vehicle. He admitted in an interview that he never drove it. He just left it in his parking space in front of the office for advertisement purposes. He still has it but they now all drive the Ford Focus.
I told this story before but it bears repeating and has updated info.
If the Smart cars got the kind of mileage that they should have, and had they been priced commensurately with their almost total lack of utility value, they might have succeeded. But as they were, market failure was almost preordained. Way too expensive, poor gas mileage (for what they were), and almost no functionality. Why MB ever even bothered is beyond my comprehension. Perhaps MB’s culture is saturated with the belief that people will happily pay dearly to look “cool”?
Smart cars were a joint venture between MB and the Swatch watch company. It was another great attempt to revolutionize the urban driving experience that failed due to a lack of common sense and legalities. The car was supposed to be able to park perpendicular to the curb, or 2 to a parking space in the crowded European cities… except that was illegal in nearly every city.
The plastic body panels were designed to be easily replaced to change style from year to year (orange is the new black). It had a turbo 600cc 3-cyl never available in the US. The US got the 1000cc normally aspirated motor sourced from Mitsubishi that got pretty lousy economy for a car of its size. It is a rear-engine, rear-drive car with a semi-auto gearbox.
The most useful for MB was it was a cell-concept manufacturing system where the car was the center of a wheel-an-spoke shaped plant where everything flowed into a point of assembly. Swatch bowed out years ago and the car has been designed and sold by MB since. Not really a sales success.
Back before the Smart was marketed to the general public, Motor Trend I think it was brought one to northwest OK for several days of testing out in the wide open spaces of the Panhandle and were underwhelmed by it.
Poor ergonomics, no space for anything, not exactly stellar fuel economy, and the biggest gripe of all; the underpowered engine and the transmission which was constantly hunting for another gear.
I still have the magazine somewhere and I seem to remember the best fuel mileage they attained was about 37. That was also on terrain with few stops and flat other than a few gently rolling hills.
“and the transmission which was constantly hunting for another gear”
Let’s not forget that when its transmission finally figures out what gear to shift into, the shift is accompanied with…hesitation…and…force sufficient to toss your head forward and then back.
It’s a wonder that owners didn’t sue MB for whiplash injuries sustained as a result of its badly-developed transmission.
OK here we go, They replaced my SAM. Coded my keys and replaced my windshield wipers.
It’s running awesome now. thanks
I knew it was those windshield wipers…
Signal Acquisition & Actuation Module, whatever that is. Sounds like water gets in there or something.
If you want some entertainment just Google Smart Car SAM and there is plenty of frustration. One guy had an estimate of $6000 for one fog light that went out on his MB. I think he got it down to $2000 though. Sounds like the VW battery issue we talked about. Never have an MB, Smart Car, etc. without a warrenty in force.