Ontario Drive Clean Emission Test And The Smart Odometer

[BobLawbla 0]

Good day,Has anyone experienced/noticed when bringing your Smart Fortwo (450) to the Ontario Drive Clean emission test to have your odometer jumped (forward), or that the odometer showing a substantial amount of additional kilometers after the test then when the vehicle was brought to the test centre? I am only curious to know the test that were performed with the test center connecting to the OBDii port of the Smart 450, so since 2013 on.Bob

[dmoonen 54]

Yup I do know first hand that if you have the non euro OBD 2 cord, the car can jump. I had that before on my grey smart and it jumped almost 2,400km but luckily I record my mileage daily and brought the car to MB and they fixed it.They mentioned if I didn't have such a detailed a log they wouldn't of done it due to fraud reasons.

Edited July 30, 2013 by dmoonen

[cruise_carter 1]

I have concerns about this issue and contacted driveclean, below is the reply.

For those who have had issues, please contact them.

Hello Dale,

Thank you for contacting Ontario Drive Clean.

My name is Diana and I am the Supervisor for the Contact Centre and have researched your concern below in regards to SMART cars and it having additional km’s added after being connected to a non-euro OBD2 cord.

We have not seen any incident where this issue has occurred with the Ontario Drive Clean On Board Diagnostic test. However, if you could provide us with additional vehicle specific information such as the VIN number for the vehicle where this has occurred we would be happy to further investigate.

Alternatively, if you would like to further discuss, please feel free to respond to this email or contact me directly at the Ontario Drive Clean Contact Centre, 1-888-758-2999. Our hours of operations are from 8:00AM-6:00PM EST. Please reference case ID: 5395651.

Regards,

Diana

Supervisor, Contact Centre

Ontario Drive Clean Program

1-888-758-2999

Out-of-Province, please dial 905-943-4897 (Charges will be assumed by the caller)

[Graham 0]

When selling car in Ontario, is a Drive Clean test required? If so, who gets it - previous or new owner?

I tried to find out if our car would need one on the Drivecllean site, but site was not responding?????

My search brought up this disconcerting link:

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/polit...728-081617.html

Any further news from Driveclean re the smart?

[cruise_carter 1]

http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/environment/en/ca...ROD_075674.html

1st line in special circumstances.

Car is sold, drive clean must be done, unlike uvip, buyer or seller can do it but it must be done before transfer can be completed.

I posted the reply from Driveclean for people with issues to respond.

I myself have not had an issue, this year will be first time an obd is used for my vehicles.

[lebikerboy 96]

"I myself have not had an issue, this year will be first time an obd is used for my vehicles".

My first and only test obd or otherwise was this year and passed with flying colours with no cat.

Our equivalent to Drive Clean (Air Care) is done at the end of 2014.

Edited August 14, 2013 by lebikerboy

[Bessy 16]

Catalyst Monitor is not checked on a smart, but comprehensive is. A smart will fail for a cracked reluctor ring that triggers a CEL but won't fail for not having a cat (could be rejected from a test for not having a cat if the inspector happens to look which is unlikely)As long as your Check Engine Light is off you should have no problem. As far as the Odometer jumping it happened with one smart I tested (of 20+ with OBD test) and its the only smart I have unplugged the OBD Plug while the car was still running. Doing this jumped the Odometer about 2100km (verified by my work order) and triggered the ABS & ESP Lights. I told the customer (Local used car salesman) and he was not concerned.There is also an issue with some Toyotas and the ABS Pump running during the test, kinda neat when you feel it going crazy and know what it is LOL

[Graham 0]

Bessy - Did you, or can you, report the odometer jump issue to Ontario Drive Clean? (see Cruise_Carter's post above)Perhaps they could do some testing and either provide proper OBD2 connectors or a procedure that would avoid the problem. In the meantime they should put smart testing on hold. I sent them a message suggesting that. I have also contacted smart Canada to see if they know of the issue.I was told by my dealer that non MB connectors should not be plugged into the smart OBD port.

Edited August 15, 2013 by Graham

[Graham 0]

Yup I do know first hand that if you have the non euro OBD 2 cord, the car can jump. I had that before on my grey smart and it jumped almost 2,400km but luckily I record my mileage daily and brought the car to MB and they fixed it.

Interesting. I asked my dealer today about that. Scenario was that if I went to Drive Clean and odometer jumped and numbers were recorded in and out by the shop, could they make an adjustment? Service guy said no - they were not allowed to.

[Graham 0]

I spoke to Drive Clean today. First to lady who sent email response who said they had no record of any problems with smarts. But after explaining my concerns, she put we through a technical guy - Bob. Bob repeated the same line, but added that they had asked the supplier of the test equipment if there would be a problem. Predictable answer was that so long as car met OBD standards, there should be no problem. They said I should take car in and let them know if a problem occurs. Bob said they take pictures before and after which would show odometer change. But I argued, that seeing that the smart has a known problem with odometer jumping when certain obd plugs were inserted, why not be pro-active instead of waiting for problems to occur? I told them that according to my dealer, Mercedes had issued TDBs about the odometer jumping - I asked them to contact Mercedes and solve problem directly, either with hardware, a procedure or whatever. In fact perhaps Mercedes could solve problem. Finally he agreed to look at the TDBs (which he seemed to have access to) He said he would phone me back after investigating further.PS: I also emailed smart.ca but no answer yet.PPS: If anyone knows of cars other than one Bessy mentioned that have had odometer skip at Driveclean or in any province, please advise. Thanks

[Graham 0]

I received a letter in the mail today from Drive Clean's Director, Garth Napier, regarding my query.

(still no reply to my email to smart.ca)

To summarize, they said:

- not aware of any cases where odometer was affected by DriveClean test.

- they contacted Mercedes Benz dealership (?) and they were not aware of any issues of this nature.

- they have been informed (by ?) that no TSBs exist related to this issue.

They go on to say that they would like to be put in touch with anyone who claims to have seen this occur.

If anyone has seen or had an odometer jump at Drive Clean or even a similar OBD test in another province, you could call Diana at 1-888-758-2999 or use contact at www.driveclean.ca and cite reference ENV1283MC-2013-2440. Or write Garth Napier, Director. MOE, Drive Clean Office, 40 St. Clair Ave W, 4th Floor. Toronto ON M4V 1M2.

I will need an e-Test before long, so will be watching carefully!

Edited August 26, 2013 by Graham

[cruise_carter 1]

keeping my fingers crossed and will be taking pictures before, going into a drive clean tomorrow for the 06 coupe.see what happens and I will update tomorrow night..UPDATE............Yesterday afternoon on way home from work, stopped at the emissions test facility on Warden south of 401 in Scarborough.Took precaution of photographing odometer.Drove in and spoke to gent who greeted me.Asked him about any issues and to ensure the obd cable is not connected or removed while ignition turned on.He said it was 1st diesel smart he had personally tested but there was no way a cable would be connected or removed while ignition is on.He said that was a recipe for disaster as it could cause issues with any car computer.He proceeded to test my car and absolutely no issue.Car passed as I expected and no issues.Car was fine.

Edited August 31, 2013 by cruise_carter

[Bessy 16]

Graham,Haven't been around the board lately, unfortuantly it would be risky for me to report the instance where a smart odometer jumped as I would be admitting that I tested the car incorrectly. I have no problem admitting my mistake here, but to a government agency that could fine me is a different story.I feel that most problems with Drive Clean testing are caused by human error, the computer gives us step by step instructions but sometimes being rushed or multi tasking can cause problems.As long as smart owners remind shops to only attach and detach the OBD plug with the ignition off there shouldn't be a problem.As a Drive Clean inspector with well over 2000 tests (new system) under my belt I've made lots of errors, and had atleast 100 tests audited...but still no fines or even suspensions.

[Graham 0]

We had our E-Test done on Friday and there was no problem with odometer. Car passed test. Also had safety done. Only issue, was that one bulb was out - must have failed since last service about a week or two ago I had to change it myself (rear side marker) because shop didn't really know how to get at it (and were about to close for weekend)! New owner tomorrow - he will be getting a good car!