My Smart problems...

[ZeroGravity 0]

So the day I picked up my car, 2006 Smart Fortwo (pure), I got a call from the dealership, letting me know they forgot to lazer etch my windows, so... they picked it up while I was at work, and I went later that night to go pick up my car. The next day I was having problems with my radio, I called the dealership, and the techs had no idea what was going on. Eventually I found out the reason it was changing stations on its own was some european setting in the radio that needed to be shut off. No big deal, but I think the MB techs should of known about this. Fast forward to the first rainfall and I notice the water has stained my seats a bit. Just a few droplets... umm... ok, wtf im thinking... So, I get a clean wet cloth and try to clean up the stains, made it 100 times worse. So i decided to just put towels over my seats till I get a steam cleaner or something... I take my car in for its first service... They washed the car, and my rubber floor mats come out light grey with black spots on them... I didnt notice till after I left though because they were still all wet when I pulled out of MB. I asked them to fix it the next time I was in there, assuming they would just replace them. So, my next service comes up... My first B service... Which I find to be very overpriced for what they did. My floor mats, they sprayed them with some kind of grease to give them a "wet" look all the time... WTF? okay, whatever... Then I see the big red blob on my driver seat... I complained and told em to get the stain out... Then when the guy is standing next to me I see the small chip they took outta my paint. AWESOME!! They bring my car in to put some touch up paint on it temporarily till I can get to a third party place that they offer to pay for. (I still have not been able to get ahold of them, its been a couple weeks now...) they also left a huge water mark on my seat while trying to clean the red stain. Soooo... They tell me to drop the car off to them the next week and give me a rental car. They set me up with an SUV. WTF? I commute 45 min to work everyday... So, I tell em I want a different rental the next day... They give me a chevy cobalt... Car was filthy... Had a rotten tomatoe in the back seat! I go pick up my car the next day, and I had to pay for one of the days on the rental car !!!!! Also, my dash backlight blinks when I put my turn signals on, I was told by MB that this happens with all the smarts, and is 'normal'

Now for the reason I am posting/bitching about all this... Tonight on my way home I noticed that my headlights are blinking when I have my turn signals on... ARGH!!!! also noticed that my horn sounded... funny... hollow sounding almost... I am assuming that the problems are connected... Battery maybe??

Really starting to hate MB, and my Smart...

PS: MB says that all the Smart seats have this stain problem, and that it is a problem with the foam in the seats... when wet the chemical in the foam seeps out a bit... I asked why this was not considered a defect and why they are not FIXING the problem rather than cleaning the problem temporarily. I was informed that the seats only do it f I get it wet, therefore it is MY problem.....

Any thoughts? ideas? suggestions?

[bilgladstone 13]

Oh my goodmess!!!

You're in St Catherines... so... first thing: STOP right away and telephone Adam and James at www.supersmart.ca Ask them which dealers in your region have a clue and then go to one of their reccommended dealers instead of the hobos who have been "servicing" you! [double entendre - appropriate, I think ]

The lights/horn thing is a known fault and a knowledgeable garage will be able to fix it in jig time.

As for the dealer-caused damage and misinformation, call MB head office and see if they will authorize your new dealer to do the repairs because you no longer have faith in dealer #1 (you don't, right?)

"It's normal... happen with all smarts..." Pfui. Walk out that door, my friend!

Bil

[ZeroGravity 0]

So this morning I drive my gf to work, and I check my headlights are no longer blinking with my turn signal... the horn still sounds weaker and hollow... and the backlight on the radio is flickering like crazy... as if someone was turning a dimmer switch on and off rapidly...

The Smart specialist at my dealer is great, his name is Ryan... But the service dept ive had a lot of problems with, they seem nice enough, but man...

I am going to call head office of MB on tuesday, they are only open 9-5, mon-fri

[RichHelms 1]

You have a pure and the pure seat problem is well documented as well as a solution. See

Link

[ZeroGravity 0]

I did see that, my problem is that MB told me that they know its a problem with the smart seats, and that it is NOT just the pure, you can just see it a lot more in the Pure. The problem according to them is that the chemical foam inside the seat is soaking in the water and secreting the yellow/brown chemical into the fabric. They told me that it took them 8 different chemicals to get the stains out, and all of them made the problem worse. In the end they took it to a third party, professional car cleaners, and they steam cleaned my seats.

In my opinion, cleaning the seat is not a solution, just a band-aid fix... What they should be doing is, A, recall the seats and replace them, or B, reupholster the seats with leather.

[RichHelms 1]

I have a Bissell Little Green (see Link) for details. Scroll up some to the pix).

I clean my green seats regularly with it and it keeps the light green interior nice.

[ZeroGravity 0]

But should u really have to buy a special tool to keep your car clean?Im sorry, but Ive had a lot of other cars and ive never had to steam clean my seats before when water dripped on them.

[RichHelms 1]

For a light green interior, yes I expected to have to do something. I have been amazed that the green interior stays so nice.I was just trying to help. Good luck with your car.

[MikeT 744]

The pure seat fabric is inferior to that of the pulse and passion; that much is evident from the cleaning instructions in the owner's manual. The blue pulse seats do not show the dirt at all (my driver's seat has 7-up all over it and it cannot be seen). Any lighter colour will show more dirt than a darker one. the choice of colour in the pure seats is a poor one; black would have been a lot better.They are not going to recall the seats for an aesthetic issue, because they all have the same foam under them. So you will have to either get seat covers (beware the side airbags), new upholstery (I recommend pulse twister blue, leather would do) or be prepared to clean the seats regularly. Just as if you had white carpeting in the house (which we do).Frankly the seat colours is one reason why we chose a pulse with blue seats, it was all too obvious that the lighter grey would be a swine to keep clean. The foam leaching issue is just the icing on the cake, so to speak.Good luck with the other problems.

[FreepJam 0]

Your light issues -- could it be a problem with the wiring harness?? Our dash lights were doing all sorts of weird things -- it turned out that the wiring harness had gotten wet, and that was the cause of the weird light problems. Our dealer replaced the wiring harness and I think they moved it to a different spot where it won't get wet.

[Hammer Smart 0]

ZG, is this 'service' you're getting from Performance?

[ZeroGravity 0]

yes, the performance mercedes delaership in st catharines....

and Ryan said if it was the wiring harness other things would be happening too...

I took it in today, and it wasnt acting up... so they put in a ticket to Mercedes to see if others have had the same thing at all? the guy at the desk said it sounds like a voltage problem?

[Duck 16]

Did you check the ground wire from your alternator?

-Iain