Looking for SMART car information
Does anyone here tow a Smart car? We are interested in any information pros and cons of towing one, and how you like driving one of these little guys on the road. Thanks!!!
Forum Discussion
Skid Row Joe wrote:
gotsmart wrote:
Skid Row Joe wrote:
...
They are very difficult to tow
Wrong. In addition to the towbar installation, one only needs to a a $20 battery disconnect switch - as recommended in the owners manual.
-put the key to position 1 in the ignition
-put the shifter to "N"
-turn the key to the off position
-wait about 30 seconds for the digital display on the dash to go blank
-disconnect the battery (or use a switch)
done
in that their wheels/tires are different sizes, as well as their wheelbase is so short,
OE rear: 175/55/15 on a 15 inch by 5.5 inch wheel
OE front 155/60/15 on a 15 inch by 4.5 inch wheel
Mercedes did this to promote understeer in the car which it considers safer that oversteer. I'm running 195/55/15s on 15 by 5.5 inch wheels in all 4 corners. The car handles much better the the OE setup.
that the front wheels basketball bounce on tight turns.
That has not been my experience when towing my smart. I'm using a 4 inch drop receiver to keep my towbar level at the base plates on the car. I've seen motorhomes pull into the resort with towbars in receivers 8+ inches above their car's base plates - not just smart cars. There are motohomes out there where the receiver is too high off of the ground.
The safeguard is to tie-off the steering wheel with bungee cords, and pray to God they work.
I don't use a nylon bungee. I use this rubber bungee. It grips the steering wheel and keeps the car from wagging the MH when driving at highway speed in the rutted truck lanes. If the roads in OR and WA didn't have ruts, I would not need the bungee.
Many of the Mercedes Benz dealerships do not like the fact MB builds and sells an entry level city car that does not offer much margin for sales commissions. They barely acknowledge that smart cars are a Mercedes brand. Your post reminds me why my smart has never been to a MB dealer for service.
You basically have to be an engineering graduate to hook one up, is why there's so many pitfalls to deal with them. It's unfortunate that this car is tied directly to Mercedes-Benz, from everything I've read about their reliability and difficulties.
Really, engineering graduate ???,
1. Hook up tow bar
2. Put in neutral
3. Turn off battery switch
4. For those that want to bungy the steering wheel.
Re reliability, not sure if you are talking about Mercedes in general or smart cars. Our oldest smart is 10 years old. It has had 4 A services and 4 B services. Thats it. Oh, and a door handle recall. They are the most reliable vehicles we have ever owned.
Just sayin...rjstractor wrote:
Skid Row Joe wrote:
Life is too short to drive a car this short in the safety department. You might as well be on a motorcycle for all the safety it affords it's occupants.
Just today I responded to a 3 vehicle rear ender where a Smart was the sandwich filling and a Ford Explorer and a full size Ford van were the rear and front bread. The Smart received about the same amount of front and rear damage as the front of the Explorer and the rear of the van, the driver was uninjured and the Smart was driveable. This was the first accident I have seen involving a Smart and I was impressed with how it held up.
Yah, they have a good record. But there is more to the story and they are trying to figure out what it is. Canada has had smart cars longer than the US and they had the very first fatality last year. Yes they have very stong tridium cells, air bags etc etc, but they are starting to look at why the injuries and fatalities are so low overall in smart car accidents. Agility, braking etc. Who knows, but they are looking into it. If you ever want an eye opening experience, drive a smart car at 70 mph and stand on the brakes. You are going from 70 to 0 VERY FAST.
Anyway, glad to hear it worked out for those folks.gotsmart wrote:
Skid Row Joe wrote:
...
They are very difficult to tow
Wrong. In addition to the towbar installation, one only needs to a a $20 battery disconnect switch - as recommended in the owners manual.
-put the key to position 1 in the ignition
-put the shifter to "N"
-turn the key to the off position
-wait about 30 seconds for the digital display on the dash to go blank
-disconnect the battery (or use a switch)
done
in that their wheels/tires are different sizes, as well as their wheelbase is so short,
OE rear: 175/55/15 on a 15 inch by 5.5 inch wheel
OE front 155/60/15 on a 15 inch by 4.5 inch wheel
Mercedes did this to promote understeer in the car which it considers safer that oversteer. I'm running 195/55/15s on 15 by 5.5 inch wheels in all 4 corners. The car handles much better the the OE setup.
that the front wheels basketball bounce on tight turns.
That has not been my experience when towing my smart. I'm using a 4 inch drop receiver to keep my towbar level at the base plates on the car. I've seen motorhomes pull into the resort with towbars in receivers 8+ inches above their car's base plates - not just smart cars. There are motohomes out there where the receiver is too high off of the ground.
The safeguard is to tie-off the steering wheel with bungee cords, and pray to God they work.
I don't use a nylon bungee. I use this rubber bungee. It grips the steering wheel and keeps the car from wagging the MH when driving at highway speed in the rutted truck lanes. If the roads in OR and WA didn't have ruts, I would not need the bungee.
Many of the Mercedes Benz dealerships do not like the fact MB builds and sells an entry level city car that does not offer much margin for sales commissions. They barely acknowledge that smart cars are a Mercedes brand. Your post reminds me why my smart has never been to a MB dealer for service.
You basically have to be an engineering graduate to hook one up, is why there's so many pitfalls to deal with them. It's unfortunate that this car is tied directly to Mercedes-Benz, from everything I've read about their reliability and difficulties.rjstractor wrote:
It wasn't hit that hard is why it wasn't damaged. Check out YouTube for the off-set collision test done that resulted in a certain fatality. Also, what you're possibly thinking is that just because the car looks undamaged to the extent of severe injuries of the occupants, is deceiving in that the G-forces of having almost NO crumple zone causes severe injuries because of the sudden stopping. It was reported many years ago that the most dangerous G-forces occur in a vehicle without crumple zones and low speed bumpers, like the Jeep Wranglers. They had almost zero crumple capabilities. Severe G-forces are what is the problem. Mercedes-Benz has an off-set collision on YouTube between a Smart Car and a full sized 4 door S-Class Mercedes sedan @ 45 mph. The Smart Car is sent back in the direction it came from, bouncing off the S-Class like a tennis ball. Very scary stuff.Skid Row Joe wrote:
Life is too short to drive a car this short in the safety department. You might as well be on a motorcycle for all the safety it affords it's occupants.
Just today I responded to a 3 vehicle rear ender where a Smart was the sandwich filling and a Ford Explorer and a full size Ford van were the rear and front bread. The Smart received about the same amount of front and rear damage as the front of the Explorer and the rear of the van, the driver was uninjured and the Smart was driveable. This was the first accident I have seen involving a Smart and I was impressed with how it held up.Skid Row Joe wrote:
Life is too short to drive a car this short in the safety department. You might as well be on a motorcycle for all the safety it affords it's occupants.
Just today I responded to a 3 vehicle rear ender where a Smart was the sandwich filling and a Ford Explorer and a full size Ford van were the rear and front bread. The Smart received about the same amount of front and rear damage as the front of the Explorer and the rear of the van, the driver was uninjured and the Smart was driveable. This was the first accident I have seen involving a Smart and I was impressed with how it held up.Skid Row Joe wrote:
...
They are very difficult to tow
Wrong. In addition to the towbar installation, one only needs to a a $20 battery disconnect switch - as recommended in the owners manual.
-put the key to position 1 in the ignition
-put the shifter to "N"
-turn the key to the off position
-wait about 30 seconds for the digital display on the dash to go blank
-disconnect the battery (or use a switch)
done
in that their wheels/tires are different sizes, as well as their wheelbase is so short,
OE rear: 175/55/15 on a 15 inch by 5.5 inch wheel
OE front 155/60/15 on a 15 inch by 4.5 inch wheel
Mercedes did this to promote understeer in the car which it considers safer that oversteer. I'm running 195/55/15s on 15 by 5.5 inch wheels in all 4 corners. The car handles much better the the OE setup.
that the front wheels basketball bounce on tight turns.
That has not been my experience when towing my smart. I'm using a 4 inch drop receiver to keep my towbar level at the base plates on the car. I've seen motorhomes pull into the resort with towbars in receivers 8+ inches above their car's base plates - not just smart cars. There are motohomes out there where the receiver is too high off of the ground.
The safeguard is to tie-off the steering wheel with bungee cords, and pray to God they work.
I don't use a nylon bungee. I use this rubber bungee. It grips the steering wheel and keeps the car from wagging the MH when driving at highway speed in the rutted truck lanes. If the roads in OR and WA didn't have ruts, I would not need the bungee.
Many of the Mercedes Benz dealerships do not like the fact MB builds and sells an entry level city car that does not offer much margin for sales commissions. They barely acknowledge that smart cars are a Mercedes brand. Your post reminds me why my smart has never been to a MB dealer for service.Skid Row Joe wrote:
dons2346 wrote:
Homely? Yes. But there's a lot more to it........
Life is to short to drive an ugly car
Life is too short to drive a car this short in the safety department. You might as well be on a motorcycle for all the safety it affords it's occupants.
They are very difficult to tow in that their wheels/tires are different sizes, as well as their wheelbase is so short, that the front wheels basketball bounce on tight turns.
The safeguard is to tie-off the steering wheel with bungey cords, and pray to God they work.
Well, I don't think any of us driving a smart car are unaware of the laws of physics driving a smart car but comparing a vehicle with 8 air bags and a tridium roll cage and the safety record of a smart car to a motorcyle is a bit of a stretch. :)
I would be curious in hearing more about the difficulties you are having towing your smart car as I know a LOT of people who tow smarts and NONE of them have had any issues. The Bungy on the steering wheel is a good idea though.
Cheers.dons2346 wrote:
Homely? Yes. But there's a lot more to it........
Life is to short to drive an ugly car
Life is too short to drive a car this short in the safety department. You might as well be on a motorcycle for all the safety it affords it's occupants.
They are very difficult to tow in that their wheels/tires are different sizes, as well as their wheelbase is so short, that the front wheels basketball bounce on tight turns.
The safeguard is to tie-off the steering wheel with bungey cords, and pray to God they work.
