Time to replace the Saturn

Pangaea Ron wrote:
I have a friend that loves his Smart Car, unfortunately he has had less than desireable results from towing it. From memory, here is what happened. The electronic linkage to the transmission failed and damaged the transmission, which was replaced under warrantee. The dealer said that the vehicle was not designed to be towed 4 down for long distances? Soon after that the same issue developed again which damaged the transmission, and also the engine ($12,000). The dealer refused to repair it, but his insurance did take care of it, after several months of negotiation. I think that the insurance company recovered most of their loss from the dealer. He now tows the vehicle inside a utility trailer. All of the Smart Cars that we saw being towed in Europe were on trailers.

I've been flat towing my smart since 2011 with zero issues. I follow the flat towing instructions from the smart owners manual to the letter - including the installation of a battery disconnect switch as required on PDF page 194 in the owners manual. I created a checklist from the owners manual, and laminated it. I refer to it EVERY TIME I tow the car.

I have a manual disconnect switch because an "automatic battery disconnect" can't be used on a smart car. They've been found to feed power back into the smart car's electronics. The floor shift isn't connected to the transmission. It is connected to the computer and the computer is connected to the clutch actuator. If the car's electronics have no power then the clutch actuator can't shift the transmission out of Neutral. With the car in towing mode and the battery disconnected, I can (accidentally) knock the shifter out of Neutral - because the shifter isn't physically connected to the transmission.

I suspect your friend missed a step or two of the flat towing procedure.