Your friends set you up with a guy swearing that he is the smartest guy they know. Two dates later you are very vehemently explaining to your friends, in language normally reserved for longshoremen, that smart does not always mean perfect. If you have ever dealt with any smart car problems, you might agree in equally graphic terms. Like other car models, you can split smart car owners right down the middle: those who are convinced that they are perfect and those who have enough smart car problems and horror stories to keep you up all night.

No one is going to try to say that there are no such thing as smart car problems. There are certainly a number of them that can arise. Once you get past the basic differences of the smart car, you get to the similarities. Just like any other car, you have to keep up with your maintenance or you increase your risk factors for a number of different smart car problems.

So, you might ask yourself, what are the most common types of smart car problems and why do they happen? There are a number of parts that seem to be most likely to cause an issue including the sensors. Like other cars, the smart car has a number of sensors which control the behavior of certain parts and systems.

For instance, when you want to put the car in gear, a sensor might tell the car’s computer (which functions as its brain) that there is an issue which may keep that from happening. In most cars, you cannot engage the transmission unless your foot is on the gas pedal for instance, the sensor tells the computer that that is not true and the car will not go. While it might sound like a simple fix, there are so many sensors that if this is in fact the cause of the smart car problems, it might take some major time and detective work to find out which sensor is actually acting up.

There are other smart car problems that can be even harder to diagnose. Read the forums and message boards that are posted, even among the smart car fans and you might read about a mystery issue which has never been fully explained by the dealers and the car makers. The issue comes fairly early in the life of the smart car- before any major mileage has been put on the vehicle in fact. While driving along, the new car owner might suddenly find themselves being shaken like a martini without having any knowledge of why. The check engine light may or may not come on when this is going on. This has been one of the rare but frustrating smart car problems that sadly, tends to have no known cause or remedy at least, none that are being commonly reported on.

You can buy a smart car and never have any of the smart car problems. In fact, you can be completely problem free for the entire time you own the car. Remember, smart does not always mean perfect.