2008 Smart Fortwo Coupe Recalls
No NHTSA recalls on record for the 2008 Smart Fortwo Coupe. That means NHTSA has no open safety campaign for this vehicle — it does not guarantee the absence of problems. Owners have filed 23 complaints with NHTSA, most often about the power train. Last updated July 5, 2026.
Complaints by component
What owners report
Verbatim reports filed with NHTSA, lightly edited for readability and with personal information removed.
“Power steering fails while driving and becomes like steering a mac truck extremely difficult to turn the wheel forcing the vehicle to go straight instead of turning causing the car to come into oncoming traffic. *tr”
“While driving down the north dallas tollway I heard a sudden loud "pop" noise in the back of my car where my engine is located. It was startling enough to pull off onto the shoulder of the highway and exit my car immediately to see where the noise came from. Upon exiting my vehicle, I saw coming…”
“Several times my 2008 smart will not go into reverse gear.or start sometimes as explained in many other post here. Mb said that its my clutch assemby, mb report says (1) transmission need to be removed inspect clutch disk pressure plates and thowout bearing/ clutch will not teach in causing engine…”
“Several times my 2008 smart will not go into reverse gear.or start sometimes as explained in many other post here. Mb said that its my clutch assemby, mb report says (1) transmission need to be removed inspect clutch disk pressure plates and thowout bearing/ clutch will not teach in causing engine…”
“I own 2 of the 2008 smart fortwo automobiles (pure & cabrio). Both have periodically been balky shifters (stuck when trying to move the gear selector out of park). One has briefly refused to shift into any gear, independent of the gear indicated. Both have briefly refused to shift out of park...…”
“This being a 2008 smart passion for two......a leaking gas tank on a 4 year old vehicle......contacted mb/smart at their headquarters in nj...trying to get them to replace this under the manufacturer defective part to no avail. Local mb/smart dealership charged me $1717 for its replacement.....no…”
“Driving on ca70 south towards plumas lake blvd. Exit, braking lightly from 55 mph to 35mph to exit the freeway caused abs and electronic stability program (esp)((electronic stability control)) exclamation lights to light up which denoted the abs and esp disabled. When coming to a stop at the stop…”
“Driving on ca70 south towards plumas lake blvd. Exit, braking lightly from 55 mph to 35mph to exit the freeway caused abs and electronic stability program (esp)((electronic stability control)) exclamation lights to light up which denoted the abs and esp disabled. When coming to a stop at the stop…”
Defect investigations
Engine Compartment Fire
On April 30, 2018, Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, (Mercedes-Benz) submitted a Defect Information Report (DIR) to NHTSA regarding a defect that could result in a vehicle fire starting from the engine compartment in 42,781 model year (MY) 2008 and 2009 Smart Fortwo cabrio and coupe vehicles (451 platform).According to…
Engine Compartment Fire
On December 16, 2016, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation PE16-016 to investigate eight complaints alleging incidents of engine compartment fire while driving or shortly after engine shutdown in model year (MY) 2008 through 2009 Smart Fortwo vehicles.The complaints appeared to…
Recall, complaint, and investigation records from official NHTSA datasets (FLAT_RCL, FLAT_CMPL, FLAT_INV), synced weekly. Counts reflect NHTSA records for the 2008 Smart Fortwo Coupe as of July 5, 2026. Complaint narratives are consumer-submitted and unverified. This page contains ads and affiliate links. Full methodology.