2012 Smart Fortwo Recalls
No NHTSA recalls on record for the 2012 Smart Fortwo. That means NHTSA has no open safety campaign for this vehicle — it does not guarantee the absence of problems. Owners have filed 11 complaints with NHTSA, most often about the air bags. 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.
“The driver side seat belt mount, which in this case is a steel cable, has mostly broken and frayed rendering it unsafe to drive. In the event of an accident, it would certainly break completely. I only noticed it yesterday while cleaning, the breakage would've happened while driving it. I've…”
“Driver side seat belt fails to buckle. Nothing lodged in buckle, but mechanism appears to be broken.”
“Tl* the contact owns a 2012 smart fortwo. While driving 60 mph, the passenger side body panel disengaged without warning. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 45,100.”
“Transmission will go into three bars and not shift on highways and parkways, usually able to safely drive under power to side of road sometimes goes into neutral and have to coast to side. Occurs with elevated ambient moisture. Started at 32,000 miles. Known issue, transmission has a limp mode for…”
“Transmission will go into three bars and not shift on highways and parkways, usually able to safely drive under power to side of road sometimes goes into neutral and have to coast to side. Occurs with elevated ambient moisture. Started at 32,000 miles. Known issue, transmission has a limp mode for…”
“Tl* the contact owns a 2012 smart fortwo. While driving various speeds, the front turn signal indicators failed to illuminate. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle was taken to lokey mercedes-benz (19820 us hwy 19 n, clearwater, fl) where the failure was confirmed; however, the…”
“Vehicle was hit from behind and pushed into another car on interstate. Air bags did not deploy.”
“Tl* the contact owns a 2012 smart fortwo. While at a stop sign, another vehicle crashed into the rear of the contact's vehicle. As a result, the contact rear ended the preceding vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy. A police report was filed. The contact sustained back injuries, which required…”
Recall, complaint, and investigation records from official NHTSA datasets (FLAT_RCL, FLAT_CMPL, FLAT_INV), synced weekly. Counts reflect NHTSA records for the 2012 Smart Fortwo as of July 5, 2026. Complaint narratives are consumer-submitted and unverified. This page contains ads and affiliate links. Full methodology.