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smart fortwo Investigated Over Engine Compartment Fire

Viewed in Europe as a packaging marvel for congested city traffic, the smart fortwo has hit trouble in the U.S. As per the NHTSA, certain smart fortwo vehicles are prone to catch fire.
Smart ForTwo (451 Series) vehicle fire in Pennsylvania 11 photos
Photo: East Whiteland Fire Company
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Investigation PE 16-016 covers an estimated 42,875 examples of the 2008 to 2009 model year fortwo, the problem being “fire allegations from the rear engine compartment.” In total, the U.S. DoT received 8 complaints reporting incidents that can be described as such. Six of those report “symptoms of smoke, check engine light illumination or unusual noise while driving, before pulling over and observing fire in the engine compartment.” The remaining two incidents were detected only after the vehicles were stopped.

The thing is, all incidents involve fires that engulfed the vehicles in a most rapid manner. The Office of Defects Investigation reported that five of them happened in 2015, whereas the remaining three occurred since October 2016. Oh, and another thing: one of the affected smart fortwos had merely 29,000 miles (46,670 kilometers) on the odometer when the vehicle fire broke out.

At the present moment, there’s no official recall on the U.S.-spec 2008 to 2009 fortwo. But if the preliminary investigation leads to a deeper analysis of the alleged problem, then you can imagine what happens next. In the worst case scenario, owners of the ForTwo will need to get their cars fixed by authorized smart dealers. Free of charge to the owner, of course.

On that note, it’s worth remembering that smart might know what is going on with the U.S.-spec fortwo. In this regard, the automaker recalled 16,830 European-spec units of the 451 series fortwo over vehicle fire concern back in 2014. The problem, according to smart, was a short circuit that could occur in the electronic shutoff valve as a result of excessive wear.

More recently, firefighters put out a flaming U.S.-spec fortwo (pictured) in October 2016. The incident happened in East Whiteland Township.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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