2015 SMART FORTWO COUPE ELECTRIC

The driver was sitting a red light when flames started emerging from the hood. The driver exited the car before the entire front of the car was engulfed in flames and ultimately destroyed. It is unclear what caused the fire but it might have been a wiring harness (or at least there was a wiring harness in the front drivers area under the hood). The car is available for inspection upon request. The safety of the drivers was at risk; he was lucky to be at a red light although he was forced to exit in the middle of a busy street. There is no problem to be reproduced but the incident was reported to Mercedes. The vehicle has not been inspected but the police and fire departments were on scene. There was no prior warning via lamps or other symptoms.

The cable that connects the driver's seatbelt to the seatbelt tensioner (smart/Mercedes part number 4518600084) frayed. The car has less than 49,000 miles on it. Six of the seven strands of the cable frayed and broke, leaving just one strand connecting the driver's seatbelt to the car. I've attached photos of the tensioner as mounted in the car and removed from the car. The frayed cable is part of the tensioner (smart/Mercedes part number 4518600084). Mercedes of Portland said that the seatbelts are not covered under the warranty. I paid $252.23 to have the tensioner assembly replaced. I shudder to think what would have happened if I had been in an accident with this defective seatbelt.

WHILE DRIVING, BRAKES FAILED, BRAKE PEDAL BECAME IMPOSSIBLE TO DEPRESS WITH NO BRAKE RESPONSE, AND A WARNING LIGHT INDICATING A BRAKE FAULT CAME ON. FORTUNATELY, DRIVER WAS ON A SLOW MOVING CITY STREET AND WAS ABLE TO PULL OVER AND STOP USING HAND BRAKE FOR AN EMERGENCY STOP. OTHER ELECTRICAL RELATED GLITCHES IN THIS CAR CAN BE 'RESET' BY TURNING OFF CAR AND RESTARTING. DRIVER TRIED THAT, ERROR CLEARED, DRIVER PROCEEDED CAREFULLY, TURNING ONTO A QUIET RESIDENTIAL STREET. BRAKES WORKED FOR TWO BLOCKS, BUT ON 3RD BLOCK SAME THING OCCURRED APPROACHING A STOP SIGN - BRAKE PEDAL BECAME UN-USABLY STIFF WITH NO APPARENT BRAKE RESPONSE, INDICATOR LIGHT CAME BACK ON, BRAKES DID NOT WORK, HAND BRAKE WAS AGAIN USED TO SLOW AND STOP VEHICLE. TWO MORE ATTEMPTS TO RESET, NO CHANGE, USED HAND-BRAKE WHILE MOVING VEHICLE OUT OF STREET AND INTO A LEGAL PARKING SPOT. VEHICLE TOWED TO DEALER. DEALER INDICATES THERE IS A SERVICE BULLETIN ABOUT THIS ISSUE, FIXES PROBLEM, BUT DEFLECTS ALL QUESTIONS AB

Mileage: 4,771