Smart averages 3.69 complaints per production run against 3.73 across the market, and its cars reach the halfway point of their complaints at 7 years. Cleanest model in the range is the Fortwo (3.69 per run), heaviest the Fortwo (3.69).
When it starts to break
Each of the 251 Smart complaints carries an incident date, so what follows is not the calendar year a report was filed but the age of the car when it failed. That age decides who pays: inside the warranty the manufacturer does, outside it you do. Half of everything reported on a Smart arrives by 7 years, a year later than the market median of 5 — the failures come, they just come later.
| Age at failure | Complaints | Running total | Warranty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 years | 6.2% | covered | |
| 1 year | 10.7% | covered | |
| 2 years | 17.3% | covered | |
| 3 years | 24.7% | you pay | |
| 4 years | 33.7% | you pay | |
| 5 years | 39.9% | you pay | |
| 6 years | 49.4% | you pay | |
| 7 years | 56.4% | you pay | |
| 8 years | 64.6% | you pay | |
| 9 years | 76.5% | you pay | |
| 10 years | 88.1% | you pay | |
| 11 years | 92.2% | you pay | |
| 12 years | 95.9% | you pay | |
| 13 years | 97.9% | you pay | |
| 14 years | 98.8% | you pay | |
| 15 years | 100% | you pay |
On a Smart 17.3% of reported failures land inside the first three years, so the other 82.7% arrive when the bill is yours.
Smart models ranked
Cleanest first, by complaints per production run — so a model that sold in millions is not punished for it. This compares how often owners of the same build actually filed.
| Model | Per run | Complaints | Breaks at | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smart Fortwo | 251 | 6.5 yrs | 2008–2019 |
Which Smart years to avoid
Ranked by complaints per production run, so a year that simply sold well is not punished for it. Across 5 model years old enough to judge, the worst is 2008 at 5.1 per run and the cleanest 2010 at 1 — a 5.1-fold gap between two cars wearing the same badge.
| Model year | Per run | Complaints | Production runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 8 | 8 | |
| 2011 | 15 | 7 | |
| 2010 | 6 | 6 | |
| 2009 | 90 | 21 | |
| 2008 | 127 | 25 |
The table stops at 2017 on purpose. Reports against a Smart keep arriving for a decade after it is sold, so a newer year would top this ranking on age alone and tell you nothing about the car.
What actually fails on a Smart
Systems owners reported to the regulator, ordered by how much of the Smart complaint file each accounts for. The biggest single one is Power Train at 17% of everything filed, typically going wrong at 5.2 years old.
| System | Complaints | Share of file | Typical age | Involved a crash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Train | 17% | 5.2 yrs | 3 | |
| Engine | 17% | 8 yrs | — | |
| Electrical System | 12% | 5.5 yrs | — | |
| Unknown Or Other | 9% | 7.2 yrs | 2 | |
| Engine And Engine Cooling | 6% | 8.9 yrs | — | |
| Seat Belts | 6% | 4.8 yrs | — | |
| Structure | 6% | 7 yrs | 1 | |
| Fuel/propulsion System | 5% | 8.3 yrs | 1 |
Take the top two to any pre-purchase inspection on a Smart — a mechanic given named parts finds more than one told to look the car over.
Good year or bad year — the VIN settles it.
- Check any VIN against complaints for its exact build year and plant
- Exact value for that car, adjusted for its mileage
- Full research report as a PDF you can hand to a mechanic
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How we measure it
Reliability scores usually arrive as a number out of five with no working shown. The Smart figure on this page comes out of 251 individual reports, and here is exactly how they were turned into a rate — because two steps in that arithmetic are arguable and you should be able to argue with them.
Rate, not total. Volume alone would decide the ranking, so we divide by the number of production runs — the distinct first-eleven-character VIN prefixes on record. For Smart that is 251 complaints spread over 68 runs — 3.69 per run against 3.73 for the market as a whole.
Age, not year. Incident date minus model year gives the age at failure, which is what the warranty question turns on. It is also why the Smart year rankings above rest on 5 model years and stop at 2017: anything newer has not had time to break, and would win any comparison on age alone.
What this is not. Filing with a federal regulator takes effort, so what you see are faults someone judged serious — not scratched paint, not running costs, not how nice the car is to live with. Every Smart model below clears the volume needed to compare, so none of these rates rest on a handful of reports.
Frequently asked questions
Is Smart reliable?
Smart averages 3.69 complaints per production run against 3.73 across the market, with the halfway point of complaints at 7 years.
Which Smart model is most reliable?
By complaint rate, the Fortwo at 3.69 per run. The full ranking is in the table above.
Which Smart should I avoid?
Heaviest complaint rate in the range is the Fortwo at 3.69 per run — though a high rate on one generation does not condemn the model outright.
Where do these numbers come from?
Complaints filed with NHTSA, the US federal safety regulator. Filing one is a deliberate act, so this measures faults people considered serious — not survey opinions.
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