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What 8 owners told NHTSA about the 2012 Smart Fortwo
These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.
2 of 8 complaints match · Seat belts · clear filters
Jan 18, 2022Seat belts
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 contacted mercedes USA, and they tell me that my warranty has run out, they can't do anything. Even though this is a mandatory safety feature that has completely failed from normal use.
NHTSA ODI 11447959
Sep 16, 2016Seat belts
DRIVER SIDE SEAT BELT FAILS TO BUCKLE. NOTHING LODGED IN BUCKLE, BUT MECHANISM APPEARS TO BE BROKEN.
NHTSA ODI 10907128
Working with the data? Download all 8 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 22, 2026
How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your
pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the
full 2012 Smart Fortwo verdict →