smart car brakes

[bordseye]

Odd one this. SWMBO has a Smart Roadster and thinks its brilliant so I dont get to drive it very much. Last time I did so I thought the brakes a bit odd. The pedal was relatively soft when the car was moving but as soon as it was stationary and you pushed on the brake pedal, it hardened up.

Now the obvious conclusion would be that the brakes ( disc front, drum rear) are distorted and as the car moves so they push the pads or shoes back against the hydraulics making for more movement when the brakes are applied and therefore a soft pedal. But there are no other signs of any distortion like a pulsating pedal so that cant be it.

Any ideas. Is it a function of the unusual design of these cars?

[AndrewW-G]

Does the Smart have a brake servo? . . . .if so, then all your feeling is servo assisted brakes when running and none servo when the motors off

[davepoth]

If the discs were warped the pedal would vibrate under braking.

[kevin63]

I had this on my first Smart and it happened only after a year of owning it. The problem was the brake fluid (on my car at least) once the fluid was changed the brakes were back to as new.

[bordseye]

Found the answer. The car has "hill start assist" ( I didnt know and swmbo never reads the manual) which means that on stopping going up a hill you press the brake pedal down and it locks the brakes so you can then set off uphill by just pressing the accelerator.

[Andrew_M]

^^ I had one once