What Is TAN Coding? TAN is a Transaction Number. It is purchased by a dealer from Mercedes in Germany. These codes unlock features in your car or allows MB Star to code keys. Is It Legal? The legality of creating your own TAN code or bypassing the TAN code...
Smartmods
for all your modding needs, recommended by Evilution
News
MB Star – Cruise Control Coding
450 Fortwo's With A SAM Unit Only And All Roadsters Plug the MB Star multiplexer box into the OBD port of the car, turn on the laptop and boot up DAS. Press unlock on the key, place it into the ignition and turn it to position 1 to power the car up. When you get to...
MB Star – Delete Airbag Light
Plug the MB Star multiplexer box into the OBD port of the car, turn on the laptop and boot up DAS. Press unlock on the key, place it into the ignition and turn it to position 1 to power the car up. When you get to the main screen, press F2. Press F2. Press F2. Scroll...
MB Star – Reading Error Codes
Plug the MB Star multiplexer box into the OBD port of the car, turn on the laptop and boot up DAS. Press unlock on the key, place it into the ignition and turn it to position 1 to power the car up. When you get to the main screen, press F2. Press F2. Press F2. Scroll...
451 Heater Blower Failure
For some unknown reason, the America cabin heater blower fan fails. I have yet to see this happen outside of the US.
Airbag Connector Maintenance
More often than not, air bag fault lights are bought on by the seat side air bags
Airbag Connector Replacement
The seat side airbag connections are poor and cause airbag errors so let's change them for better ones
Key Button Replacement
Key Tactile Switches The 450, Roadster and original Forfour use the same tactile switches on the key PCB. As with most things these days, they are probably the cheapest parts they could find for the job. They are low quality, have no internal dust protection and are...
450 Keys Stopped Working
Both Keys Don't Work When I say "don't work", I mean nothing. Not even the indicators flashing 9 times. Sometimes both keys will be temperamental but both will either not work at all or work OK. Firstly, check that both key batteries are OK by fitting new ones (not...
451 Throttle Body Wire Fault
A new fault is appearing on the 451 that can be fixed before it occurs
Spanner & Gear Indicator Flashing
1 or 2 spanners flashing and the gear indicator also flashing, what could it mean?
Wiring Repair Connectors
Repair Wiring Kits Repair kits are normally the plastic housing populated with terminals, each with a length of wire crimped to each terminal. The colours of the wires will mainly match up with a few exceptions. The idea with these repair kits is that the faulty...
Canadian E-Box Failure
Only Canadian Smart 450s Need Apply This is one of those faults that only affects 1 type of car. Strangely it only affects 450s in Canada. This fact becomes less strange when you realise that the part that fails is only fitted to Canadian 450s. Of course, that does...
451 AC Temperature Sensor
The cabin heater box contains a hidden temperature sensor that the car uses to control the air conditioning. It cross references the heat reading from this sensor and the IR sensor in the heater controller so it can decide how much the air conditioning needs to run...
Auto Button Switch Test
Not only can the plastic button snap, the actual switch can fail too. Both will stop you selecting auto
451 Licence Plate Bulbs
How to change the bulbs that illuminate the licence plate at the rear of the car.
Disconnecting The ECU
Sometimes (not often) you might need to remove the ECU, either for sending off to get it remapped or to re-site it elsewhere if you fit a different airbox
Heated Seats Not Working
The heated seats on the 450 and Roadster seem to have a few common faults that stop them working.
These faults haven't appeared on the 451 yet but if they do, these fixes should help too.
Dim/Dead Headlights
Headlights stop working but for more than 1 reason.
Wires Though The Fortwo Bulkhead
There are times when you need to run wires from the inside to the outside of the car. How to do it but keep the water from coming in?