Hi all,
I thought maybe this would be the place to go to see what can be done about my mom’s situation. For context, last year, in Nov 2022, my mom bought a used, 2018 Smart ForTwo EQ for around 20k. Just a week or two ago, she calls me to tell me her car won’t start, so I ask her to show me what it says, she video calls, and I see something similar to a High Voltage battery error. So we get it towed to her house, and she makes an appt with the Mercedes dealership she bought it from. FF to today, they tell her that it’ll be 23k to replace the battery. Anyone here who might be able to help me figure out what her next steps are? She doesn’t have anywhere near that kind of money on hand, and neither do I.
There is no federally mandated EV battery warranty at this time. This has been beaten to death in this sub. The California warranty you are referring to is for PZEV vehicles: partial zero emission vehicles with engines.
The beaten do death warranty wasn’t in place when the vehicle sold as new. I mentioned that a few times myself. I misspoke about the California warranty; odd that it excludes EVs though. Anyway, the buyer seems to be in the hook for repairs in this case.