I just got a Smart — now what?

Every chassis Mercedes built — 450, 451, 452, 453 Fortwo and Forfour, plus the 453 EQ electric variant — has its own quirks. Decode your VIN or pick year + model and we'll route you to the right new-owner guide.

Have your VIN handy?

17 characters. Driver's door jamb, lower windshield, or your registration. Decoded in your browser — nothing is stored.

Pre-2008 European Smarts (450, 452, 454) often don't decode in NHTSA — use the picker on the right.

Don't have your VIN?

Pick the year and which body. We'll figure out which chassis it is.

Not sure what you have?

The chassis code is the easiest way to think about it. Here's the cheat sheet:

1998–2007 — 450 Fortwo (1st gen, reverse-mounted engine, soft top common in Cabrio).
2003–2006 — 452 Roadster (Roadster / Roadster Coupe — sportscar styling, mid-engine).
2004–2006 — 454 Forfour (1st-gen Forfour, badge-engineered Mitsubishi Colt).
2007–2015 — 451 Fortwo (2nd gen, single-clutch automated manual, wide US distribution 2008–2015).
2014–2021 — 453 Forfour (2nd-gen Forfour, EU-only, Renault Twingo platform).
2015–2024 — 453 Fortwo (3rd gen, twinamic dual-clutch, US 2016–2019).
2017–2024 — 453 EQ (Fortwo Electric Drive, 58 mi EPA range).

The 2023+ smart #1, #3, and #5 are a different brand under Geely — Tesla-fighter SUVs unrelated to the Fortwo lineage. We don't cover them here. For info on those cars, go to smart.com directly.