As a new generation of automotive materials, smart materials provide new research directions and design ideas for the realization of automotive lightweight and intelligent design goals. In order to further promote the research process of smart materials for automobiles, this paper reviews piezoelectric materials, magnetorheological materials and shape memory alloys respectively, describes the special properties of various materials, and systematically summarizes domestic and foreign research achievements in important research fields such as automotive energy recovery, structural vibration suppression, sensors, actuators, and safety protection. Finally, the challenges of commercialization of smart materials for automobiles are analyzed, and the directions of future research are pointed out.