Harley-Davidson has sold over 308,000 touring and trike motorcycles since 2008, and now they want every one of these bikes back.
It’s not because the owners were so bad their toys needed to be taken away; it’s because all the Harley-Davidson touring and trike motorcycles manufactured between June 6, 2008 and September 16, 2011 had a design flaw that could lead to rear brake failure.
Anyone who has purchased an affected motorcycle from an authorized dealership will receive a letter notifying them of the defect and urging them to bring their motorcycle in to have the rear brake light switch replaced, free of charge.
The company has shipped rear brake light switch kits to its dealers with the expectation that most of the defected motorcycles will start coming in for repairs during the week of October 31st. Even now, some dealerships are already up to their necks in recalled motorcycles.
The announcement does not seem to faze some owners of the touring and trike motorcycles listed in the recall press release. They claim that their brakes have been working fine all along, and they do not plan to have anything repaired with the notion that "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it."
Although the recall is voluntary, the owner of Milwaukee Harley-Davidson, Chaz Hastings, believes that everyone should take preventive measures, whether necessary or not. "Anytime there's been a safety recall on something, you should take it seriously because the motor company said these are issues that are out there," he said.
Robert Fung, a mechanic who hails from Chicagoland, thinks that bringing a motorcycle that runs just fine to the local dealership to have a perfectly good part replaced is both time-consuming and unnecessary. “From what I understand,” he said, “federal recall campaigns do not expire. They last for an indefinite period of time. Your motorcycle may have been running well since you bought it, but five years later, your motorcycle might finally start having the issues listed in the recall. You can always take it in and say, ‘Hey, remember that recall from 2011? My bike’s having that problem.’ They’d get it fixed free of charge, no questions asked.”
People who agree with Hastings would argue that should the defected part ever malfunction while a rider is operating his/her motorcycle after the recall has been issued, the rider would be at risk for serious injury or even death. As the famous saying goes, “Better safe than sorry.”
If a rider is in doubt about bringing their affected motorcycle in due to limited time, transportation issues, or any other reason, they might want to do some research on the details of the recall. How many motorcycles have failed due to the defect? What are the chances of their own motorcycle experiencing the same incident? How well do they know the part(s) specified in the recall? Are they able to inspect it on their own? If the part(s) fails while the motorcycle is running, how dangerous would it be?
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