It needs only one failure to trigger a recall; when I owned a Mitsubishi L200 pick-up truck the steering idler failed on one in Germany.
Every single L200 in Europe was recalled to be checked.
It was a completely isolated icident but the big companies take no chances.

@rtfm. Yes agreed upto a point, and Honda Europe were extremely slow to remedy the situation which to me isn't good enough.

Though thinking about it, perhaps you wouldnt be saying that if it was a panel on your machine flying off and hitting someone might make you bothered.

wozza wrote:@rtfm. Yes agreed upto a point, and Honda Europe were extremely slow to remedy the situation which to me isn't good enough.

Though thinking about it, perhaps you wouldnt be saying that if it was a panel on your machine flying off and hitting someone might make you bothered.

Oh I'd be bothered about both but less so about the dodgy fastener as it's a quick and easy fix. We shouldn't do anything that may endanger others so it's right it's a recall.

Yep that's true, it's an easy fix.

Waldorf wrote:It was a completely isolated icident but the big companies take no chances.

That's not the case with Vauxhall and Opel with the very well known electric handbrake issues. They refuse to admit there is a issue.

Manufacturers dislike having to make recalls because it costs them a lot of money and is bad publicity too. But they're not a bad thing for the owner. I've owned loads of bikes over many years, mostly from new, and have had several recalls on various brands. Can happen to any maker. I've had many cars too and there have been a very few recalls.

I did have a bad experience with a BMW R1200 RT touring bike I had. Within a few days of taking delivery it began to cut out intermittently when moving away from standing with the engine running such as at junctions or lights. This actually proved highly dangerous on a couple of occasions I remember when the engine stalled at critical places like turning right into an uphill road. I just managed to avoid dropping it or being hit by other vehicles.

At first I though it was me messing up throttle/clutch control on a new bike I wasn't used too and stalling it sometimes. But then I considered it highly unlikely as I had been riding bikes, and driving cars, for some 30 years and consequently was not likely to mess up the throttle/clutch balance on moving off after getting used to it which one does pretty quickly.

I mentioned this problem at the first service but as usual with intermittent faults, they found nothing and more or less suggested it must be my fault. So I continued using the bike but never trusted it again when moving off and was always especially fearful when going into a dangerous situation like turning up a hill. I was so fed up with it that I was going to sell it, despite being only a few months old and with very low mileage.

A short time later I received a recall notice which was to fix exactly this problem. Clearly it had not been just me so I took it in and they fixed it. But I still never really trusted it fully and remained annoyed that when I had complained about it, nothing had been done, even denying that the fault was there.

In general, although recalls can happen to any maker, BMW bikes have lost their reputation for supreme reliability which they used to have a very long time ago. That fact enabled them to get away with much higher prices. Now they are no better than any other make on reliability and may actually be worse so anyone considering a BMW scooter, since this is a scooter forum, should not do so on the basis that their quality is any better than any other leading brand. It isn't.

The reason why Vauxhall won't admit as they'll be paying out lots of insurance payouts.