BMW of North America, LLC has reportedly announced a recall for its motorcycles sold in the United States for a faulty brake light. The number of motorcycles potentially involved is 4,026 from the brand’s 15 new K-series models that include BMW F 750 GS 2020, BMW F 850 GS 2020, BMW F 850 GS Adventure 2020, BMW F 900 R 2020, BMW F 900 XR 2020, BMW R 1250 GS 2020, BMW R 1250 GS Adventure 2020, BMW R 1250 R 2020, BMW R 1250 RS 2020, BMW R Nine T 2020, BMW R Nine T Pure 2020, BMW R Nine T Scrambler 2020, BMW S1000 R 2019-2020 and BMW S1000 RR 2020.
The BMW models mentioned above are equipped with an emergency brake light feature which makes the brake light flash during emergency braking. According to federal regulations, the flashing brake light is a violation of law in the United States and it leads to confusion among other motorists. Lawfully the emergency stoplight should remain on during emergency braking, also known as ‘Steady Burning’. Due to the coding error, the aforementioned motorcycles are considered non-compliant.
In order to rectify the problem BMW has recalled all the affected motorcycles by launching a recall campaign and the flashing functionality which does not comply with US regulation will be turned off by reprogramming the vehicle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has also advised all BMW dealers to stop deliveries of the said motorcycles until the repairs are completed.
As of 20th February 2020, BMW Motorrad has rectified the problem on the production line and the new vehicles are being produced without the fault. As for the vehicles affected by the recall, BMW will notify its customer who will be directed to take their vehicles to an authorised BMW dealership to get the fault rectified, free of charge. BMW plans to start the notification process from 04th of May 2020.
In recent news, BMW has patented a new safety module which is said to absorb around 1000 newtons of force and save the rider from frontal impact energy.