BMW Motorrad has issued a safety recall for some bikes. These include the R 1250 GS, R 1250 GS Adventure and R 1250 RT sold in North America. According to the recall, under specific scenarios, the gearbox input shaft could get overloaded. This could result in the shaft breaking, which could block the rear wheel. This might increase the possibility of a crash.
Timeline of the events that prompted this recall action by BMW Motorrad
Back in October 2022, the first case of the broken input shaft, which blocked the rear wheel, was reported by a GS Owner. Post this, there were two further reports of such incidents. BMW had by this time started an investigation into the events. However, there was no identifiable cause back then.
Then, in 2022, more such incidents were reported. In two of these, there were crashes. BMW continued its investigation and finally identified the issue. According to the bike maker, whenever there is an abrupt change in the engine speed and the speed of the final drive part, the gearbox input shaft could get overloaded. Hence the recall.
What are the affected models?
All in all, around 18,489 motorcycles are involved in this recall. This means all the bikes sold in North America. The affected bikes include 6,812 units of the R 1250 GS manufactured between September 19, 2018 and December 14, 2022, 9,401 R 1250 GS Adventure bikes produced between October 10, 2018 and December 14, 2022 and 2,276 R 1250 RT bikes which left the assembly lines between July 19, 2018 and December 2, 2022.
What should the affected owners do?
BMW Motorrad has told the owners to not ride these affected bikes. They should instead visit the local BMW dealer for this service action. The company has also notified its dealers to stop selling these affected models. The solution involves updating the software in the engine control unit of the affected units.
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