Photo: BMW
If often happens for car and motorcycle makers to issue recalls, and that's one of the ways we can all rest assured that we're driving or riding the safest machines possible. Safety-related stop-sale orders are not unheard of either, but they happen much rarely. Stop-sale orders that have nothing to do with safety… Well, I can't really remember when I heard of such a thing last.
It was this week when the American branch of German bike maker BMW Motorrad announced such a move, and it got the industry scratching its head. Let's see what this is all about.
On September 26 the company issued a statement calling on dealers to enforce a temporary, voluntary stop-sale. The order is not limited to a model or several, but it impacts all of the bikes in the dealers' inventory, no matter if they are new or pre-owned. Or should we say 99.99 percent of them, as the CE 04 scooter is not affected by the decision.
The reason for that is simple, and it has to do with the fact the CE 04 is an electric scooter and as such it doesn't have an evaporative system. And it seems it's this system that's to be blamed for the decision, or, more precisely, the material that went into making one of its components.
Without sharing any details on what kind of material we're talking about, or what the component is, BMW hints it may have uncovered a quality issue with this mysterious part, and says it needs time to further evaluate the material.
Whatever the issue may be, the part in question is clearly used across all of BMW's motorcycles, and that includes the ones already on the road. Trying to make sure nobody misreads the stop-sale order, the Germans say people who already ride Bimmers are not at risk, as, again, this is a quality and not a safety problem.
"This temporary stop sale is not safety related and BMW owners may continue to ride their motorcycles as normal," the company says.
It's too early to say what the outcome of the investigation will be, or whether a fix of some sort will be needed. BMW is also unable to say how long the stop-sale will be in effect, so it asks customers waiting for their bikes to be delivered to check in with dealers. It's also unclear how this will financially impact the company.
BMW Motorrad is one of the largest players on the American motorcycle segment, with almost 40 models available to riders at the time of writing. Of them, only one is electric, the CE 04, with the smaller CE 02 expected to arrive in the country soon.
On September 26 the company issued a statement calling on dealers to enforce a temporary, voluntary stop-sale. The order is not limited to a model or several, but it impacts all of the bikes in the dealers' inventory, no matter if they are new or pre-owned. Or should we say 99.99 percent of them, as the CE 04 scooter is not affected by the decision.
The reason for that is simple, and it has to do with the fact the CE 04 is an electric scooter and as such it doesn't have an evaporative system. And it seems it's this system that's to be blamed for the decision, or, more precisely, the material that went into making one of its components.
Without sharing any details on what kind of material we're talking about, or what the component is, BMW hints it may have uncovered a quality issue with this mysterious part, and says it needs time to further evaluate the material.
Whatever the issue may be, the part in question is clearly used across all of BMW's motorcycles, and that includes the ones already on the road. Trying to make sure nobody misreads the stop-sale order, the Germans say people who already ride Bimmers are not at risk, as, again, this is a quality and not a safety problem.
"This temporary stop sale is not safety related and BMW owners may continue to ride their motorcycles as normal," the company says.
It's too early to say what the outcome of the investigation will be, or whether a fix of some sort will be needed. BMW is also unable to say how long the stop-sale will be in effect, so it asks customers waiting for their bikes to be delivered to check in with dealers. It's also unclear how this will financially impact the company.
BMW Motorrad is one of the largest players on the American motorcycle segment, with almost 40 models available to riders at the time of writing. Of them, only one is electric, the CE 04, with the smaller CE 02 expected to arrive in the country soon.
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