Photo: Harley-Davidson
On June 10th last year, the Technical Subcommittee within Harley-Davidson started investing reports of brake lamps remaining illuminated on a few motorcycles produced for the 2020 model year. The Milwaukee-based company engaged the supplier, sourced parts back from the field, and enlisted the support of H-D Engineering to identify the root cause.
Based on the low frequency of incidents and the fact that said condition may be corrected by itself, the Technical Subcommittee closed the investigation on October 28th last year. Harley-Davidson was too optimistic for its own good, though, reopening the investigation on May 12th this year after receiving data that indicated a higher occurrence rate.
After the company reviewed the updated warranty and customer contact records, a software change was implemented at Harley-Davidson assembly plants. The update was designed to eliminate this problem in future production, yet the TSC still elected to monitor this issue monthly.
The issue was moved back to active status on September 2nd, after which the issue was escalated to the Field Action Committee and Executive Decision Authority. A couple of meetings later, Harley-Davidson approached the Office of Defects Investigation within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to discuss the unintended brake light illumination that affects nearly 200,000 motorcycles and trikes.
Better late than never, and most likely convinced by the safety boffins at ODI, the company authorized a recall. As the headline implies, the remedy comes in the guise of a software update. What’s more, dealers have been instructed to install a new pressure switch on affected three-wheelers.
Motorcycles and three-wheeled vehicles produced from June 24th this year feature the updated software. Owners of affected motorcycles and trikes will be notified by first-class mail no later than November 2nd.
Affected motorcycles include Touring and CVO Touring vehicles manufactured from 2020 to the 2022 model year between July 2nd, 2019, and June 23rd, 2022. As for the affected Trike and CVO Trike vehicles, make that 2020 to 2022 models produced between July 6th, 2018, and June 23rd, 2022.
After the company reviewed the updated warranty and customer contact records, a software change was implemented at Harley-Davidson assembly plants. The update was designed to eliminate this problem in future production, yet the TSC still elected to monitor this issue monthly.
The issue was moved back to active status on September 2nd, after which the issue was escalated to the Field Action Committee and Executive Decision Authority. A couple of meetings later, Harley-Davidson approached the Office of Defects Investigation within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to discuss the unintended brake light illumination that affects nearly 200,000 motorcycles and trikes.
Better late than never, and most likely convinced by the safety boffins at ODI, the company authorized a recall. As the headline implies, the remedy comes in the guise of a software update. What’s more, dealers have been instructed to install a new pressure switch on affected three-wheelers.
Motorcycles and three-wheeled vehicles produced from June 24th this year feature the updated software. Owners of affected motorcycles and trikes will be notified by first-class mail no later than November 2nd.
Affected motorcycles include Touring and CVO Touring vehicles manufactured from 2020 to the 2022 model year between July 2nd, 2019, and June 23rd, 2022. As for the affected Trike and CVO Trike vehicles, make that 2020 to 2022 models produced between July 6th, 2018, and June 23rd, 2022.
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