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Recall? On all models with Reverse

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Noelpolar said:
Somebody posted this on a Australian R18 facebook place...

Quote: "Fresh of the press, the reverse gear recall has hit Aussie shores as of yesterday!!! I went in today for a service and they said it has to be removed and they just received the notice from BMW yesterday. There's compensation in the form or $1100 worth of accessories or a 3 year/30k kms service package which is currently advertised at $1800. I went with the latter option as accessories are usually cheaper outside.
Edit - BMW is working on a solution which will be available free of cost if and when they come up with it"

My take out is that they can sell a new bike if they remove reverse and sell it as "no reverse with benefits"... but exisiting owner bikes still awaiting a fix.

Like most things.... time will tell (assuming the Russians don't nuke us).

Anyway... I want a working reverse... for my twice a year silly parking mishap.... or maybe my old man skinny legs I might end up with 10 years from now. My reverse worked last time I used it.... but to scared to now.... haha.
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So Saturday September 28th, I stopped in and spoke to my BMW service department to ask about a separate issue and about this recall. I’m located in Massachusetts. They said they found out about the recall that day and they had the sheets describing it in front of me, though I didn’t read it. They said I’d be the first one scheduled to get reverse disabled on my Transcontinental. Their availability was limited with the end of the riding season coming up so I’m getting it done in a little over a week. On the sheets they had it said BMW would offer $1,000 of R18 accessories in compensation. They are going to ask if the offer would include other BMW accessories that aren’t specific to the R18 like clothes, helmets etc. I also asked if like the post above if they’d offer a service package or warranty extension instead of accessories. They’re going to research it and get back to me.
 
Slotheadslim said:
So Saturday September 28th, I stopped in and spoke to my BMW service department to ask about a separate issue and about this recall. I’m located in Massachusetts. They said they found out about the recall that day and they had the sheets describing it in front of me, though I didn’t read it. They said I’d be the first one scheduled to get reverse disabled on my Transcontinental. Their availability was limited with the end of the riding season coming up so I’m getting it done in a little over a week. On the sheets they had it said BMW would offer $1,000 of R18 accessories in compensation. They are going to ask if the offer would include other BMW accessories that aren’t specific to the R18 like clothes, helmets etc. I also asked if like the post above if they’d offer a service package or warranty extension instead of accessories. They’re going to research it and get back to me.
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So they’ll disable the module and provide $1000 credit, but I wonder if they’re doing anything to address the failure and to remedy it. If you disable it and get a credit now, can you go back and have it reactivated when they figure out the issue? Or is this their figuring out of the issue?

Removing the option and giving me $1000 BMW Bucks isn’t acceptable, even if I rarely use the feature. There’s nothing I’d even use it on!

You’d think that, if anywhere, we’d have heard about some of the more severe reverse failings on this forum. I can remember a couple instances of issues, but nothing that seemed dangerous.
 
No recall on my bike as of today. No discussion of switching off my reverse. I’ll let everybody know but I just checked NHTSA
 
BigJimSlim said:
So they’ll disable the module and provide $1000 credit, but I wonder if they’re doing anything to address the failure and to remedy it. If you disable it and get a credit now, can you go back and have it reactivated when they figure out the issue? Or is this their figuring out of the issue?

Removing the option and giving me $1000 BMW Bucks isn’t acceptable, even if I rarely use the feature. There’s nothing I’d even use it on!

You’d think that, if anywhere, we’d have heard about some of the more severe reverse failings on this forum. I can remember a couple instances of issues, but nothing that seemed dangerous.
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My impression was that the dealer thought they’re probably going to come up with a fix and implement it, but they don’t have anything definite right now. I never use reverse so I honestly don’t care all that much. If the ability to use reverse causes some damage to the bike or could injure me, I care about that a lot more. They don’t have to give us $1000 worth of anything so I’ll take it. Admittedly it’s not a great situation, but they’re doing something about it proactively and personally I think that’s a good thing.

Tom
 
Compulsory deactivation of the "Reverse Assist" function and mandatory recall issued in Australia. [ Fantastic, on the eve of a 4000km round trip from Brisbane to the Australian motoGP on Phillip Island in 2 weeks - right when I need the reverse assist most. BMW is offering a 3year extension to the base warranty, or an accessory package of $1,678.00 AUD. Not sure which way to go on that.
 
Aussie-Hoss said:
Compulsory deactivation of the "Reverse Assist" function and mandatory recall issued in Australia. [ Fantastic, on the eve of a 4000km round trip from Brisbane to the Australian motoGP on Phillip Island in 2 weeks - right when I need the reverse assist most. BMW is offering a 3year extension to the base warranty, or an accessory package of $1,678.00 AUD. Not sure which way to go on that.
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Didn't you get a 5 year warranty with the bike? Or did you buy your bike prior to 2023? Others have been offered the 3 year service package.
 
Slotheadslim said:
My impression was that the dealer thought they’re probably going to come up with a fix and implement it, but they don’t have anything definite right now. I never use reverse so I honestly don’t care all that much. If the ability to use reverse causes some damage to the bike or could injure me, I care about that a lot more. They don’t have to give us $1000 worth of anything so I’ll take it. Admittedly it’s not a great situation, but they’re doing something about it proactively and personally I think that’s a good thing.

Tom
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BMW Australia advise that once the remedy has been determined, it will replace and reactivate the "Reverse Assist". Apparently, it is an issue with the potential for a major short within the system that could have a cascade affect throughout the bike shutting down other vital systems at the most inopportune moment (as in at 110kph on the freeway !!!)
 
Maybe we all need to pack fire extinguishers if using the reverse assist...?

I've read in the owners manual, that temperature is one of the issues that can disable the Reverse functionality...

I use reverse after each ride, where I make a U-Turn just in front of my garage, within my narrow driveway - then use Reverse to back my bike into the garage, which is slightly uphill. I've never experienced any issues with the use of reverse. NOTE: my use of Reverse, is extremely brief, maybe 5 seconds worth of continuous run time..

I hope the fix includes long-term future reverse functionality...
 
I understand stopping sales. What's rather confounding is that they haven't been more forthcoming with the people that are actually using their product and hence taking the risks. Obviously not a lawyer but that almost seems to be a class action suit in the making. Esp if people got hurt as a direct result. i.e. they knew and withheld the information from the consumer base.
 
Witsend said:
I understand stopping sales. What's rather confounding is that they haven't been more forthcoming with the people that are actually using their product and hence taking the risks. Obviously not a lawyer but that almost seems to be a class action suit in the making. Esp if people got hurt as a direct result. i.e. they knew and withheld the information from the consumer base.
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I suppose if there were known risks that impact rider safety that there'd be some urgent communication put out to owners. A stop sale isn't necessarily a response to an unsafe vehicle; active recalls stop sales of vehicles that don't have the repair. Further, BMW instituted its own range-wide stop sale a year ago due to something about emissions (which pushed my bike delivery back a couple weeks!)

So, until BMW or the NHTSA say more, we're left to speculate and hope that no one has a catastrophic failure. As I said before, we haven't seen anyone on this page report anything outside of the reverse not working right, so I'm not sure what deeper impact a whole unit failure might have the rest of the bike. But yeah, let's get a fix if there's an issue!

Further, I continue to check on both BMW and NHTSA's recall portals and only see my headlight notice. Staying tuned for updates.
 
The thing that upsets me the most about these recalls is the complete lack of transparency and communication from BMW. I’ve been part of other auto forums where the maker has had social media reps that check-in with unhappy owners. Is it lip service? Probably, but at least someone is listening. BMW shared nothing about the headlight recall, I expect the same now. The forum will be full of speculation until BMW actually does something.

BMW built the R18 to capture buyers from a market dominated by two brands, and do nothing to keep us. I’ll be looking for another bike in a few years, and because of the struggles with the headlight, now reverse, firmware updates dealerships want to charge for, the crappy Connected app, plus limited and overpriced accessories, I will not buy another BMW.
 
BOQ R 18 B said:
The thing that upsets me the most about these recalls is the complete lack of transparency and communication from BMW. I’ve been part of other auto forums where the maker has had social media reps that check-in with unhappy owners. Is it lip service? Probably, but at least someone is listening. BMW shared nothing about the headlight recall, I expect the same now. The forum will be full of speculation until BMW actually does something.

BMW built the R18 to capture buyers from a market dominated by two brands, and do nothing to keep us. I’ll be looking for another bike in a few years, and because of the struggles with the headlight, now reverse, firmware updates dealerships want to charge for, the crappy Connected app, plus limited and overpriced accessories, I will not buy another BMW.
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I feel you! It's a shame, really. The bike, for me, is excellent. But yeah, the things surrounding the bike leave something to be desired. The part that sucks is that if you go with a comparable option from HD or Indian, you're in for a pretty decent load more dough. And from what I gather, even those guys aren't without their recall issues.

It would be lovely for more of a "white glove" experience from the brand so that us owners could work as brand ambassadors. I can speak highly about the bike, but I'm not sure I can do the same for the whole company.
 
I think this recall is a real problem for BMW. For one, the idea that they are going to sell people a bike with an option that adds value, and then disable that option, even if its for a safety issue, is likely to be a violation of consumer protection laws. I think they will ultimately have to find a suitable fix that enables owners to keep their bike with a functioning reverse, or be on the hook for buying back a bunch of motorcycles.

For myself, these are considerably heavier than their Harley and Indian counterparts. I don't know that I would be down to purchase a TC without reverse. It really is one of the top attractive features for me.
 
MN246 said:
I think this recall is a real problem for BMW. For one, the idea that they are going to sell people a bike with an option that adds value, and then disable that option, even if its for a safety issue, is likely to be a violation of consumer protection laws. I think they will ultimately have to find a suitable fix that enables owners to keep their bike with a functioning reverse, or be on the hook for buying back a bunch of motorcycles.

For myself, these are considerably heavier than their Harley and Indian counterparts. I don't know that I would be down to purchase a TC without reverse. It really is one of the top attractive features for me.
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That makes a lot of sense. That was/is a key feature for me buying that heavy of a bike, in fact if it didn't have reverse I doubt I'd be buying it because I can't imagine trying to muscle 800+ pounds up even a slight incline going backwards.

I wonder if BMW is reading this? Be a good outline for them on how to step up their game.
 
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I bought the Model B with the idea that it will most likely be my last bike (I'm getting old, and keep bikes for a long time); my previous bike was a 2008 GS Adventure, which I almost logged 100,000 miles on it (which was my goal). Anyway, I sold it with just shy of 97,000 as my the wife gave me the green light to get a Bagger, and that money was used towards the new Model B.

Again, I like the idea of keeping the bike despite the recall items; it's to be expected, especially with a first introduction of an entirely new model... I would think 2024 Models would have this stuff in the rear view mirror at this point.
 
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