National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Recall of Harley Softails 2018 to 2023

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Some 2018-2023 Harley Softails Could Have Breaking of Rear Shock Hardware. A fastener could break, causing the rear shock adjuster to loosen and increase the risk of a crash. Harley-Daivdson announced the safety recall on 29 August 2023. They filed the same with US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. On motorcycles that have the faulty fitting, the fastener used on a particular style of rear shock adjuster may potentially fracture. If it breaks, the shock absorber may then make contact with the rear tire. This could increase the risk of tire damage, and potentially lead to a motorcycle crash. Approximately 65,224 bikes may potentially be involved in this recall but not all of them may have this fault. Some of the models from 2018 to 2023 use the affected rear shock adjuster whereas some do not. The motorcycles that were produced between June 28, 2017 and August 7, 2023 are potentially at risk. No VIN number ranges are specified in the official safety recall notice. A warning sign that riders and passengers should look out for is any noise that seems to come from under the seat. When you remove the seat and find a loose shock adjuster, that may be another sign of faulty fastener. When shock adjuster makes contact with the rear tire, riders may notice unusual handling and/or atypical tire wear on the rear tire. Since June 2023, a total of 33 Warranty Claims regarding this issue has been recorded. Softails made after 7 August 2023 do not have this problem. Related accessories from Harley-Davidson have also been separately recalled. Owners may contact Harley-Davidson customer service at 1-800-258-2464. Additionally, owners may contact the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) or go to www.nhtsa.gov. NHTSA’s number for this recall is 23V-591. The motorcycle model years, models, […]

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Bikers Inside the Beltway: Holding Common Ground

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Bikers inside the Beltway – with the encouragement and direction of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, since the first Bikers inside the Beltway in 2009, thousands of bikers have met with their elected representatives and educated them about issues of importance to all street riding motorcyclists. Specifically… the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has less than 30 days of their 120-day requirement to report to the Senate and House Committee(s) on Appropriations and answer how the agency may be “conducting activities that encourage states to adopt legislation, regulation, or other policies that unjustly profile motorcycle riders.” The words of former U.S. Representative David Price from North Carolina may well apply to the recent efforts of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation “… Understand that not every battle can be won on the first try and that politics is a matter of striking a balance between … compromising and finding common ground where you can, and fighting where you must.” The MRF found and is holding common ground among the nation’s state motorcyclist rights organization, motorcycle club members, and all freedom loving motorcyclists who, as the Motorcycle Profiling Project demonstrates, are susceptible to being profiled while riding a motorcycle. The MRF’s victories, realized in the waning hours of the 117th Congress in December, should drive home Congressman Price’s words, and demonstrate the positive results when common ground is identified and held. Those victories came from the year-after-year vigilance of MRF members writing, calling, and meeting with members of Congress during the Motorcycle Riders Foundation’s annual Bikers inside the Beltway. Now is the time for you to register to attend Bikers inside the Beltway – May 15 & 16, 2023. As in years past, Bikers inside the Beltway will be dual-faceted to accommodate in-person visits to Congress plus visits to local district offices. To

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What We Know About the 2023 Harley-Davidson X350 and X350RA

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by Dennis Chung from https://www.motorcycle.com Streetbike for Asia and a Riding Academy bike for the US Harley-Davidson held its big 120th anniversary reveal last week, and for the most part, the announcement included the bikes we expected, such as the Nightster Special, and the return of the Breakout with a Milwaukee-Eight 117ci engine. What we also expected to come for 2023 but was not included in the announcement were the X350 and X350RA. Still, despite not being part of the big Jan. 18 announcement, we managed to get our hands on some information confirming more details of the Chinese-built models. The X350 is the product of Harley-Davidson’s partnership with China’s Qianjiang Motors that was first announced in 2019. After some regulatory delays, the QJ-built X350 is finally close to production as a small-displacement model for Asian markets. The X350 and an X350RA variant appeared in Vehicle Information Number data submitted by QJ to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and as we recently reported, Harley-Davidson included the X350RA in its 2023 model year VIN information. Following the Jan. 18 announcement, Motorcycle.com has secured a copy of the X350RA’s official owner’s manual, plus a single image of the model, with clear proof it is intended for use for Harley-Davidson’s Riding Academy. We’ve also briefly got a look at the official parts catalog, confirming some of the differences between X350 and X350RA. The image above briefly appeared on Harley-Davidson’s Service Information Portal, showing a roadster with neutral riding ergonomics and, tellingly, bright orange bars bolted on to either side of the radiator. The owner’s manual includes an illustration of the X350RA from the rider’s perspective, and it offers another view of the radiator guards. The added protection further confirms our suspicions that the “RA” version of the X350 is intended for

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MRF Update: Transportation Funding Unlocked

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This week the House and Senate are tackling a self-imposed deadline to pass funding legislation before government departments and agencies run out of money. To avoid a government shutdown, a large omnibus spending bill is being voted on that will fund government operations through the end of September. Importantly for transportation related projects and programs, the omnibus bill unlocks billions of dollars in funding that Washington red tape has delayed. Lawmakers and transportation officials have been warning for months that full implementation of the $1.5 trillion infrastructure law, which was enacted in November, isn’t possible because government funding is constrained at 2021 levels. So, while the money is actually in the accounts and ready to be spent, transportation agencies are locked out of using a large percentage of the money until this second piece of legislation is enacted. Only in Washington, D.C. does it take two bills, five months apart, to achieve your policy objectives! Lawmakers Focus on Tesla Recently Tesla has come under criticism for its Autopilot and Full-Self Driving (FSD) features, which critics say give the impression to drivers that the vehicles are capable of hands-off operation. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened two investigations into Tesla’s autopilot system and the automaker has launched nearly a dozen recalls in the U.S. Many of those recalls are related to over-the-air updates which allows Tesla to tweak and change its software remotely. Last month, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent a letter to Tesla seeking answers to a series of questions regarding its technology. Included in the letter were questions regarding safety programming, issues related to phantom braking and driver monitoring capabilities. Tesla responded to the letter last week saying in part, “Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD Capability features enhance the ability of our

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National Roadway Safety Strategy Announced

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Thursday afternoon, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced a new national road safety campaign. The plan, known as the “National Roadway Safety Strategy,” comes in response to increased year over year fatalities on our nation’s roadways. In 2020, an estimated 38,680 people died as a result of a motor vehicle crash. Of those, approximately 9% were motorcyclists’ fatalities. What is most alarming about the increase in fatalities, is that the total number of miles traveled on our roads decreased during the pandemic. Americans traveled 13.2% less miles in 2020 than we did in 2019, but we saw a 7.2% increase in deaths. The preliminary numbers for the first 6 months of 2021 are also troublesome. From January through the end of June 2021 an estimated 20,160 people died in crashes. That is the largest number of projected deaths in that time frame since 2006. To combat this trend the plan outlines five key objectives: Safer People: Encourage safe, responsible behavior by people who use our roads and create conditions that prioritize their ability to reach their destination unharmed. Safer Roads: Design roadway environments to mitigate human mistakes and account for injury tolerances, to encourage safer behaviors, and to facilitate safe travel by the most users. Safer Vehicles: Expand the availability of vehicle systems and features that help to prevent crashes and minimize the impact of crashes on both occupants and non-occupants. Safer Speeds: Promote safer speeds in all roadway environments through a combination of thoughtful, context-appropriate roadway design, targeted education, and outreach campaigns, and enforcement. Post-Crash Care: Enhance the survivability of crashes through expedient access to emergency medical care, while creating a safe working environment for vital first responders and preventing secondary crashes through robust traffic incident management practices. The recently passed infrastructure bill has components and funding to

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MRF update: Highway Bill Passes – a Year Late

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November 5, 2021 Highway Bill Passes… a Year Late After a 13-month delay and enactment of three separate extensions, Congress finally passed a surface transportation reauthorization bill. This bill, sometimes called the highway bill or the infrastructure bill, has been a hotly debated topic in D.C. for several years. Once signed by the President, the bill will reauthorize many highway programs, provide funding for road and bridge construction and replace the previous highway bill passed in 2015, known as the FAST Act. Just a week ago, Congress gave itself a third extension running into December. Yet election victories by Republican candidates, especially a win by the GOP in the Virginia governor’s race, seems to have spooked Democrats, and motivated passage of a bill that has been awaiting a vote since the summer. For the last two years, the House of Representatives and Senate have battled over transportation priorities and funding levels. In both 2020 and 2021, the House of Representatives passed versions of their highway bill, only to be rebuffed by the Senate. Under pressure from President Biden, the Senate finally acted, passing in August a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. This action by the Senate, effectively forced the House to accept the Senate version of the bill or continue to pass short term extensions of current law. However, pressure from the left wing of the Democratic party delayed a vote on the Senate’s infrastructure bill until an unconnected piece of legislation, referred to as the “human infrastructure bill,” was agreed to. That bill, called “Build Back Better,” had an original price tag of $3.5 trillion and effectively held the infrastructure bill hostage. After months of debate, and Tuesday’s election results, House Democrats agreed to vote on a smaller Build Back Better bill later in the month, opening the door to

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NHTSA Report on Tesla Crashes

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MRF Flash Alert – Tesla Crashes The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) wrote, in a document released Monday, that it has identified 11 crashes since 2018 in which a Tesla vehicle using the company’s driver assistance system, struck one or more vehicles involved in an emergency response situation. Four of those crashes occurred in 2021. NHTSA now plans on studying the Advanced Driver Assistance System, otherwise known as “autopilot,” in the nearly 765,000 Tesla vehicles produced between 2014 and 2021. For several years, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF), in cooperation with our state motorcyclist rights partners, have warned of the need for increased oversight of this new technology. Allowing vehicles to be deployed on our nation’s roadways, that cannot adequately detect and respond to all roadway users, is dangerous. Regulators and auto manufacturers should work together to ensure tragic crashes, like the ones found in this report, never happen again. To read the brief report from NHTSA on the Tesla crashes click here. About MRF: http://mrf.org

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Harley-Davidson recalls over 31,000 motorcycles

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by Rich Kirchen from https://www.bizjournals.com Harley-Davidson voluntarily recalls over 31,000 motorcycles over potential headlamp failure Harley-Davidson Motor Co. said it is voluntarily conducting a safety recall involving the headlamp shields on certain model year 2019 through 2021 Sportster models. The recall includes over 31,000 Harley-Davidson Sportsters on which the headlights could fail, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documents reported on autoblog.com. The recall also includes fewer than 1,000 headlight assemblies possibly sold as replacement parts on the Sportster from 2005 to 2019, the Softail and Dyna from 2005 to 2017 and the V-Rod from 2005 to 2011. “This is a voluntary recall announced by Harley-Davidson in the interest of our customers’ safety and satisfaction with our motorcycles,” a Harley-Davidson spokesperson told the Milwaukee Business Journal Wednesday via email. “The service will be performed at no cost to customers.” Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) said it will begin notifying customers on or about Wednesday. Customers with the motorcycles should contact an authorized Harley-Davidson dealer to schedule an appointment for the service, the company said. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documents reviewed by autoblog.com state that the headlight assembly on the vehicles has a shield over the headlight bulb. That bulb shield can cause the bulb itself to get hot in the wrong areas and potentially develop a hole and burn out the filaments inside, making the light useless. There have been no reports of crashes or injuries related to this issue, according to NHTSA documents. The entire motorcycle isn’t being recalled; it is the headlamp shield that is actually being voluntarily recalled, the company spokesperson said. The company’s solution involves replacing the shield in these headlight assemblies to ensure the issue doesn’t come up, autoblog.com said.

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