ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2012 and older => Topic started by: protomech on July 19, 2012, 05:30:08 AM
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Zero has issued 4 recalls in the last few years for its street motorcycles. NHTSA does not cover off-road motorcycls, so pre-2011 X / MX, 2011 X and MX without street kits, and 2012 MX are not covered.
Late 2009 / Early 2010 misaligned brake pads (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/results.cfm?rcl_id=11V282&searchtype=quicksearch&summary=true&refurl=email) - 160 total S and DS bikes recalled
2011 / 2012 brake light switch (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/results.cfm?rcl_id=12V307&searchtype=quicksearch&summary=true&refurl=email) - 450 S, DS, X, XU, XD/MXD (street kits for X/MX (http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/IRC-30-Qualified-Electric-Vehicles---Zero-Motorcycles)) bikes recalled
2012 BMS weather-proofing (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/results.cfm?rcl_id=12V310&searchtype=quicksearch&summary=true&refurl=email) - 254 S, DS, X, XU, XU-LSM (low speed model for canada) bikes recalled
2012 S/DS Encoder Drift (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/results.cfm?rcl_id=12V455000&searchtype=quicksearch&summary=true&refurl=email) - 315 S, DS bikes recalled
2012 / 2013 controller glitch (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchResults?searchType=ID&targetCategory=R&searchCriteria.nhtsa_ids=13V635000&refurl=email) - 667 XU, S, DS, FX bikes recalled
The 2009 S and DS bikes were announced in April 2009, there were significant delays [1 (http://green.autoblog.com/2009/10/14/zero-motorcycles-delays-shipment-of-2009-s-due-to-overheating-mo/) 2 (http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=717.0)] bringing them to market. The recall covers bikes produced from September 2009 through March 2010, which is probably mostly the 2010 bikes.
160 S, DS bikes produced in the first 3 months of 2010 + a bit of 2009.
196 bikes produced in 2011 (450 - 254).
254 bikes produced in the first 6 months of 2012.
315 S, DS bikes produced in the first 9 months of 2012.
352 2012 XU, 2013 S / DS / FX / XU bikes produced. (assuming production of 2012 bikes stopped in Q4 2012, likely)
Sales are low, but they do appear to be accelerating. It's laughable now to look back at Zero in 2009 (http://auto.ocregister.com/2009/05/05/meet-the-zero-s-a-truly-electrifying-motorcycle/) and their intentions to sell 600 bikes in 2009 and 6000 bikes in 2010.
I'm also not sure if these recalls cover non-US bikes.
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What they don't want to do is over-produce, then have a bunch of 2012s around when the 2013s come out or they might have to discount the 2012s. I will tell you who is good at only producing what they can sell...Triumph. I bought a Street Triple r a couple days ago. Alamo Triumph in San Antonio had 1...a purple one. I had to drive to Austin to pick up the last one Lone Star had. That leaves 1 purple Triple for a service area of over 3 million people. Nobody can accuse Triumph of over-production. You could make a good argument they under-produced though.
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Not sure if these are the complete numbers. So far I have not received the usual recall letter for the brake switch. Or is this a different kind of recall ?
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The Transport Canada road safety recall database shows 44 2009/2010 S and DS models being affected by the brake recall. Not sure if that's in addition to or covered by the NHTSA numbers...
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Good point craigq. Probably these are only US sales. One of the recalls does mention a XU-LSM, which is only referred to by the canadian Zero site (https://www.zeromotorcycles.com/ca/zero-xu/).
manlytom - I haven't received a recall letter for the brake switch either.
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Neither have I received any letters for my 2010 or 2012 DS's except for the front brake mount change on the 2010 DS.
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The recall for brake switch is not for all motorcycles.
My dealer has some recalls of his sold bikes but mine has no brake recall (DS 2012).
But the BMS recall received me today.
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Revived my recall in yesterday's mail 7/20/2012.
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My '12 DS ZF6 got both recalls last week. My "local" dealer is 35 miles away... depending how many chargers he has it could take all day to R&R the BMS board and then fully recharge the thing... logistics are a bear sometimes!
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My Spanish dealer comfirmed the BMS recall this week too. No replacement day clarified yet though.
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I got wind of the recall the evening of July 13, called the dealer the morning of the 14th -- to learn they just got the note from Zero that very day. After a few minutes being on hold while they read up on it, I'm told parts won't arrive until the 30th, at which time they will call me back if needed. I hope the other stuff I ordered will come in too.
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I received both recall notices for my 2012 Zero S last week while I was up in Washington attending a BMW motorcycle rally. I need to make an appointment with my dealer to make repairs. I will post how long it took for them to perform the work when I get it done.
I just made an appointment to have the recalls performed at my dealer this Saturday. I hope they have the repair kits by then. I also hope they have a new turn signal relay, which has been on order for the past month. My dealer said he was going to call Zero this afternoon and make sure the parts would be at the shop by Saturday. I'll be posting on Saturday afternoon to let you know what, if anything, happened and how long it took.
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I only got the one for the BMS, not the brake. My brake light engages pretty late, particularly on the rear, but it's not a big problem.
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I now have both recall notices for my 2012 DS but Harlan (Holly Elect) doesn't have the kits in stock yet.
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I just had both recalls performed at my retail dealer today. My bike was in the shop for 4 hours, but that included them replacing my turn signal flasher relay, in addition to the BMS board and the stop light switch. They had to pull a flasher unit off of one of the bikes in their showroom and install it on my bike, as Zero had not sent the replacement part in time for my service appointment (which I made two days ago). Everything is working great now. :)
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Great to hear Richard!
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Approximately 2.5 months after the last recall for the BMS, Zero has issued another recall for the controller encoder.
In the previous recall, Zero claimed 254 bikes affected, including 2012 S, DS, XU, X, XU-LSM. The actual fix (improved weatherproofing of the BMS pins) was implemented by Zero in its manufacturing line on 4/13, though the recall was not issued until 6/29. Presumably more than 254 bikes had been sold by that date, including some manufactured after 4/13.
In the current recall, Zero claims 315 bikes affected, including 2012 S and DS (twin stator bikes). The recall does not list when the fix was implemented in assembly, though it seems likely that assembly has been put on hold. The recall covers all bikes manufactured before 7/23, though the cause was not positively identified until 9/12 and the recall was not issued until 9/20. Therefore it seems likely that manufacturing was stopped on 7/23, possibly because sales had slowed or because they were already tracking this issue and stopped until the issue was identified.
I should be careful to not confuse sales and production.
Still, let's forge ahead with assumptions.
Assume 80% of the bikes manufactured by 4/13 were S and DS models*. From 12/22/2011 to 4/13/2012, we're assuming 203 S / DS bikes were produced over a span of 3.7 months, averaging out to 55 bikes/month.
* on the owner's thread, we have a total of 25 2012 DS / S (http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=2209.45) owners. 0 2012 X / XU / MX bikes are reported there, though I know we have a few 2012 XU owners that post here. 80% seems like a poor estimate, but it's what I'm going with.
From 4/13 to 7/23, then we assume an additional 112 S / DS bikes were produced over a span of 2.7 months, averaging out to 41 bikes/month.
Who knows how well production numbers match sales numbers, but it seems like production at least has tapered off. Zero may sell 400-500 bikes in total this year, which would represent a doubling of 2011 sales. Not bad.
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I think you are counting US sales only.
So probably you can assume 1/3 more for rest of the world?
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When Zero was having a dealer event, I talked to a guy from Zero, who told me they were producing "in the low thousands". I don't know if he meant "all time total" or "2012 total". Also "low thousands" could mean 1100 bikes, and it could mean 3000 bikes.
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well, thanks for the info. is this verifiable? should i be asking my dealer to do the recall before they ship the new 2012 ds to me 250 miles over the mountains?
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Yes. I added the link to the NHTSA recall to the top of the thread, but it's also in the Glitch thread.
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thank you once again.
my dealer already wrote back, saying that they already had the firmware for the recall repair and could to it quickly.
:)
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How can I figure out if my bike is subject to the recall? The VIN indicates it is bike number 336 for the year (Zero S ZF6 2012). I ordered the bike in early August and took delivery in early September.
Because of a "glitch" with the certificate of origin (no, not that "glitch"), I still have not returned the warranty card to Zero, so I am not sure whether I am on their list for notifications.
Does the recall notice indicate which VINs are affected?
--Karl
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Never mind -- I found the date stamp on my bike -- It's June 2012, so it looks like I am subject to the recall.
--Karl
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Updated the top post with the latest 2012/2013 recall.
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchResults?searchType=ID&targetCategory=R&searchCriteria.nhtsa_ids=13V635000&refurl=email (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchResults?searchType=ID&targetCategory=R&searchCriteria.nhtsa_ids=13V635000&refurl=email)
Looks like 352 bikes were produced in 2013 + all 2012 XU bikes, at least for US service.
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Don't forget, they supply a ton of bikes to police dept. all over the world. The guys were just down in South america doing a tour teaching about maintenance and service as well as checking up on the bikes. So they have a lot more sales than just US reports.
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How can I figure out if my bike is subject to the recall? The VIN indicates it is bike number 336 for the year (Zero S ZF6 2012). I ordered the bike in early August and took delivery in early September.
Because of a "glitch" with the certificate of origin (no, not that "glitch"), I still have not returned the warranty card to Zero, so I am not sure whether I am on their list for notifications.
Does the recall notice indicate which VINs are affected?
--Karl
If my understanding of the issue that has been fixed is correct, then this has fixed a fundamental software fault in Sevcons SinCos encoder code for the controller. If so then the recall will affect every Zero motorbike that uses the Sevcon and Sincos encoding on the motor. If this is the case then other manufacturers using this tech should also be considering a recall too.
Zero appear have done the EV world a good turn by fixing this fault.