The mounting hardware is said to be faulty on 1.85 lakh Harley-Davidson bikes and could result in the saddle bags falling off increasing the risk of a crash.
In a recent report submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the US, Harley-Davidson has issued a recall of 1,85,272 motorcycles over faulty saddlebag mounts. The recall involves motorcycles including the 2014 and 2015 Road King, Street Glide, Ultra Limited, Police Road King, Electra Glide Ultra Classic, Police Electra Glide and CVO Ultra Limited bikes. Also affected by the latest recall are the 2014 CVO Road King and the 2015 Electra Glide Ultra Classic Low, Ultra Limited Low, Road Glide, CVO S motorcycles.
The actual problem is that of a spring wire in the saddlebag mounting receptacle on some models, which may not be able to maintain adequate tension and increased the chances of the saddle snapping and falling off. The issue came to light after the manufacturer received several warranty claims and the matter was put into the investigation in January this year. Harley’s engineers finally diagnosed the issue in June leading to a subsequent recall. The affected bikes though are specific to the US market as of now and it isn’t clear if the models exported have the same issue or not.
At present, Harley-Davidson is contacting the affected customers to replace the receptacles with updated ones free of charge. The automaker also confirmed that there were no injuries or crashes reported due to the faulty component. This isn’t Harley’s first major recall this year, the company had announced another major recall back in April involving 54,000 motorcycles that had a faulty clutch master cylinder and an incorrect rear reflector assembly.
