Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[RickSteeb]

https://ultimatemotorcycling.com/2018/04/12/2012-zero-motorcycles-recall-218-models-recalled-for-potential-short-fire/

Been thinking I should try & sell my 2012 DS... looks like Zero may buy it back!

[Richard230]

Well, that is a real shocker!    But only 218 units being called?  I am pretty sure that Zero made more than that in 2012.    I hope the bike that I gave my daughter is covered by the recall. Now that she has my old 2014 S, she really doesn't need the 2012 and wanted to sell it on the open market - not an easy thing to do, of course.  It would be a lot easier for her if SF Moto drove up to her home in Marin County, picked the bike up and gave her a check from Zero.  That would help to clear out a little space in her garage too - as well as pay for a quarter's worth of a meal plan for the daughter who is attending UCLA and will soon be finishing her education at the Fri University in Berlin.   

This recall is really going to cost Zero a bunch of bucks.  Not only are they going to have to buy the bikes back (maybe $2K?), but paying a dealer to drive who knows how far to pick up a bike is not going to be cheap, either.  Then the bikes will have to be shipped back to the factory and ultimately dismantled and recycled in some way.

I kind of wonder what happens to the 100 units sold to Columbia in December 2012 and the 57 leftover units sold to Hong Kong the following year?

It is expensive to be a vehicle manufacturer nowadays, especially when you are just a small fish in a big pond surrounded by lawyers and government regulators with big teeth. 

[Brammofan]

That Hong Kong  police contract has been quite a headache for Zero. I think they had an issue with  the original specs of the bike saying that the motors must have closed cases, rather than the open case of Zero's motors at the time. So they ended up replacing the motors on all the bikes.  Then, one caught fire due to a short, and they all got taken out of service.

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1993350/electric-motorcycles-belonging-hong-kong-police-catch-fire

I'm wondering if the recall wasn't a result of the Hong Kong situation.  But you're right Richard, it's an expensive problem for a small fish like Zero.

[RickSteeb]

Just wish this recall happened BEFORE I spent $1500 on a BMS circuit board a couple of months ago...  awaiting their buy-back (or trade-in) offer with great interest!

Timing... Zero offered a liberal trade-in on the 2012 models just AFTER I bought my 2013 FX...  :/

[triplerider]

Hi Electric Motorcycle Forum,

As a community of Zero motorcycle owners, we want you to be among the first to know about a recall on certain 2012 motorcycles that NHTSA officially published today. The recall only affects model year 2012 Zero S, Zero DS and Zero DSP models. The official recall notice is posted here:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=18V215

If you own a Zero that is any model year or model aside from the 2012 Zero S, Zero DS and Zero DSP models, then you will not be affected by this recall.  If you do own one of these affected models, and we have your info on file, then you should be receiving an official letter from us. We are coordinating with NHTSA on finalizing the official customer notification letter and will mail these no later than April 30. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please email us in North America at 2012-recall-na@zeromotorcycles.com or in Europe at 2012-recall-eu@zeromotorcycles.com. We appreciate your commitment to Zero over the last 11 years of riding. Specific to our owners of 2012 Zero S, DS and DSP models, you were among the earliest adopters of our motorcycles and are a critical part of the electric motorcycle movement.  We remain committed to providing the best service possible to our consumers and are working to make the recall process as simple and straightforward for you as possible.   

Sincerely,

Chris Langlois
Zero Motorcycles Customer Experience Team

[Richard230]

Thanks Chris, I will pass that information on to my daughter who now owns my old 2012 ZF9 Zero S, manufactured in December 2011, if I recall correctly.

[keith burton]

I hope they offer more than $2000 dollars for them. The cheapest I have seen one advertised at is $4500 on cycle trader at the moment. I am in the UK and they are very rare over here I own a 2012 ZF9. We are not so strong on legal corrections over here but I believe this is a world wide recall. I enjoy mine very much it only has 6000 miles on it. A huge price difference to a new one from trade in value.

[Electric Terry]

I think its best to trade them all in at this point towards a newer model Zero.  I'm not sure if the Hong Kong situation a couple years ago is related, but it only makes sense it could be.  That being said, take caution if you still own one perhaps.  All I would say is email Zero at the address posted right away and see what they say.  For most 2012 owners this should be actually viewed as a good opportunity to upgrade to a newer bike.  It's unfortunate for Zero, but perhaps best for them and their customers overall in the long run to get lots of legacy bikes off the road and just focus on 2013 and up models which are all basically the same platform and frame and bodywork.   I say that but it does not affect any 2010 and 2011 bikes that might still be out there, just 2012 S and DS models.  Well DSP models too, but I don't think that relates to any of us here but might.

[ColoPaul]

Wow, wild news.

When they offered to buy back the 2010/11/12 bikes for trade-in-credit on 2014's they were offering $8000 for a S/DS9 and $6000 for a S/DS6.   Of course "trade-in-credit" is not cash; and that was years ago.

According to the VIN ranges listed, they made about 800 bikes in 2012, so I guess we have about a 1-in-4 chance of owning one of the affected ones.

It also makes me wonder: Even if your bike isen't listed in the recall, should you trust it?  I charge mine in a garage, and a fire while charging would be a real mess.

[Electric Terry]

According to the VIN ranges listed, they made about 800 bikes in 2012, so I guess we have about a 1-in-4 chance of owning one of the affected ones.

The document states that the VIN's are non-sequential and I understand why now.  I don't believe there are any 2 bikes out there with the same last 5 digits.   But different models could have a different previous sequence.  For instance 538SM**CCA00001 or 538SD**CCB00001, either could be the case, but not both.  So they would skip numbers if the last 5 digits were used with a different model.  That's why you can't add them up.  NHTSA calls this non-sequential.

Also I don't think the NHTSA recall identifies all bikes in Europe and Worldwide, just North America.  So that is why it's 218 bikes on the list and not more.

So instead of there being a 1 in 4 or 25% chance your 2012 Zero S, DS or DSP is affected, I think it is closer to 100%.

But email Zero to double check and they can tell you for sure.

[ColoPaul]

Oh!  I see what you're saying Terry, thanks for pointing that out.   So I guess they only sold ~200 bikes (in the US) back in 2012.  Hmmm.

I did email Chris and he said quit riding immediately, so I guess now there's nothing to do until we get the official offer from Zero on "repurchase/trade in".

Kindof sad.  I've grown attached to my 2012, one of the reasons I turned down the 2014 trade-in offer.  I've done a fair amount of repair on it over the years, and kept it garaged so it's really in floor room condition - aside from some battery capacity loss.

[Richard230]

I spoke to my daughter about the recall and she said that there is nothing wrong with her Zero and she likes riding the 2012 as much as riding the 2014 model. (She tends to get emotionally attached to her motorcycles.) I told her to not ride the bike, contact Zero and wait for their letter. But she says that the bike is now over 6 years old and has never had a problem so she doesn't see what the issue is.    I have a feeling that Zero is going to have trouble recalling and accounting for all of the 218 Zeros on their list.

Personally if it was still my bike, I would be happy to sell it back to Zero as (you may have discovered) selling an old Zero on the open market, or trading it on to a dealer for another brand is not the easiest thing to do.    I always say, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. 

In a slightly similar story: Yamaha sold a bunch of 49-state legal first-year 2001 FZ1 bikes in California (a big expensive no-no here), apparently by mistake.  Some CA regulator found out about that issue and ordered Yamaha to recall all 2001 models immediately.  Yamaha sent out official recall notices to the registered owners and told them that they could not ride the bikes and had to sell them back to Yamaha.  I was on the FZ1 forum at the time and apparently most California owners blew them off and kept riding the bikes anyway. I expected that CA would refuse to register the non-conforming bikes when their registrations came up, but if that ever happened, I never heard about it on the forum.  Somehow the entire recall matter just faded away. 

[Electric Terry]

Richard, I can totally understand where she is coming from.  Not a single problem in 6 years so why the recall?  Where unlike the Yamaha recall of 2001, where there were just bikes out there that didn't meet California's environmental requirements, this is very different.

If you read the public recall notice Chris linked above, you will see it is not a thing you can choose to ignore.  Click the NHTSA link above, and read the attached documents to see why this is important to follow.

[Richard230]

Richard, I can totally understand where she is coming from.  Not a single problem in 6 years so why the recall?  Where unlike the Yamaha recall of 2001, where there were just bikes out there that didn't meet California's environmental requirements, this is very different.

If you read the public recall notice Chris linked above, you will see it is not a thing you can choose to ignore.  Click the NHTSA link above, and read the attached documents to see why this is important to follow.

I agree, Terry.  I think the news was just a shock to my daughter and it will take a little time to sink in. Right now she is dealing with other things and didn't really want another issue dumped on her tray. I'll talk to her further about the recall after I do a little more research.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

https://zeromanual.com/index.php/Recalls now tracks this.