NHTSA Complaint #10025606 — 2002 DUCATI DUCATI

I HAVE A 2002 DUCATI MONSTER S4. FOR THE SECOND TIME, THE BATTERY HAS DEVELOPED A LEAK, AND SPILLED BATTERY ACID DOWN THE ENGINE AND SPLATTERED THE SURROUNDING AREAS. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF DUCATI OWNERS WHO ARE SUFFERING THE SAME PROBLEMS, WITH THE SAME RESPONSE FROM DUCATI (IN ESSENCE, REPLACING THE BATTERY, WITHOUT ADMITTING AND FIXING THE CAUSE). BECAUSE I HAVE NOT RECEIVED A SATISFACTORY RESPONSE FROM THE DUCATI, I HAVE CONTACTED THE BATTERY MANUFACTURER (FIAMM-GS), WHOSE EMAILS I HAVE INCLUDED BELOW. ALSO, AT THE VERY BOTTOM, PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK TO A INTERNET CHAT GROUP WHERE A NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS (DUCATI OWNERS) ARE SUFFERING FROM THIS SAFETY ISSUE. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (JULY 03, 2003 09:00) HI TOM . AM STILL INVESTIGATING. WHAT I CAN TELL YOU RIGHT NOW IS THAT, FROM A FIRST STUDY WE HAVE DONE, THERE SEEMS TO BE TWO PROBLEMS ON THE S4 MOUNTED BATTERIES:*AK MOUNTING OF THE BATTERY (SIDE MOUNTING) ASSOCIATED WITH ITS LOCATION RIGHT BY THE BIKE HEATING SOURCE. IT SEEMS THAT THIS LEAKING PROBLEM IS DUE TO THE "MOUNTING DESIGN" OF THE BATTERY RATHER THAN ITS QUALITY. IF OUR THEORY IS CORRECT, ALL BATTERIES WOULD HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM IF INSTALLED ON THAT S4 BIKE MODEL. THE DUCATI DEALER WILL BE ABLE TO CONFIRM THIS, AS I AM SURE HE HAS BEEN CHANGING SEVERAL BATTERIES ON HE S4 BIKE AND PROBABLY HAS BEEN USING SEVERAL BRANDS. THE HEATING GENERATED NEAR THE BATTERY GETS VERY HIGH AND THIS PROBABLY IS THE CAUSE FOR THE BATTERY TO LEAK. AS YOU HAVE SAID, THERE ARE NO CRACKS ON THE BATTERY SO IT'S NOT THAT THE BATTERY IS DAMAGED OR BROKEN. INTERESTING ENOUGH, WE HAVE NOT HAD QUALITY OR WARRANTY ISSUES WITH DUCATI, SO IT SOUNDS LIKE DUCATI IS AWARE OF THE DESIGN PROBLEM. WILL PROVIDE ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ASAP. THANK YOU MARINO CAVAGGION HTTP://WWW.DUCATIMONSTER.ORG/CGI-BIN/YABB/YABB.CGI?BOARD=FORUM1;ACTION=DISPLAY;NUM=1056238019 DUCATI S4 MONSTER) *SC *JB