NHTSA Complaint #10456109 — 1998 BMW K1200RS

(NOTE THAT THE INCIDENT DATE AND FAILURE MILEAGE REPORTED ARE APPROXIMATE.) WHEN THE FAILURE OCCURRED, THE TWO ABS WARNING LIGHTS ON THE DASH PANEL FLASHED ALTERNATELY AS THEY NORMALLY DO UPON ENGINE START-UP, BUT DID NOT STOP FLASHING ONCE THE MOTORCYCLE WAS UNDERWAY AS THEY NORMALLY SHOULD DO, WHICH INDICATED A PROBLEM WITH THE ANTI-LOCK BRAKE SYSTEM. AT THE BMW DEALERSHIP WHERE I HAVE MY MOTORCYCLE SERVICED, A TECHNICIAN RAN A DIAGNOSTIC CHECK AND IDENTIFIED THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM AS A FAILED ABS MODULATOR. I WAS QUOTED $2200 FOR A REPLACEMENT ABS MODULATOR AND ABOUT $2300 IN LABOR FOR THE REPAIR, TOGETHER TOTALING THE APPROXIMATE CURRENT VALUE OF THE MOTORCYCLE! VIA HARD APPLICATION OF THE BRAKES I FOUND THAT I COULD LOCK EITHER THE FRONT OR BACK WHEEL, THUS CONFIRMING THAT THE ABS SYSTEM WAS INOPERATIVE. SINCE THE ONSET OF THE ABS FAILURE I'VE BEEN RIDING THE MOTORCYCLE BUT I'M MINDFUL THAT THE BRAKES NO LONGER HAVE THE ANTILOCK FUNCTION. SEVERAL BMW MOTORCYCLE-RELATED ONLINE FORUMS REPORT INSTANCES OF ABS MODULATOR FAILURES OCCURRING ON THE SAME MODEL AND ON DIFFERENT MODELS OF BMW MOTORCYCLES. I'M FILING THIS REPORT BECAUSE APPARENTLY MINE IS NOT AN ISOLATED PROBLEM AND BECAUSE THE COST TO THE OWNER OF REPAIRING AN IMPORTANT SAFETY-RELATED SYSTEM IS UNREASONABLE. *TR