BMW Motorrad recalls 700 plus S 1000 motorcycles in this country. Here is why

BMW Motorrad has recalled a total of 754 units of S 1000 motorcycles in the US owing o a settings glitch that could turn off a critical rider assistance setting without any warning. The recall campaign has impacted 270 units of the S 1000 R and 484 units of the S 1000 XR motorcycles, which are from the 2020-2023 model years.

The documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claim that the issue affects the Dynamic Pro mode of the S 1000 R and S 1000 XR motorcycles. The Dynamic Pro mode is a customizable riding aid technology that is included within the Riding Modes Pro feature. Using this technology, the owners of these premium adventure motorcycles can personalize a front-wheel lift-off assistant setting, which applies the traction control system to reduce engine torque, when the motorcycle's onboard computer recognises the front wheel is off the ground. This setting is generally remembered from ride to ride, but following a software update, all settings in the Dynamic Pro feature reverted back to their factory settings. In short, the system got turned off completely.

This means the motorcycle may not behave as the rider expects. NHTSA claims that this could increase the risk of a crash. In fact, this has already caused accidents in the European market.

BMW Motorrad claims to have become aware of this glitch last year after a BMW S 1000 XR was involved in an accident. Similar incidents were reported in Turkey and Belgium in 2022, which prompted the German premium motorcycle manufacturer under the BMW Group to issue a voluntary recall campaign for the possibly impacted models. The automaker has said that it will start notifying the affected owners of the BMW S 1000 models from March 2023.