BMW of North America has issued a recall on its R1250GS, R1250GS Adventure and R1250RT-P models for an issue with the gearbox input shaft. A total of 18,489 BMW motorcycles, from model years 2019-2023, may be affected by the recall issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

According to the defect report, in certain engine operating and riding conditions, the gearbox input shaft may become damaged or break. BMW has been investigating the issue since 2020 when the company received 3 complaints from owners in Italy and the Netherlands. Another complaint in France in 2021 and 2 more in 2022 in the UK and Czech Republic that resulted in crashes (1 with injuries reported) intensified the engineering investigation. 

After years of not being able to find the root cause, BMW finally concluded that certain riding maneuvers, with an abrupt RPM difference between the engine and final drive, can lead to an overload of the transmission input shaft resulting in its damage. Due to these findings BMW decided to start a new voluntary safety recall on the models listed below.

Models Affected By The Recall

What Could Happen

The NHTSA report notes that a damaged or broken gearbox input shaft can result in a locked rear wheel. Obviously this can lead to critical riding conditions and, as mentioned above, crashes have already been reported due to this issue. 

According to BMW, the failure can only occur in the above listed R1250 models because the software application of the engine control permits significantly higher rev level differences than in the R1200 models.

How to Get It Fixed

Dealers will update the engine control unit software, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed March 10, 2023 but owners may also contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417 and refer to the NHTSA recall number 23V-011. You may also contact the NHTSA Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 or check if your bike is involved in the recall for the US by entering its VIN number at https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls.