I received a recall on hd ultra classic 2008 ABS system. However about 2 months before the front brake froze up and became non-functional resulting in a very unsafe experience. Will this recall cover this or am I on my own to pay for this failure? I have owned many vehicles in my life and have never had this happen.
2008 Harley-Davidson Flhtcu brakes complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 36 of 36, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While attempting to come to a stop at a traffic signal the rear brake locked up with no warning. Luckily I was going straight and was able to recover the skidding bike before I hit the car ahead of me. I brought my bike the local dealer and the claim the ABS module is bad.no one mentioned to me about the recall.
While approaching an intersection I tried to apply the brakes and the front brake lever would not move. It was locked in place. Luckily the rear brake still worked and I was able to stop. After I stopped and pulled over I was able to get the brake lever to move again. It did the same thing again on the next attempt to stop so I slowly drove home using only the rear brake. I have been riding bikes for 40 years and have never had anything like this happen. I have read on the internet that this is a common occurrence and I would be surprised if it has not caused serious accidents like it almost did for me and my wife. The ABS module has a serious design flaw and should never have been used on any bike! On top of that the dealership wants around $1200 to fix the issue.
While driving home from work on the express way a car changed lanes in front of me to close for comfort. I attempted to apply the rear brake but could not push the pedal down. I swerved and used the front brake to slow down to create space between myself and other traffic. I continued home knowing I only had front brakes. Once home I attempted to push the brake pedal. It would not move. Upon researching this on the computer I found many complaints of this happening to others sometimes the rear brake sometimes the front brake. I took the bike to the dealers for maintenance. What failed was the rear ABS control module. This is the same part listed online by many as failing. One week after taking the motorcycle to the dealer I received a letter from harley davidson informing me that my motorcycle contained dot 4 brake fluid and that it was required to be changed every two years to prevent possible failure. I have owned this bike since new, 2008, and never received a letter from harley before. The dealer confirmed that it was the ABS module that had failed and ordered one. The part that was on my bike is no longer available. (I am assuming because harley knows they are no good). The new part that it has been replaced with will not work on my motorcycle unless I purchase a new electronic ABS electronic control unit also which is in excess of five hundred dollars. When the ABS brakes failed on the highway, they failed in a manner that I had no brakes. Not just no ABS but no brakes on the rear system what so ever. Although harley davidson knows that this part was defective, as it was discontinued and replaced with another part, they blame the consumer by saying the brake fluid was not changed often enough. This was not a gradual failure but sudden. They worked fine that morning. The complete loss of brakes could be fatal.
The front brake lever suddenly became very hard to pull. I knew from other riders experiences with this this same problem that it was probably a problem with the ABS (anti-lock brake system). My harley certified mechanic verified that the ABS module had gone bad. I contacted my local harley-davidson dealer and they told me that ABS module was obsolete and there was no replacement. After several calls to harley customer service I was given two part numbers that should work on my motorcycle. My mechanic has to determine which type of ABS is on my motorcycle and then I have to find a dealer that can get the pert. The motorcycle is still operable but it is questionable whether or nor the ABS is working. Also with the front brake lever very hard to pull it certainly leads to a potentially dangerous situation. I am the original owner of this vehicle and bought it brand new from the dealership. I feel that this condition should have been brought to my attention by the manufacturer and since it involves control and braking of the vehicle should have merited a safety recall or at the very least a technical service bulletin. If I am able to locate the correct ABS module it will cost me $373.71 - $ 481.73 plus labor costs of installation. The motorcycle has 50,000 miles on it is garage kept and serviced on a regular basis. I feel the manufacturer should have warned me of this problem and should have replaced a critical part they knew was going to fail.
On city street applied front brake to slow down to make turn and lever was rock solid. No front brake at all. Abs light was not on. Rear brake worked. Dealer said they had to order ABS module from harley davidson because harley davidson needed the old one to inspect. Bike is currently at the dealer waiting on new part.
Rear brake pedal locked up- no rear brakes- ABS module failed-valve not letting brake fluid to get to rear brake caliper-dangerous situation. Worked fine on the way to restaurant. Came out to leave and no rear brakes.
At the end of august 2016, I was riding my 2008 harley davidson and without warning, my rear brake failed. Thank god, I was in a parking lot, not on the main street. I took it down to the dealership and it took over two hours of labor to figure out that it was the ABS unit that failed. Even the technician was surprised that the ABS light never lit to indicate a failure. I found it strange that ABS failure will disable the braking system. I had an ABS failure on a car before and both system are independent. I am a canadian, and I did report to transport canada the ABS unit itself is $1000, with labor and misc parts, the bill came over $1800. It took over a month to get my motorcycle back, the ABS part was on back ordered. Thanks for your support.
The front brake lever froze up leaving me without any front brakes. It was working normally during a ride with my wife as a passenger, then just froze up. Thankfully it was not at a critical moment and I was able to pull over safely and called aaa for a tow. I had just pulled out of a parking lot onto highway. This bike is equipped with ABS. I still had rear wheel brakes. I looked on internet and I am not the only one this has happened to. Internet seems to think its the ABS. I have an appointment with bruce rossmeyer harley davidson dealer tomorrow.
Riding at 60 MPH started to slow down do to a pulsating rear caliper. Tried to stop with the front one and there was no pressure and squezzed all the way to the end unresponsive. Rear worked, stopped for a minute to check...no lickage and no sign of anything wrong. Started riding again and a minute later was working normal again...happened twice in five days, stop riding it and the dealer pick it up...they can't find the issue....looks like ABS failure.
Vehicle in motion on a city street approaching a red light. I applied my rear brakes and nothing happened. I attempted the rear brakes again, and still, nothing. I then applied my front brakes, this caused loss of control of the motorcycle, and we crashed.
When city driving at 25 MPH on dry pavement, as you are approaching a stop sign and applying the rear brakes if you hit a small bump, the ABS system restricts your braking ability and the motorcycle will roll into the intersection before stopping. This has happened numerous times over the past two years that I have owned this bike.
Rear brake line was worn thru and loss of brake fluid and use of rear brake. The failure was due to the clutch cable in contact with the rear brake line. The vehicle had 64,000 miles at the time of the incident. The failure was when approaching a red traffic light and I was to make a right turn. The stop was made using the front brake.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 harley-davidson flhtcu motorcycle. While driving approximately 50 MPH, the foot brake pedal was applied and the vehicle continued to accelerate. The front brake was engaged in order to come to a complete stop. There was no brake fluid visible on the ground. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that there were air bubbles in the brake lines. The mechanic bled the foot brake lines. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 35,102.
The rear brake will lock up for an instant if you are applying the brake and you hit a bump or over a hole.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 harley-davidson flhtcu motorcycle. While driving approximately 20 MPH and utilizing a hand brake and foot brake to stop, the brakes malfunctioned. The motorcycle rode into an intersection. Upon inspection, it was determined that the brakes were completely non-functional. The motorcycle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the ABS module was faulty. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 36,584. Updated 08/02/16*lj according to the invoice, the brake pedal and lever were hard and the bike would not stop. The technician replaced the ABS electronic controller and hydraulic clutch unit. Also, the brake master cylinder was leaking. Updated 08/15/16.
My front brake lever locked up! No front brakes!! Absolutely no movement at all when applying front brake, with or without bike being started! No ABS light on. The way I understand it (after reviews of many of the same problems with both the front and rear brake doing same as mine, on many different forums), it's due to a defective ABS valve module, that should be recalled. Again, the way I understand it, the ABS valve module is supposed to go into manual mode and I would still have at least some front brakes! I have nothing, none! No warning lights come on, and ABS light operated normally! Being a motorcycle manufacturer, I've got to believe someone there realizes that the front brake is 70% of a bike's stopping power.. Are they waiting for a death toll similar to firestone/explorer rollovers, to be forced to do something to prevent the certain accidents that will certainly be caused do to this?!? This occurred yesterday, when I was about to take the bike out of the garage. Thank god, from driving tractor trailers for 25 yrs, I'm anal about my "pre-trip" inspection, and I discovered it then, rather than on the road when it was needed!!
08 ultra classic anniversary issue. Same ABS lockup on front brakes, as it was moved to other side of basement, when I noticed that I only had about half inch of movement. 3 weeks later, I get ready to ride and the front brake had no movement. Traced back to ABS mod. These valves in the module should not lock out on a mechanical fail, the springs should force the valve spools into open position, piss poor mechanical engineering that will get someone killed if not already happened. The only difference between the two lever tests in that 3 weeks, I ran the motor for 10mins for battery charge after I moved it. I did start it up after, the locked brake, but no change. I'm lucky I checked before leaving home because my house is on a hill. Now after seeing how dangerous this situation could be, I'm thinking about having the ABS system bypassed, until they mechanically re-engineered that dangerous valve module. Besides, after riding for 44yrs before this beauty of a beast, I've hated the ABS system from the beginning. This is from the harley forum - "these "locked pedal or lever" ABS malfunctions resulting in no brake are getting far too common. Please file your experience with the ntsb. These ABS modules need to be redesigned and retrofitted at no cost before people start getting killed."
While coming to a slow stop using both front and rear brakes the foot pedal for the rear brakes felt soft and went down to the floor board. Upon stopping the motorcycle I noticed brake fluid dripping from under the motor. During examination I saw that the rear brake line was leaking at the point where the clutch cable crosses between the motor and the line. The vibration of the motor apparently caused the clutch cable to wear a hole in the rear brake line due to the routing of the two parts.
While riding my 2008 flhtcu at low speeds my front break lever became frozen in place, the lever would not engage the brakes at all. The bike did not display any fault codes. I took the bike to my local dealership and they verified my ABS module had failed and needed replaced. My complaint is, the bike was in good mechanical condition and with out warning I had a catastrophic break failure. I believe this warrants an investigation because of the nature and importance breaks are to riding a motorcycle and how many deaths are due to or future accidents because of this. I have seen online other owners reporting the same issue.
While traveling on an interstate and exiting on the off ramp, I experienced a catastrophic front brake failure caused by a malfunctioning ABS module. The front brake could not be applied. The brake lever was frozen as if it were welded in place.. There was no previous warning prior to this time. I was able to stop the bike using the back brake only and not by a large margin! After the incident the brake lever remained frozen and I have not repaired the problem yet. After a lot of head scratching I was able to determine that the ABS module is not allowing any brake fluid to pass through. This causes the brake lever to freeze.
Complete failure of rear brake. Line failure due to chafing from clutch cable and loss of fluid.
I was operating my 2008 harley davidson flhtcu when I applied my rear breaks only to find I had no rear breaks. I still had my front breaks that worked very well. I have 9,600 miles on the motrocycle. I took my motorcycle to the harley dealer and asked the service writer to check my rear breaks as I told him there were no breaks. The service writer walked out to my motorcycle bent down on one knee under the running board on the right side, pushed down on the break and said you have a pin hole in your break line caused by the clutch cable rubbing on the break line. I had concerned that he knew exaclty where to look and I asked if this was something he had seen before, he answered yes I have seen it a few times and as a matter of fact he just had another one with the same problem, it was a 2003 and he would have to order the part and asked that I bring it back the following thursday. Having been a traffic accident investigator for many years as a motor police officer. I sent an e-mail to harley customer care and got a phone call back and I told them of the problem, the represenative there had not heard of the problem before and I stated I thought they had a problem when the dealer service writer goes to the exact place where the pin hole was. I told him I was concerned if this had happend at least three times at the same dealer it had to be more of a problem and he should check to see how many breaklines had been ordered for the same model. His statement to me was they receive information from dealers all over and if it was a problem they would know about it. I told him not if they are getting varied reasons for the dealership and my concer was no person get injured due to this problem as it is a safety issue and maybe a service notice should be put out to check these lines. He did not appear to be very concerned and this is why I am reporting this to you. Line replaced under extended warranty. I did no keep old part. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)
Front brake rotor found to be warped at 12,946 miles after brake pads changed at 10,163 miles. Only one rotor warped causing a lessening of brake effectiveness. Warping of rotor (s) appears to be on-going harley davidson problem.
2008 harley davidson flhtcu electra glide ultra classic motorcycle has a brake problem. Consumer states that the rear brakes are making a screaming noise. *nj the dealer cleaned the pads without removing them with brake clean. The dealer then replaced the pad pins, but the problem returned 10 miles later.
2008 harley davidson motorcycle defective front brake system. Consumer stated that he got into an accident the day he bought the motorcycle. Mechanic stated that there was nothing wrong with the motorcycle. *kb the consumer stated as he was attempting to stop, he began to gear the motorcycle down from a speed of 35 MPH and began to feather the front brake to reduce speed. The second time he gently squeezed the front brake handle, and it didn't feel completely normal. The third time he touched the brake lever the front brake and wheel completely locked. He immediately released the brake lever grip when the wheel locked. The speed at that time was 5-10 MPH. The consumer lost control of the motorcycle and it went off the right side of the pavement then fell over on the consumers leg. The consumer was told by someone that his bike was equipped with brembo brakes that were considered high end brakes used on exotic cars and racing bikes. The consumer was told the brakes would build up pressure when feathering for a stop, instead of releasing pressure when the lever was released, it would hold the pressure and when enough pressure built up the brake would lock the next time it was touched.
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