On August 23, 2022, Indian Motorcycle issued a safety recall for all 2019 through 2020 and 2022 Indian FTR 1200, FTR 1200 S, and FTR 1200 Rally bikes due to a faulty coolant junction part that is specific to the FTR platform. This fault may result in hot coolant loss during operation of the motorcycle, which could splash on the rider and/or onto the rear tire. This, in turn, could cause a crash hazard and/or injury to the rider.
Approximately 6,315 motorcycles are believed to be affected, per Indian. The years 2019 through 2020 and 2022 are specified because there were no FTRs manufactured during 2021. The production dates for affected bikes range from January 12, 2018 through August 12, 2022 (minus the 12 months of 2021). Affected VINs range from 56KRTA220K3138832 to 56KRZS25XN4017528 and are non-sequential.
Indian Motorcycle first identified this coolant junction leak during development testing in February, 2022. At that time, the hot coolant leaked from the junction and came into contact with a test rider, who was uninjured. After that incident, Indian began investigating the issue with its component part supplier, and started performing additional testing.
Over the course of this investigation, Indian reports that it identified 64 separate consumer reports of similar leaks at coolant junctions, which included four reports of coolant having come into contact with riders. However, Indian also says that it has so far not received any reports of crashes, injuries, or deaths related to this issue.
Indian Motorcycle’s parent company, Polaris, will inform its dealership network about this issue. It will issue a corrected replacement part, as well as instructions to dealers on how to replace the part under recall, free of charge to owners.
The remedy part “will have been manufactured subject to a material change to increase performance at operating temperatures and reduce manufacturing variation,” according to Indian. Polaris ceased shipment of units with the suspect coolant junction part on August 19, 2022, and will not resume them until the corrected part is available.
Indian Motorcycle dealers will be notified on September 2, 2022. Owners will be notified via letters scheduled for mailing on September 30, 2022. Owners may contact Indian Motorcycle customer service at 1-877-204-3697. Indian’s number for this recall is I-22-04. Additionally, owners may contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) or go to www.nhtsa.gov. NHTSA’s campaign number for this recall is 22V-636.
