On August 29, 2022, Indian Motorcycle expanded the scope of its 2019 recall regarding a headlight control module on certain 2014 Indian Chief Classic and Chieftain bikes.
The 2022 expansion of this recall now includes certain 2014 through 2020 Indian Heavyweight Air-Cooled Motorcycles, including the Chief, Chief Classic, Chief Dark Horse, Chief Vintage, Springfield, Springfield Dark Horse, Chieftain, Chieftain Classic, Chieftain Dark Horse, Chieftain Limited, Chieftain Elite, Roadmaster, Roadmaster Classic, and Roadmaster Elite.
The issue on all affected bikes is an electrical defect that could result in a sudden and unexpected loss of all forward lighting. Additionally, this defect could cause heat damage to the Vehicle Control Module on affected bikes—and more specifically, Pin 11 of the center VCM connector. Affected bikes were equipped by the factory with halogen headlights and driving lights.
An estimated 28,689 motorcycles are believed to be affected, which Indian says is one percent of the population. The original recall issued in 2019 specified only some 2014 model year bikes. However, since that time, Indian has continued to monitor field data to identify any additional units that could be affected.
In February, 2022, Transport Canada found a similar complaint related to MY15 through 17 bikes, which it forwarded to Indian’s attention. Further investigation into this complaint led to Indian also identifying the potential for a similar problem to exist within MY18 through 20 bikes. As a result, the company expanded its initial recall to include multiple additional models and years of bikes.
Indian Motorcycle notified its dealer network on August 29, 2022. It plans to notify owners of this defect as well, on or about September 2, 2022, via postal mail. The notification to owners will include instructions on how to verify forward-facing lighting functionality on their bikes, as well as information about the timing of Indian’s fix for this problem. The fix will include hardware inspection and may also include a controller module update if necessary. Owners will be notified again once the fix is available to be applied to their vehicle.
All work will be performed at no cost to owners under the terms of this recall. If any owners have had repair service performed to address this issue prior to the recall, they may be eligible to receive reimbursement as long as they can present relevant supporting documentation for their claims. If you are such an owner, you should contact the Polaris Consumer Service Department to inquire further.
Owners may contact Indian Customer Service at 1-877-204-3697. Indian’s number for this recall is I-19-02. Owners may also contact the National Highway 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-635. Please be advised that NHTSA says the new 22V campaign number replaces the old 19V-339 campaign number originally issued in 2019, before this recall was expanded to include additional vehicles.
