Transmission Trouble Triggers Yamaha R1 Recall
A soon-to-be-announced recall by Yamaha of its 2015 YZF-R1 bikes in the U.S. and 2016 models in Canada is the result of potential transmission failures due to “inadequate component strength and stress concentration at the gear teeth bottom land.”
A letter dated December 4 being sent by Yamaha to owners of the affected bikes in the U.S. states:
“In affected motorcycles, both second gear wheel and pinion gears in the transmission may break as a result of extremely high stress and/or improper shifting. This is due to inadequate component strength and stress concentration at the gear teeth bottom land. In addition, the third and fourth wheel gears may be deformed or break as a result of excessive stress caused by hard usage. This is due to inadequate component strength. If gears fail, the transmission could lock up, causing loss of control that could result in a crash with injury or death.”
Yamaha’s letter states all costs for parts and labor will be covered under warranty. The work will include replacement by the authorized Yamaha dealer of the transmission assembly with one that includes gears of a different design.
Owners are cautioned in the letter that the procedure takes almost 16 hours to complete and that owners should be aware that the dealer may need to keep the motorcycle longer depending on their current service schedule. For more information from Yamaha, call 1-800-962-7926.
The recall has not yet been announced (as of 12/7/15) in the U.S. by the National Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) though some related product complaints have been posted on its website. In the U.S., the recall is identified in the Yamaha customer letter as recall campaign #990100. Though the recall announcement has not yet appeared, NHTSA has issued a recall campaign number, which is also included in the letter: 15V802.
A similar recall has been announced in Canada by Transport Canada, but that announcement refers to 2016 models only and indicates that 240 bikes are affected. The Transport Canada Recall number is 2015559. For more information, click here.
