Indian Motorcycle is recalling up to 2,100 of certain-model 2017-2018 Indian Chief, Chieftain, Chieftain Classic, Chieftain Dark Horse, Chieftain Elite, Chieftain Limited, Chief Classic, Chief Dark Horse, Chief Vintage, Springfield, and Springfield Dark Horse motorcycles.
Some of these motorcycles may be equipped with a European-market E4 compliant, not US-market, halogen headlight assembly. Consequently, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 108, “Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment.”
Indian will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the motorcycle and replace any incorrect headlight assembly, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in November 2017. Owners may contact Indian customer service at 1-877-204-3697. Indian’s number for this recall is I-17-03. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Campaign Number is 17V682000. Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.
European headlights in American made Indians? Hmmmm?
Indian got caught. Tsk Tsk. EU spec light probably cost .77 cents less per unit.
Seriously though, this recall thing has gotten to be way out of control lately.
So they only sold 2100 of the big kahuna chiefs in a year, just asking cause they never give out number of vehicles sold, they don’t specify build dates or vins so there lumping them all together, even double the amount don’t see them lasting,
No pat that’s not at all what that means.
I’m curious to know what makes the EU headlight inferior (or perhaps superior) so that it fails to meet the FMVSS standard. Anybody know the difference?
Every one but Pat got it wrong.What it means is that someone on the line put the wrong bulb in 2100 bikes before the mistake was caught.DOH!
Sorry,I got it wrong.Should have said everyone but Ken got it wrong.
Here is the gov’s official documentation for the recall:
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2017/RCLRPT-17V682-9927.PDF
Nothing sneaky going on, root cause was identified as “The manufacturer of the headlight shipped mislabeled parts.”
I do not know all of the differences between the standards other than the US standards require a standardized test that is not subjective whereas the EU uses the opinions of testers which is not objective.
And obviously 2100 units does not reflect the yearly production (this recall affected bot 2017 and 2018 models so it happened over the course of the summer as the model year changed).
I bought a 2017 Chieftain Elite. I love it so much I would own it without a headlight if I had to. All the criticism is just blah blah elitism. If you have nothing to say but bad shut up and don’ t buy one. Why do you feel empowered to tell others how to spend their own money?
No you were right the first time Greg it was just a Freudian slip hahaha oh take it easy guys I don’t like the new Polaris big bikes the scout/victory octane is ok but the big clunker is a joke it just looks cheap yes I rode one make that two and not impressed no matter who’s name they put on the gas tank, now if you’ll excuse me I have to go finish putting the Lamborghini emblems on my ford Fairmont I’m trying to sell