[ValknMag]

Re: I can almost hear the giggles from here!

I don't like frivolous lawsuits, either, but I take issue with your sentence, 'If you notice, the engines aren't failing but they are being sued for "the potential" of failing and 100,000 is the number THEY say. '

Motorcycle Consumer News has printed letters from those whose bikes _have_ failed, due to the design flaw. The reason the lawsuit was reinstated was that the judge determined the plaintiffs didn't have to experience failure, only the potential of it, to prove they have a defective product. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems fair to me that if they made 100,000 engines of this type and a statistically significant number of basically identical engines have failed, the 100,000 owners of those engines are entitled to compensation.

 

[ValknMag]

Re: I can almost hear the giggles from here!

I doubt anybody--lawyers, dealers, Harley, anyone--really has a reliable count of the failures. I actually think 100,000 would be a low ball number. HD sold about 200,000 bikes last year alone. Wasn't the whole (or nearly whole) production run of TC-88's produced using the same components? Wouldn't that mean they're all subject to an increased failure rate? Also, 'statistically significant' is a number I would hate to define, because I understand the problem could result in engine lockup--a life-threatening situation. Two reported problems on an airplane can ground all of a given model worldwide, because it is a life-threatening situation. Ford is having problems with all it's Focuses because of engine shutdown, and I think they had about 60 documented cases, but having a car's motor shut down on the highway is not as bad as a bike locking up. So, let's say somewhere between 2 and 60 reported failures is enough. I had heard Harley would fix failed motors, but I didn't know about the 'life of the owner' part. Does that mean original purchaser only? What's that going to do to resale?

Like I said, I don't support frivolous lawsuits, but personally I see the merit in this one.