4,630 BMW R 18 motorcycles are recalled because a failing seal can let a gear control unit overheat and raise fire risk

BMW of North America has told federal safety regulators that 4,630 R 18 cruiser motorcycles, model years 2021 through 2024, carry a reverse-gear control unit whose seal can fail. The filing, received by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Oct. 7, 2026 under campaign number 26V658000, says a deteriorating seal can let moisture into the unit, and that an overheated unit raises the risk of a fire. Only R 18 bikes fitted with the optional reverse gear are included.

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A seal, a control unit and a fire risk

The R 18 is BMW’s big-displacement cruiser, and its optional reverse gear is driven by a dedicated electrical control unit rather than by the transmission alone. The company’s own defect description, as published by the safety agency, is short and specific: “The seal for the reverse gear control unit may deteriorate and allow moisture inside the control unit.” The consequence line is equally plain: “An overheated reverse gear control unit increases the risk of a fire.”

Neither line describes a fire that has already happened, and the filing carries no accident or injury count. The wording is about a raised risk, which is the standard framing in a manufacturer’s defect report, and the record reviewed for this article does not mention any crash, injury or fire tied to campaign 26V658000. The reported scope is also narrow in one respect that matters to owners: the component category is listed as a power-train seal or gasket, and the recall applies only to bikes with the reverse option installed.

The public record for the campaign is published in the NHTSA campaign record for 26V658000, which lists the 4,630 potentially affected units across four model-year entries, one for each of 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The same filing also appears in the federal recall dataset published by the Department of Transportation, which is where new campaigns surface first, sorted by report date.

A second recall for the same part

This is not the first time the reverse-gear unit has been the subject of a BMW recall. The earlier campaign, 24V716, was reported on Sept. 26, 2024 and covered 5,048 R 18 motorcycles for the same stated cause, a seal that may deteriorate and let moisture inside. Its remedy was a workaround rather than a new part: according to the earlier NHTSA record for 24V716, the reverse gear control unit was disconnected from the electrical system and dealers installed a separate relay between the battery and the unit, free of charge.

The new filing changes the fix. Under 26V658000, “Dealers will replace the reverse gear control unit, free of charge,” and the record adds a direct instruction for riders who already visited a dealer: motorcycles previously repaired under recall 24V716 need the new repair as well. In other words, an owner who had the unit disconnected two years ago should not assume the matter is closed. The records do not explain why the new count, 4,630, is lower than the 5,048 bikes in the first campaign, and no explanation should be assumed.

Reporting on the first recall by RideApart described how the problem would show up for a rider: reverse simply stops working. That outlet’s coverage of the 2024 recall also said BMW had told it the company was not aware of accidents, injuries or thermal events in the U.S. market related to the issue, and it put the production window for affected bikes between June 19, 2020 and July 11, 2024. Those are statements from 2024, and the present filing does not update them.

What owners can expect and when

BMW’s filing says owner letters are expected to be mailed on Nov. 27, 2026. Until a letter arrives, the practical route is a call to BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417, the number given in the record, or a visit to an authorized dealer. The repair costs the owner nothing, and the replacement unit is the same component the recall describes, not an add-on.

Anyone unsure whether a specific motorcycle is covered can enter its 17-character vehicle identification number into the safety agency’s recall lookup tool. The agency cautions that results can lag, because some recent recalls do not yet list every affected VIN, and it advises checking back periodically instead of treating one clean result as final.

Federal rules also set out what the owner letter must say. Under the regulation governing notices, summarized in 49 CFR Part 577, the letter has to describe the defect, evaluate the risk, and state that the defect will be remedied without charge. Owners who receive one should expect those three elements, and a letter that omits the free-repair statement or the risk description is a reason to call the manufacturer or the safety agency.

For riders of 2021 through 2024 R 18 models with reverse, the timeline is therefore concrete: the defect was reported on Oct. 7, 2026, the letters follow on Nov. 27, and the repair is a full replacement of the control unit. Whether the second fix holds up is a question the filings cannot answer yet, and the record gives no hint of how many bikes were already altered under the first campaign. Riders who had the unit disconnected back then may find that reverse has been unavailable on their cruiser ever since, so the replacement restores a function as well as removing a risk.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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