Harley-Davidson is recalling 21,643 touring bikes that can show neutral while still in gear

Harley-Davidson has told federal safety regulators that 21,643 of its 2026 touring motorcycles carry an engine control module that can report neutral while the transmission is in gear. The company’s filing says the bike can then move forward unintentionally, which raises the risk of injury. Owner letters are expected to be mailed on Nov. 16.

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The fix is a new gear position sensor, installed free at a dealer.

The nine touring models in recall 26V730000

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration record for campaign 26V730000 lists nine model codes, all model year 2026: FLHXLSE, FLTRXSTSE, FLHXSTSE, FLHXSE, FLHXL, FLTRXP, FLTRX, FLTRXL and FLHX. The record shows the report was received on Nov. 3, the date the system prints as 03/11/2026, and files the problem under the engine control module component.

Harley-Davidson’s own recall number for the campaign is 0194. The agency’s record flags the recall as neither a park-it nor a park-outside notice, and it is not marked as fixable by an over-the-air software update, so every repair needs a shop visit.

Harley’s own model names for four of the codes appear in RideApart’s recall tables: the FLTRX is the Road Glide, the FLHX the Street Glide, the FLTRXL the Road Glide Limited and the FLHXL the Street Glide Limited. The record’s remaining codes, including the FLHXSE, FLTRXSTSE and FLHXSTSE, are listed only by code, and the filing does not break the 21,643 bikes down by model, so a rider has to match the VIN rather than guess from the badge on the fairing.

How a neutral reading can hide a gear

The filing’s wording is plain. Harley-Davidson says the module “may communicate the incorrect gear position of neutral when the transmission is actually in gear.” A rider who reads neutral on the dash has no cue that a gear is engaged, which is why the filing treats the gap between the displayed and actual gear as a safety defect and not a display nuisance.

The consequence listed in the record is that the motorcycle “can experience unintended forward motion.” Each of the nine model records in the federal database repeats the same summary, consequence and remedy text. The notes field is empty, and the recall text does not report crashes or injuries tied to the defect.

The remedy, the letters and how to check a bike

Dealers will replace the gear position sensor free of charge, according to the recall record. Owners can reach Harley-Davidson customer service at 1-800-258-2464. The company’s service recall page takes a vehicle identification number and reports open campaigns, and the government’s recall search does the same with a 17-character VIN.

The recall follows two other 2026 campaigns on the company’s touring and cruiser lines. RideApart reported on May 4 that Harley’s airbox campaign, number 0193, covered about 88,039 motorcycles, among them the 2026 FLTRXL and FLHXL and the 2024 through 2026 FLTRX and FLHX, four of the nine model codes in the new recall. In that case the airbox backplate can block the breather port and pressurize the crankcase, and dealers inspect the airbox baseplate and clear the blockage, with no replacement parts required.

The other was a Softail campaign. RideApart reported on April 23 that about 16,994 bikes, the 2025 and 2026 Heritage Classic, Street Bob, Low Rider S and Low Rider ST, had a body control module that could touch the rear brake line and leak fluid, and that dealers would swap the module caddy and inspect the line, with owner letters scheduled for May 18 to 25. Owners of a FLTRX or FLHX could be notified about both the airbox work and the neutral-sensor work, since the defects are different and each campaign has its own number.

Scale separates the three campaigns. The airbox recall touched about 88,039 bikes across multiple model years, which RideApart put at roughly 0.4% of the population in Harley’s records, while the Softail brake-line recall covered about 16,994. At 21,643 units, the neutral-indicator recall is limited to the 2026 model year, so every affected bike is a current-year motorcycle, and the free repair is promised by the recall itself.

Owners who want to act before a letter arrives can search by VIN on either lookup page or call Harley-Davidson. RideApart’s recall coverage also lists the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline, 1-888-327-4236, for questions about the federal record. The government’s record gives the mailing date for letters, but it does not give a date by which sensors will be in stock at dealers.

The unanswered question is cause. Harley-Davidson’s filing, as NHTSA publishes it, names the symptom and the sensor swap but gives no production dates, no count of complaints and no explanation of why a replacement sensor corrects a signal the control module reports. Whether the replacement sensor sends a corrected gear position to the module, or the module itself is reprogrammed at the shop, is also not stated, and the owner letters due on Nov. 16 are the next document likely to say more about the repair procedure.

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

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