On September 12, Kawasaki Motors Corporation USA submitted a voluntary safety recall report to the US National Highway Safety Administration regarding an ECU issue with some of its 2024 Ninja 7 and Z7 Hybrid motorcycles.
On affected bikes, the electronic shift control system may inappropriately find Neutral when riders are shifting from first into second gear. An unexpected Neutral could cause the bike to lose power when riders aren't expecting it, and thus increase the risk of a crash.
According to Kawasaki USA's records, approximately 1,150 bikes could be affected. This represents approximately one percent of the population. Affected bikes were produced between November 29, 2023 and August 26, 2024 and have VINs ranging from ML5CXGA16RDA00161 to ML5CXGA19RDA04544 and also ML5CRGA13RDA01181 to ML5CRGA17RDA04357 .
Kawasaki Motors Limited (parent company of Kawasaki Motors USA) first received reports regarding this issue in May 2024, beginning with a bike in Europe. Since that time, KML has been investigating the issue before initiating a recall campaign in September 2024.
Following this decision, Kawasaki Motors Corporation USA sent a stop sale notice to its dealership network on September 13, 2024, with reference number 24-24 MC. On this notice, the company also noted that it expects to issue repair information to dealers in late October or early November 2024.
The repair will require ECU reprogramming, which should be performed by your local authorized Kawasaki dealer at no charge to customers. Furthermore, Kawasaki USA's notice states that if customers noticed a problem and paid to have it rectified by their dealerships prior to this recall, they may be eligible for reimbursement with appropriate documentation.
For owners of affected 2024 Kawasaki Ninja 7 or Z7 Hybrids, Kawasaki USA says that you should not ride these motorcycles until an authorized repair has been completed. The company is sending an initial notice to registered owners on file about this recall, and will send another notice once the repair is ready for your local authorized Kawasaki dealer to apply to your machine.
Owners can contact Kawasaki's Customer Care Department at 1-866-802-9381 between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. Pacific, Monday through Friday. if you call this number, please have your VIN handy so that a Kawasaki customer care agent can assist you.
Owners may also contact the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) or go to www.nhtsa.gov.
