Exhausts and Engine » Limp mode - safety issue, 2016 R1200RS

Passing a transport truck on a busy two lane highway, narrow lanes, very narrow shoulder and deep ditch. Immediately as I was pulling back in bike lost all power, resulting in rapid deceleration directly in front of the truck, no throttle response. Only place to go was the very narrow shoulder. Bike would idle, very limited throttle response, almost no power, engine icon in display. Ignition off and restart returned operation to normal.
Advised by dealer that fault code showed throttle input mismatch, not current, causing limp mode.
Issue has not returned in 5000 kms.
The description of limp mode in the manual understates the lack of power and response that occurs with no warning whatsoever. Result was a very dangerous situation for a single bike that could have ended very badly. If another bike had been following, that rider would have had no place to go.
A limp mode that cuts all engine power with no warning prioritizes protecting the machine over rider safety, in my view a serious design issue.

If you miss your gear selection the bike does the same, no throttle, no drive.

I thought mine had an issue, I pulled over and restarted ok. then realized later what had happened, only clue to that is there is no gear showing on dash panel.

Ged

Cars are no better. Whilst overtaking a lorry on a slight uphill, my company car decided to go into limp mode, resulting in loss of about 90% power, leaving me next to the lorry with no option other than to put on my hazard lights and move back behind it when it had passed me (as there was no way I could pass it), much to the annoyance of everyone behind me...

At least it meant I could limp to a main dealer, who said "Sure, we can book it in to be looked at next Wednesday..."

Cheers

Paul B.

Weirdly, this very thing has happened this week with my wife's S1000R, after she was bumped from behind while waiting to enter a roundabout.
The dozy woman in the Volvo that hit her was slowly rolling forward while waiting for a gap, and despite my wife seeing her coming and revving the hell out of her bike (which is very, very, VERY loud), she kept coming.

A very gentle nudge, and over the bike went. Almost no visible damage, and after getting help to lift the bike and exchanging details with the driver, she continued on her way to work, without any issues.

Then, on her way home, the bike went into limp mode on the A13 (in the pouring rain), and not knowing what the hell was going on, she pulled over and called for recovery.
(As an aside, an incredibly nice guy stopped to see if she was ok, offered her a warm seat out of the rain in his van, and sat with her for 2 hours until her bike was recovered, and then drove her home. Of course it turned out he is a fellow biker!)

The bike has been with BMW for two days now, and they can't figure out what's wrong with it. They figure something electrical has broken, and they're going to have to strip it down and go through all the wiring to find the problem.

The driver who hit her could be in for a nasty shock, as she thought there was almost no damage, but the labour charges for finding the fault are going to be astronomical as it is!

A Volvo? Are they still a menace?

A Volvo? Are they still a menace?

They are if they are small, red, have the T5 motor with me driving.

My RS went into limp mode for first time ever, a couple of weeks ago, while riding up a twisty road in Italy while on holiday there. Strange feeling, but stopped and restarted, and it didn't return in the 5000 or so km I did afterwards. RS had done around 40+ k km before and just had a big service, but behaved after this little mishap...

I must say I find this a disconcerting design “feature” that has no place on a motorcycle given the obvious vulnerabilities. Troubling as well that it has happened to members of this small group, and is a well known occurrence to the service department of the dealer I spoke to.