2023 Harley-Davidson RA1250S
Problems, recalls and owner-reported issues
Electrical system is the leading concern among 9 owner complaints filed for this model year. This is the 2nd highest complaint count among 3 RA1250S model years with reports.
What owners report most often
Recalls and investigations
No safety recalls on file.
Representative owner complaints: electrical system
5 reports, newest first. Show all
Electrical system, Service brakes, Engine, Sep 3, 2026
While traveling at highway speeds in heavy traffic, the motorcycle suffered a sudden and catastrophic electrical failure. Without any advance warning, the TFT dashboard display went completely blank, the engine immediately lost all power, and the motorcycle quit running while in the middle of a busy highway.Because the engine stalled abruptly, I experienced a dangerous loss of forward momentum in active traffic lanes. The complete loss of electrical power simultaneously disabled vital safety systems, including the headlamp, taillamp, brake lights, hazard lights, and anti-lock braking system (ABS). This left me riding a dark, dead motorcycle with no way to signal my emergency to surrounding drivers. I was forced to coast across multiple lanes of high-speed traffic without brake lights to reach the shoulder, narrowly avoiding a rear-end collision. A diagnostic inspection later confirmed that the failure was caused by a burned-out alternator stator, which failed to charge the battery and starved the motorcycle's engine control unit (ECU) of power until the bike shut down entirely.
Electrical system, Jun 8, 2026
Multiple electrical issues -TFT screen going out while riding, voltage fluctuating dramatically while riding and bike wants to stop running once at idle engine shuts off and won’t restart. Once it’s cooled down or been on trickle charger for couple hours it might restart. Diagnosis was stator failure with complete electrical system repair at my expense. This is a known issue by Harley. Second issue bike not shutting off when turned off. Right hand control module failed dealer said this is also a known issue and they have replaced several. No recall or assistance to repair by Harley Motor Company.
Electrical system, Fuel/propulsion system, May 27, 2026
Bike has been at the dealer for almost 3 weeks now chasing electrical issues. HD corporate techs can’t even understand what’s wrong. The are running another diagnostic test on it today that will cost me another 3.5hr of labor on top of the other diagnostics they’ve already done. Luckily I wasn’t on a trip and stranded for weeks.
Power train, Electrical system, Engine, Feb 1, 2026
I purchased a 2023 Harley Davidson Pan America only to find out that the motorcycle has a known issue with the charging system. The motorcycle model years 2021 through 2023 have a faulty charging systems which was fixed for 2024 and beyond models by a redesign of the entire charging system. The faulty older system causes the motorcycle to stall randomly and eventually deplete the battery on the vehicle. The issues is as follows: 1. When the motorcycle has become warm it no longer generates enough voltage at idle to keep the Variable Valve Timing system on the motorcycle functioning properly. 2. Once the Variable Valve Timing system starts to malfunction by turning off and on repeatedly the motorcycle will eventually stall leaving you stuck in the middle of traffic. It is a very well documented issue with these motorcycle and be assured it is dangerous. Harley Davidson is unfortunately profiting on the issue by charging customers upwards of $4000 to $5500 dollars to fix it by upgrading their motorcycles to the latest version of the "fixed" system for the later models. This should absolutely be a recall as it is very dangerous to have your motorcycle randomly stall because of a faulty design of a charging system. Harley Davidson has vast knowledge about this issue but only wants to fleece customers for the profit to fix. Example of the issue: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Electrical system, Engine, Dec 17, 2025
The charging system failed which caused the engine to stall multiple times.