BMW R 1250 RT Complaints

8 consumer complaints on file.

#11744408June 16, 2026
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, EXTERIOR LIGHTING, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Regarding headlight warnings and horn malfunction and/or other possible electrical safety issues. (in addition to previous entry for brake a malfunction) On a few occasions (in addition to the mentioned intermittent brake malfunction) the motorcycle "low beam" headlight has stopped on occasion giving a dash warning and reset on it's own and "possible" ground fault or some other codes but BMW NA has been unwilling to have the dealer do any diagnostic work to adequately determine any potential safety issues. Within the last month one of the horns has quit working, possibly shorted out. Due to parts not being available the dealer cannot repair the motorcycle. They will not diagnose until parts are available and BMW NA does not seem to be willing to work with them to resolve the issue in a timely manner. BMW NA representatives only state in an email all they will do for now is "monitor" the situation. Communication has basically been not existent regarding the issues. I do not know if the motorcycle will leave me stranded or worse at this point due to these potentially serious electrical malfunctions. I don't know if the prior brake incident is related to this problem due to BMW NA and the dealer not giving me ANY information. BMW NA is apparently not willing to perform proper diagnostic procedure I feel the unit is unsafe to use.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11736272May 7, 2026
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
On May 2, 2026 I was operating the vehicle at 60 mph on the interstate. There were absolutely no other vehicles in my line of sight or on the roaway anywhere near me. The motorcycle went into automatic breaking and the brakes appeared to activate all on their own and almost locked up. I immediately was able to pull over and smell the very strong smell of burning brakes. I shut off the motorcycle let it cool down and proceeded to the local dealer. The dealer had absolutely no idea what could have happened and did not have time or ability to look into it further at that time. They did observe that the rear brake caliper and disk appeared to be discolored and may have gotten very hot. They're not sure if it was related or not. There's absolutely no reason the motorcycle should have applied the emergency breaking by itself and it's very concerning. I have turned off the adaptive cruise control feature due to fear it's going to cause a crash.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11612822September 5, 2024
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Original owner, purchased July 2021. Adaptive cruise control (ACC) continues to drop off intermittently after numerous complaints to BMW service techs and BMW Customer Relations since new. Attempts to repair include dealer 'recalibration' and software updates none of which have solved the issue. When in use, ACC suddenly, without warning drops out leaving driver to actively recover previous speed (throttle). Not such a problem at lower speeds, however at highway speeds the dropout could be life-threatening. In my case, traveling the posted 85mph highway speed outside of Salt Lake City, the ACC dropped out. The sudden deceleration nearly threw me from the motorcycle as if I had suddenly braked at highway speed. The highway was congested with the vehicle behind me having to emergency brake to avoid a collision. Most recently, on August 27th, 2024, I brought the motorcycle to a BMW dealership in Anchorage, Alaska for annual service and to request warranty repair of the faulty ACC unit. I showed images of the failure notifications, gave history of previous repair requests and repair attempts by other dealers. The service manager assured me he would contact BMW tech support to resolve the issue. After a mandatory software update and 'recalibration' I rode the motorcycle home. The unit failed three times over the 400-mile trip. Ultimately, the service center failed to complete warranty service on the ongoing life-threatening ACC failure due to lack of technical expertise to address the issue and false narrative of contacting BMW tech for a solution.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11603649July 21, 2024
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I believe the BMW configuration of the adaptive cruise control following distance selection might result in a rear end collision. I normally set the following distance to the longest setting, which corresponds to a two-second following distance (IMO, the minimum safe distance). I am fairly often caught off-guard by the system because the next time the bike is started, the following distance defaults to the *closest* following distance, and does so WITH NO visual warning in the instrument panel (the following distance is not displayed when cruise is set; it is displayed only after the distance control button on the left grip cluster is pressed). In my case, despite knowing this I still have been surprised to find myself too close to the vehicle in front, and have to rapidly hit the distance setting button to back off. For others without this knowledge, the potential injury concern is someone setting their cruise control with the NOT-DISPLAYED too-short default following distance, and then not having enough reaction time to avoid sudden deceleration of the front vehicle (e.g., set the cruise with the default too-short distance, and shortly thereafter the front driver brakes to avoid an animal before the rider has a chance to figure out why he/she is following closer than he/she intended). This should be easily fixed with a simple software fix: either (i) programming the default cruise following distance to be the longest distance, or better yet, (ii) have the following distance ALWAYS displayed after the cruise on switch is operated (as in my Ford F-150 and Mustang) -- the opposite of BMW's current approach of showing a solid block that HIDES the following distance setting, until the following distance button is manually pressed. IMO, the solid block is both unnecessary and a potential trap for the unwary, and should be removed so that the set distance is ALWAYS visible. I live near DC and can make my motorcycle available for inspection if desired.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11550398October 17, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Page 67 of the BMW Motorad Owners Manual describes operation of the "self," cancelling , "Comfort turn indicators" as follows: After the turn signal is pushed to the right or left, the turn signal indictors automatically turn off under the following conditions: -Speed is under 18mph; after a distance of 165Ft is covered. -Speed is between 18 mph and 60 mph: after a speed dependent distance is covered or during acceleration. -Speed is above 60 mph: after turn signal indicator flashes five times. The turn signals don't turn off as described above. The auto cancelling signals only turn off after a distance of approximately 1500 feet regardless of speed. This can create a dangerous situation as oncoming traffic expects you to turn the motorcycle but you intend to go straight as the turn signal indicator remains on unless you remember each time the turn signal is activated to manually cancel it. I have been to MAX BMW Motorad dealer in Connecticut for 3 attempts to remedy the electronic issue to no avail. They stated all they can do is set the distance to cancel. (1500feet). The cancelling feature as a function of speed cannot be corrected. Hopefully no rider will be injured or die when the system doesn't work as specified in the owner's manual and the "auto," cancelling signals don't auto cancel causing confusion of a car operator to not understand the intent of the motorcyclist to go straight vice turning.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11466351May 27, 2022
STRUCTURE
The contact owns a 2022 BMW R 1250 RT. The contact stated while riding 35 MPH, the motorcycle made a whistling sound. The motorcycle was taken to the dealer, and the dealer replaced the windscreen; however, the failure recurred. The motorcycle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 5.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11431889September 6, 2021
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The distance control on the cruise control will just fail while in use. Going through Atlanta with cruise set at 65 MPH in traffic and it just fails (alert pop up too) and throttle goes to zero which on a motorcycle means immediate engine braking. Nearly get run over by car behind me. Has been to the dealer and they did a calibration and said it was fine only for it to return in about 200 miles. This is a new feature on these bikes and the dealer has no idea what to do at thie point. At a minimum BMW should look into this and get to the issue then notify all owners.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11431888September 6, 2021
SERVICE BRAKES, ENGINE, WHEELS
BMW is selling a motorcycle with no information to the user on how to maintain it. The manual doesn't even have basic maintenance procedures or torques. You can't even get a service CD from the dealer. If the bike can't maintained or you do something wrong it could fail on the road and possibly kill you. I thought there were laws that you didn't have to have the bike serviced by the dealer or if so it should be free. I have never bought a bike that didn't have some information available.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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