RoadVitals

2023 Kawasaki Vulcan 900

Recalls, owner-reported complaints, investigations and safety data

Data refreshed

Owner complaintsComplaints are reports submitted to NHTSA by owners and drivers. NHTSA does not verify most reports before publishing them, and a complaint does not establish that a defect exists. Volume is influenced by how many of a vehicle were sold, how long it has been on the road, and how much attention an issue has received.
1
Latest Mar 12, 2024
Safety recallsA safety recall is issued when a manufacturer or NHTSA determines that a vehicle has a safety-related defect or does not comply with a federal motor vehicle safety standard. Recall repairs are free. Whether a specific vehicle is covered depends on its VIN — a recall listed for a model year does not necessarily apply to every vehicle of that year.
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InvestigationsNHTSA opens an investigation to examine whether a safety defect may exist. An open investigation is not a determination that a defect exists, and many investigations close without a recall. Investigations can, however, lead to one.
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Crash or fire reportedComplaints whose submitter recorded that a crash or a fire occurred. These are the reporter's own answers on the NHTSA form, not verified findings.
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Overview

Our database contains 1 NHTSA owner-reported complaint for the 2023 Kawasaki Vulcan 900, most frequently naming the powertrain (other) category. 1 manufacturer communication is on file.

Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.

What owners report

Complaints grouped by the component NHTSA recorded

  • Powertrain (other)1100.0%

Percentages are of component mentions. A single complaint can name more than one component, so these do not sum to the total complaint count.

Safety recalls

No recalls in our database for this model year

That does not guarantee a specific vehicle is unaffected — recalls are issued against VINs, and new campaigns are announced regularly. Check a VIN on NHTSA.gov.

Recent owner complaints

Reports submitted to NHTSA, shown in the owner's own words

Powertrain (other)
Filed Mar 12, 2024

On multiple occasions, while riding my Kawasaki the transmission shifts into neutral without any input from the operator. This has happened about a dozen times with a current odometer reading of 1635. The sudden loss of power is a safety risk because if it happens while negotiating a turn, the bike wants to drop. I took the bike into the dealer for warranty service on 2/17/2023. They had the bike until 3/7/2023 and advised they could not replicate the issue. However, they did not put more than 2 miles on the bike to test it. The dealer told me that upon inspection, they found that the transmission is ultra sensitive to shifter input and just a slight touch of the gear shift will send the bike into neutral, and that this is a normal attribute of the bike. If so, it is very unsafe. The only lamp that illuminates is the green neutral indicator.

NHTSA ID
11576838
Incident
Sep 13, 2023

Manufacturer communications

A bulletin sent by a manufacturer to its dealers. Not a recall, and repairs are not necessarily free.

MC23-03

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Kawasaki motorcycles come with four types of batteries. While some require activation and others are pre-activated, they all require charging and additional maintenance charging if activated and allowed to sit in the vehicle for an extended time on the showroom floor or in storage. The following is a summary of activation and charging guidelines for each battery type.

Manufacturers file copies of the bulletins they send to dealers with NHTSA. These often describe diagnostic or repair procedures for a known condition. They are not recalls: repairs described in a bulletin are usually only free if the vehicle is still under warranty or the manufacturer has extended coverage.

Compare model years

Complaint and recall counts across every year of this model

Kawasaki Vulcan 900 by model year
YearComplaintsRecallsInvestigationsIssue Index
2023Viewing100—
2021100—
2020100—
2017100—
2015100—
2011010—
2010100—
2009200—
2008300—

Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers. Older model years have had longer for reports to accumulate.