Haven't had any issues. Was up in Vermont harvesting firewood again. No problems.

 

I've had problems with the DPS on all three of our current Can Am ATVs, and another Can Am ATV that I don't own anymore. I couldn't vote for 2010, 2011, and 2012 in your poll, so chose 2012 because I have two of those.

Our 2010 Renegade started having the steering intermittently lock up and not turn left. You could turn right, but could not turn left. After messing with it for several minutes it would unlock and start working normally again, but then after a few miles it would out of the blue lock up again, often times right at the worst possible moment. It was very dangerous, so I parked the 2010.

Very next ride on the 2012 Renegade the "CHECK DPS" light came on , and stayed on for the whole ride, even though the steering continued to work fine the whole time.

I loaded both Renegades on the trailer to take them to the dealer (fifty miles away). But since one of our riding areas is on the way to the dealer, I also threw the 2012 Outlander on the trailer, and planned on riding it that day, and then dropping the Renegades off at the dealer after the ride. Well on that ride the "CHECK DPS" light came on with the Outlander as well. So at the end of the ride I dropped all three Can Am ATVs off at the dealer for power steering problems.

The 2010 had some recall that needed to be done. They had to adjust something on the steering, and they tell me its fixed now. It cost me $170

The 2012 Renegade had no codes stored in the computer and the dealer could not duplicate the issue. It cost me $42.50 for the diagnostic check to tell me there was nothing wrong, even though the ATV was under the manufacurer's warranty and is only two months old and has only 130 miles on it.

The 2012 Outlander had a code stored in the computer that told the dealer they had to replace the whole power steering unit. Parts just showed up yesterday and the dealer wont have the ATV repaired until mid next week. It should be covered under warranty.

so yah, Can Am has some serious reliability problems with their power steering system. In my experiece of four Can Am ATVs with power steering, all four of them have had to go back to the dealer for service work pertaining to the power steering system. That is a failure rate of 100%. The fourth Can Am was a 2011 Outlander 800 XXC that I have sold.

 

hey DV-

the first time my "check DPS" light came on and the dps started pulling to the right, I actually drove it into the can-am dealer that just happened to be located on the atv trail I was riding on in greenville, maine (what are the odds, right?)

they cleared the code and cooled the dps off with a garden hose- no charge. ran fine after that for another couple hours, then the "check DPS" light came back on- again, in maine.
I shut the bike off for 15 - 20 minutes and the "check DPS" code had cleared-

then once I got back home and was riding local trails- it happened again. So I brought it in, but had no code and no "check dps" light-

I told the dealer what happened and I guess they determined the dps motor was bad using a multi-meter. They are replacing the dps this week. I was told that if the "check DPS" light keeps coming on- it's a bad dps motor- so you should fuss about it being replaced under warranty if it happens again- even if there's noo hard code on the ecm. since you've already paid the $50 "diagnostic fee", by right they shouldn't charge you again for having the bike repaired for the same complaint as before... the dealer can easily google it and see the issues many others are having with their dps. hell, just print up this thread. I even posted this same poll at canam atv site and have 5 people with the same issue so far- I guess it comes down to exactly how the dealer writes up the RA for the warranty repair to have can-am cover it.

I have not had to pay a dime so far- everything is covered under warranty. There is a $50 deductable for any warranty service, but my dealer took care of that - Sounds like your dealer is screwing you with the fees!
You shouldn't have to pay any money (not even the deductable) for recall repairs.

 

I have no doubt my dealer is ripping me off on service fees, but the next closest Can Am dealer is 104 miles away. Part of the money they charged me on the 2010 Renegade was $22 they charged to reset the "SERVICE REQUIRED" display on the dash. I think its kind of rediculous to charge money to reset that dash display. Its even more rediculous for Can Am not to have a way for the owner to reset it.

My 2012 Outlander is going to be sold after I get it back from the shop with a new power steering unit. I never have really liked that ATV; it is too expensive, too big, too heavy, too tall, too tippy, doesn't handle well, and is a major pain in the *** to work on. Everything is covered in plastic with the new G2 Outlanders, and the plastic is hard to remove to work on the ATV. It is by far the most difficult to work on ATV I've ever owned, and it is unreliable. It only has 250 miles on it and it needs a $1500 repair. It goes out of warranty in two months, so it is being sold. Plus, the Outlander 1000 is really just a spare ATV for me. My main ATV is the Renegade 1000 (that has a three year warranty), and the Renegade 800 is my wife's ATV. The Outlander is for my kid to ride if he goes with us, or for the brother in law, or a guest to ride. A spare ATV doesn't need to be as big and powerful as an Outlander 1000, but it should be reliable and not cost me more money every time its used. I'm working a deal with the local Yamaha dealer to trade it on a 2013 Grizzly 700. The dealer is still working on a price for me, so we'll see how it goes.

 

sucks you're having so many issues with your bikes- I can't imagine a dealer charging to clear the display! it literally takes less then 2 minutes. I brought my atv in to the dealer just to reprogram the welcome message and he didn't charge anything. It really sucke when you don't have the support of a local dealer- from what I hear, the 2012+ can-am's don't need a dealer to clear the display- I remember reading about the tip on canam tv site and there's a you tube vid that shows how to do it...

I've had nothing but good luck with all my can-am's- out of the 8 or 9 I've owned- only repairs so far are with my 2011 dps and my 08 outty 800 needed a fuel pump- both were covered under the warranty.
I wasnt a big fan of the grizz- felt very tippy to me, especially around the corners and turning while descending a hill. Guy I ride with has a new grizz and he spent thousands redoing the suspension over with elkas because he hated the how it handled- it gave a nice ride on the straights tho.

keep me posted on how it goes with your dps-

 

How many of your Can Am ATVs have had power steering Beergut?

 

just my 2011 800 max xt-

can-am8 lives one town over from me, he also bought a 2011 800 max xt and he's having the same dps issues.

was 2012 the first year they went from bi-mode to tri-mode power assist?

I have "min" & "max" on my dps but moose has 3 levels I guess?

 

Yep, my XT-P has min, med, and max. I haven't even used the max setting yet. I mostly have used the min. setting going up the hills in VT to get firewood. Basically pulling a 4x4x3 foot trailer filled with freshly cut hardwood. It's nice to get the quad and trailer in close to the trees I cut down. Makes loading a lot easier for Lil Moose. I'll finally get to put some miles on it when I go up to Jackman, ME and I'll keep an eye on the steering. Would not want to have what happened to DesertViper happen on some of the high trails up there.

 

So 100% of your Can Am ATVs that have had power steering have needed service work done on the power steering system. Combine that with the 100% of Can Am ATVs I have had with power steering that have needed service work on the power steering, and its still a 100% failure rate.

I'm not saying the overall failure rate for Can Am power steering is 100%, but you can be certain that Can Am is replacing a boat load of power steering units. Its a good thing they charge a lot for these ATVs, or they would be going broke with all the power steering units they're replacing under warranty.

And yes, 2012 is the first year for tri-mode power steering. Who the hell needed three settings? We needed a power steering system that was reliable. Can Am puts too much focus on fancy features, and has too many electronic nannies that prevent the ATV from functioning as it should. They should focus more on reliabilitly, and less on how many gadgets they have.

 

yeah- they can ditch the D.E.S.S. and multi-mode dps and I'd be fine.
I don't know why anyone would need 2 or 3 settings for dps- but, I'm confident can-am will do right by me- they have so far. I love the outty and after they replace the dps, I'm hoping everything will be fine. Still have 2 years of warranty left so I'm not too worried about it. I'd consider myself lucky if the only 2 major issues over the course of 8 can-am atv's has been a fuel pump and a dps motor.

The price wasn't too bad- my 2011 800 max xt was cheaper ($10,999) than a 2011 polaris XP850 with the same options added- and can-am gave me a free 2 year BEST warranty with the purchase, polaris only 6 months.
none of the japanese atv's offer a 2-up model so they were out of the question.

I think the 2011 was the first year where dps came standard on all xt models- was an option in 2010. I'm not too surprised to see some issues with the dps, it's a very new technology for atv's so I'll cut them some slack on it. Everything new has issues, as long as can-am backs me up I'll have no problem being patient while they work out a few bugs.