A while back I asked the CPSC to send me the total # of complaints they have recieved about the 2001 Raptor Transmission failures. It arrived today.

I have:

11 non investigated reports.
12 investigated reports with pictures etc.

15 reports were withheld due to the commission being unable to confirm the reports. By law they are not allowewd to release the information to me.

2 of the reports had people going over the bars with minor injuries. Several others said they almost went over the bars.

My report was included in this as well as some others from this forum.. The investigations talked of another forum and had a thread copied from this forum. One report had a statement from one guy saying that on the internet forums he can count up 4000 tranny failures.

This makes a total of 38 reports to the comission. This is unexceptable.

Vin # ranged from low hundreds to 22200+

 

Also, if you live in or around Lompoc, California do not take your quad to this dealer.

Honda-Yamaha of Lompoc.

This is what this guy has to say about this individuals failure.

The service manager Mr. Co??ihan (edited for my sake) says that rider abuse was the likely root cause of the failure. Mr ?? had recalled the vehicle in question had been fitted with paddles on the rear wheels. Mr ?? believed that this type of accessory could lead to a much higher risk of component failure depending on how agressivly they are used.

Mr ?? was asked if there were redesigned transmission components for the 2002 model year Raptor 660R.

Mr. ?? said that the 2001 Raptor and 2002 raptor use the exact same replacement parts that differ only in that they bear different part#. Mr ?? had no explanation why Yamaha had changed the part # for the year 2002 model year.

 

I'm not a rappy guy, but everyone that I've run into including dealerships know that there was a problem with the 01 rappy tranny. HOW COME YAMMY DOESNT??????????[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img]

 

I saw the # and the name of someone to speak with @ CPSC a while back, anybody remember?

 

Mark Rossi @ 301-504-0580 ext.1188

 

Yep - I'm really disappointed too. Since Yamaha Corp denies any problems the dealers are not getting reimbursed for repairs under the warranty. The dealers would basically have to cover it themselves if they are good guys.

 

I'm dissapointed in the fact that the CPSC could only provide 23 reports to share with me and 15 others they could not.

I didn't ask them for all this information, I just wanted numbers. I guess thats how they do it though. They also said it cost them $80.00 to put this information together and that they waived the fee. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] They never told me I might get charged for this. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I've been reading through some more of these complaints a little better. Almost all the investigated complaints have service managers blaming the rider for the error.

Heres another place not to take your quad for repairs.

The service manager at Valley Cycle in Winchester VA on 4/2002 had to say:

"The complatants "riding style" was probably the reason the dogs broke off second gear. The servic emanager stated this was the first he has heard of the engagment dogs braking off this model quad. The service manager felt the only way the engagment dogs could have been broken off were if a driver were to have accidently kicked the gears into reverse while going in a forward motion."

There is also reference to a Dirt Wheels issue July 2001 that talks of weak tranny in 2001 Raptors.

Also upon further reading they did not copy the better threads from this forum about the trannys.

Also upon furthere reading there were a total of 4 people thrown off the quad when their tranny locked up. 1 Sustained a hairline fracture in one of his ribs.

There were some 1 page reports mixed in with others that brings the total # of reports to 31 plus the 15 they could not send me.

People if you have had a failure you must file a report to even think about getting somthing done about it. 46 reports is not going to get a recall of some 25000 ATV's imo.

 

CPSC website

Or contact

Mark Rossi @ 301-504-0580 ext.1188

 

The reason Yamaha will not admit responsibility is simple, MONEY! $$$$ 25,000 quads times $1000 or more for the repairs, equals alot. They will not step up to the plate until someone forces them to legally. They if they had a couple hundred individual lawsuites about this, it would be cheaper for them to pay off the plaintiffs than to make a recall. They do make a couple great products, but they have shoddy buisiness practices, IMO.

Everyone that has ever had any tranny probs with the '01 needs to file a report with the CPSC if anything good is to come of this.

RR1