Hey guys,
My battery dies and this morning BMW denied warranty citing use of aux lights. I have written back to them sharing my feelings. thought to share it here as well:
Dear BMW Motorrad,
I purchased a BMW G310 GS on the 18th of August 2018, bearing registration number KA 03 JT 8427, from TUSKER BMW MOTORRAD, Bangalore, India. This morning, i was denied warranty for the stock battery, which failed and left me stranded on a tour. Following is how the story unfolds.
Couple of weeks back, i was on a ride on my 310GS towards North Karnataka & Goa. For a few days, I could sense a bit hesitation during starting of the bike, and on 6.10.2019 morning, the bike just refused to start. I was at Palolem, Goa and very very worried as we have been hearing so many cases of faulty battery, alternator, etc all these months. I was 600kms away from home with a dead battery and a lot of frustration. First thing was to try and find out if it was battery or if charging system was at fault. With the help of a friend, I pushed the bike to a garage where on voltmeter the battery showed 11.6 Volts. We jump-started the bike and checked the battery, at idle run, it showed 14.4V. This gave a bit of assurance that the alternator was charging the battery, so it looked like mostly a case of dead battery. We tried looking for a similar battery and found an exact match in Excide - XLTZ9. This is also a 12V 8Amp maintenance-free sealed battery having exact same shape and dimensions compared the stock battery. We replaced the battery, and bike started without any issue. I finished my trip and returned back to Bangalore last week without any further battery related issue. My bike was due for its 20k service, so i took a service appointment, carried the old battery to service center, narrated the experience and requested for a battery replacement under warranty as the battery is just over a year old. This morning, i was denied warranty on the basis that i have a pair of aux lights on the bike. I am extremely dissapointed with this response from BMW motorrad, not so much for the warranty denial but more for the reason behind it.
* BMW 310 GS & R are known to have battery and charging system issues, especially in India. This is well documented on many Indian and global forums across the world. New battery on stock bikes without any accessories have failed, so there is definitely an issue with the quality of the battery, why hide behind an innocent pair of aux lamp as an excuse to deny warranty. Some reference links for the battery issues are as follows:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post4646807 (Major battery issue with the BMW G 310 R and GS! BMW Motorrad India is unresponsive) https://www.g310rforum.com/forum/337...d-battery.html https://www.g310rforum.com/forum/337...ats-wrong.html https://www.g310rforum.com/forum/337...rge-issue.html
Coming back to Aux lamps, If BMW had given bright reflector and sturdy design for sufficient illumination, there would be no need to spend on additional lights to begin with. Such is not the case, so for our safely and visibility, we are not left with many options.
I am using a pair of aux lamps from reputed RIGID INDUSTRIES, which when switched on, draws a max of 36 volts together. These lights are connected using reputed and good quality AKRO wiring harness, where power is drawn directly from the battery along with a safety fuse and relay. No OEM wire have been cut, spliced, or positapped anywhere. trigger is been obtained from the Aux connector port provided on the bike under the headlamp assembly cowl. So there is no question of tampering with wiring harness, or using substandard parts.
The bike has a 308 Watts generator adding a 36W LED aux (which is very sparingly used) is well within the overall load limit. So technically there is not additional load on the charging system to affect the battery drain.
Why did BMW provide couple of aux connector on the bike to begin with if it did not want it to be used? Majority of adventure genre bikes from all brands all over the world have accessories be it electrical, mechanical, ergonomical, etc. I have used bikes from many other brands, and none of them are so rigid with their warranty policy.
I would have gladly accepted the warranty denial, but given the number of battery failures in a small geographical area like Bangalore in last one year, we all know that there are quality issues with the battery. I had similar aux setup on my KTM duke 390 and the battery lasted for good 3.5 years. My kawasaki versys had many electrical accessories without any battery issues. Nor do those dealers make a big fuss about adding accessories.
Its really sad and disheartening to go through painful ownership experience of a premium brand. As it is, the BMW brand is slowly but steadily gaining negative image in the market and incidents like denying warranty for a known faulty product is only going to add to the spreading negative image of the brand. Unless there is a major change in mindset where customers are given some importance, the brand is definitely going down in the long run.
I am not writing this mail just to get a battery replacement, but as a BMW customer who has to time and again go through painful ownership experience, be it service time, booking time, spares availability, etc. How do you expect the bikes to sell if there is a fear created that for any small change/customization, the warranty will be void. I personally know a few who did not buy into your brand because of the dictatorship kind of role the brand is adopted. On the Bangalore 310 whatsapp group, people are scared to even add a USB port as they are afraid it would void warranty. On one hand, you create a bike and market it for adventure, and on the other hand, you dont provide any USB port on the bike, where even the smallest of scooties these days have one. How do you expect someone to travel and explore and adventure around, if he cannot charge his mobile for navigation? Is that your real idea of adventure? I guess so.
i am copying this mail to many to share this story and bitter experience, hope there is someone up there who understands the plight and does something to save the brand. Without a warranty, my future bike services could be self attempted, and i am sure a lot of other will follow and we all know whose loss it eventually is.
So good luck to you BMW motorrad, you have definitely saved a battery today but lost many hearts.
Regards