[CrAzY dRiVeR]

It has been a known discussion point on social media recently that the Aprilia RS 457 owners have had reliability concerns. Owners reporting blown engines, loss of power, loss of cylinder compression, etc have been raised over platforms like Youtube and X.

A company spokesperson has addressed these concerns today and attributed these issues to two factors - Unauthorized Aftermarket Modifications and Irregular Service Schedules. They also claim to have addressed these concerns with minimal downtime for the owners.

The full statement, as received:

Aprilia India Reaffirms Commitment to RS457 Excellence and Continued Customer Satisfaction

Pune, 21.05. 2025:

Aprilia India today reiterated its immense pride in the groundbreaking 457 platform, an engineering conquest born in Noale. Since its global and Indian debut in 2023-24, the exceptional RS457 has rightfully dominated the mid-performance super sports category, boasting a best-in-class power-to-weight ratio. The 457 platform has garnered widespread acclaim and numerous accolades from our valued customers, dedicated dealer partners, respected journalists, and even elite MotoGP racers, all recognizing its outstanding performance and comprehensive riding experience. We stand firmly behind the world-class product we have brought to the passionate community of super sports enthusiasts.

At Aprilia, our commitment extends beyond delivering exhilarating motorcycles; we are equally dedicated to providing unparalleled after-sales support and service. We are aware of recent discussions among a small segment of motorcycle enthusiasts concerning the "reliability" of the 457 platform. We want to unequivocally assure our esteemed customers and the broader motorcycling fraternity that Aprilia has meticulously investigated every single of the handful instances brought to our attention regarding alleged issues. A majority of these “issues” are attributed to only two factors - Unauthorized Aftermarket Modifications and Irregular Service Schedules. For the few genuine cases that arose, we promptly addressed and resolved them in a timely manner, ensuring minimal disruption to our customers.

For riders seeking to enhance their stock RS457, we strongly encourage the installation of our extensive range of genuine aftermarket accessories, available exclusively through authorized Aprilia service centers.
The Aprilia RS457 platform embodies excitement and pure riding pleasure. It deserves to be enjoyed responsibly and maintained exclusively by certified technicians at authorized Aprilia dealerships. The company is equally responsible and proactive in -ensuring best in class after sales and service and stands firmly by the side of every Aprilia owner. Moreover, we give our 100% assurance that all products sold through our authorized dealerships are in optimal condition, free from any inherent issues, and meet our stringent quality standards.

Personal thoughts : While it remains to be seen if the issues are resolved completely - it is good to have the manufacturer acknowledge the issues. Also for prospective owners of the platform - please do note that Aprilia offers warranty only to the original owner. Hence it may be wise to purchase a new bike as compared to used bikes from the affected batches.

[RD150]

Blaming it on the after market accessories have become an easy escape for manufacturers. First RE, now Aprilia.

Also, why Aprilia is not sharing the details about what exactly went wrong in "few genuine cases" ?

[after]

This is a lot of eyewash from Aprilia. There's more than enough cases of stock motorcycles having issues. I personally know some. Anecdotally the number of stock motorcycles facing issues far exceeds modded ones.

Of course mods around the powertrain don't help an already fragile engine, but to blame all issues solely on mods is disingenuous. I'd rather have them stay silent, than put out a statement like this to wash their hands off the issue.

Side note, didn't know warranty is non-transferable. 2 showrooms that I had explicitly asked, told me that it is transferable (as I was looking at used RS 457s back then). Not sure if they were misinformed or trying to mislead me, but this is a bad warranty policy and a bad look on the brand nonetheless.

[bpapache]

Originally Posted by RD150

Blaming it on the after market accessories have become an easy escape for manufacturers. First RE, now Aprilia

I’m a noob about after market accessories. But here are my personal thoughts. Most of the after market accessories for a product, be it iPhone cases or fly screens for ADV motorcycles, the renowned brands always would strictly adhere to the motorcycle company’s guidelines or specifications, to make it compatible as well as to make sure the user experience of the product itself isn’t affected.

If I buy a phone case from some random brand, I could end up having bad experience such as the power button won’t click properly due to the alignment issues of the case, or my phone’s chassis could start chipping paint due to poor quality of the case.

Similarly, if I install an unauthorised or a poorly designed aftermarket crash guards or pipes on to my bike chassis, without paying attention to the manufacturer specifications and such, I assume it’s bound to affect the product in one way or another.

This is how I perceive things and hence I personally stand with manufacturers when they say that aftermarket products could have affected the vehicle’s chassis or performance. I’ll give benefit of doubt for such cases to the manufacturer because they know what they are doing and have spent crores of rupees in R&D and have definitely employed plenty of engineers who knows their stuff.

But I’m not saying that we should be lenient towards them. We must use our judgement as to what is fine and what is not. Example, if some manufacturer says that applying a sticker or using an engine oil from some other vendor (even if same manufacturer recommended specs is followed) is going to cause issues, we should use our common sense and judgement and fight accordingly.

[ringsoftime]

What were these reliability concerns? Are there aftermarket mods for RS457 that affects engine and drivetrain?

Both the social media and company response seems cryptic to me. This, although sells well for the segment, the numbers are too low to have people rallying in social media.

It would be helpful if any owners in here can let us know what is happening.

[BullettuPaandi]

Originally Posted by ringsoftime

What were these reliability concerns? Are there aftermarket mods for RS457 that affects engine and drivetrain?

Both the social media and company response seems cryptic to me. This, although sells well for the segment, the numbers are too low to have people rallying in social media.

It would be helpful if any owners in here can let us know what is happening.

Not an owner; just someone who has browsed a few posts about this on our forum. From what I've come across so far:

1. The 'reliability concern' is mostly sudden loss of compression and thus power.

2. Aprilia appears to be blaming mods that meddle with the fuel map, such as FuelX and such- who make plug-and-play fuel remap tools and usually claim things like 'better throttle response', 'better tractability/low end torque', 'lower jerkiness on shifts' etc. Most cases I've come across did have such mods installed, to be fair. But there were also a few completely stock ones (as claimed).

Regardless, Aprilia does appear to be decidedly blunt about this. On one hand they can't really name other businesses and blame them, on the other hand they could be more specific about just the nature of the cause at the very least.

[MadBiker]

I call BS on this.

Been riding a bone stock RS457 for about 5 months now, and honestly, the performance is all over the place. No two rides feel the same. Some days, it’s smooth, responsive - everything you’d hope for. Other days, it hits 8000 RPM and just taps out like it’s had a long week.

Top speed varies within the same ride, and throttle response feels off more often than not. Feels like there might be a compression issue, but nothing’s been clearly identified. For a new bike in this segment, this kind of inconsistency just shouldn’t be happening.

Then there’s the battery drama : Died within two weeks of ownership. Had to jumpstart it several times. The RR unit’s already been replaced, but even now the voltage dips to around 10V if the bike sits for a couple of weeks, like it's holding a silent protest. It’s spent over 3 weeks in the service centre total, and every time I get it back, I’m told “everything’s normal, ride it for a few weeks and see.” I have. And it's still weird.

When the bike’s in a good mood, it’s AMAZING to ride - all your worries just vanish. But when it’s cranky, it’s like the universe is collapsing one misfire at a time.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Personal thoughts: While it remains to be seen if the issues are resolved completely - it is good to have the manufacturer acknowledge the issues.

I don't see it this way. This is not a customer centric voluntary acknowledgment. Its a statement they were forced to make given the amount of social media noise around the engine issue.

Multiple counts on which Aprilia's approach to this has disagreed with me:

1. Blame game and excuses: They've been trying to 'avoid' acknowledging real issues by trying to peddle it to flimsy reasons when clearly there are shortcomings at the product end. This statement is also a reinforcement of that position.

2. Bullying customers: We had seen some isolated social media references to customers being forced to sign some undertakings - I don't have the image off hand right now but it was pretty appalling I recall from what I had read.

3. Issue resolution: .... itself has been underwhelming in some cases. I think the only good thing is they have at least addressed issues under warranty rather than leave customers high and dry but even that process has been patchy with their own teams taking their sweet time even acknowledging problems in the first instance.

Overall, this is managing their 457 media strategy and really no brownie points to them for any acknowledgment as such.

Fact seems like there are more than enough instances of this to raise questions on the product itself and Aprilia would do well to address this asap on newer bikes and give existing customers a seamless and smooth process of resolution when they are faced with the issue.

Also for prospective owners of the platform - please do note that Aprilia offers warranty only to the original owner. Hence it may be wise to purchase a new bike as compared to used bikes from the affected batches.

A very poor market standard that more than one manufacturer seems to follow. If Aprilia wants to instil customer confidence, as a starting point they should keep the warranty live regardless of ownership change like some of their other peers also do.

[amyntor]

Originally Posted by after

Side note, didn't know warranty is non-transferable. 2 showrooms that I had explicitly asked, told me that it is transferable (as I was looking at used RS 457s back then). Not sure if they were misinformed or trying to mislead me, but this is a bad warranty policy and a bad look on the brand nonetheless.

That is not exclusive to Aprilia. Most brands do this. This is a picture from KTM/Husqvarna's TOC for gen 3 Duke 390, stating that their warranty is applicable only for first owner the vehicle.

[after]

Originally Posted by amyntor

That is not exclusive to Aprilia. Most brands do this. This is a picture from KTM/Husqvarna's TOC for gen 3 Duke 390, stating that their warranty is applicable only for first owner the vehicle.

That's still not good warranty policy then, even if multiple manufacturers do it
Also, doesn't excuse the fact that multiple dealers gave me the wrong info. Either way, it's changed my perception of the brand for the worse

[amyntor]

Originally Posted by after

That's still not good warranty policy then, even if multiple manufacturers do it

Absolutely. No disagreement there. My point is Aprilia can't be singled out here because most brands have similar terms. But the actual enforcement depends on your relationship with the dealer/service centre folks. I know I can claim warranty at my local KTM service centre despite me being the second owner because I'm on good terms with them.

[Sensible_Speed]

The real trouble with Aprilia is the inconsistent manufacturing quality. They simply don't know how QC efficiency works. This is a problem I've seen across most Europeans' assembly lines. Quality Assessment and Control is an iterative process. It must constantly be worked upon and refined.

The Japanese figured it out very early on and hence, have created a solid reputation for reliability. The Italian approach to reliability was always simplistic design.

But, with machines getting more and more complex, they need to learn how to manage consistent quality; implement new procedures.

[100Kmphormore]

A load of hogwash and a badly executed PR exercise. Autocar seems to be propagating the same BS as well, while MotorInc stopped short of calling them outright unreliable.

Overall, this is managing their 457 media strategy and really no brownie points to them for any acknowledgment as such.

Fact seems like there are more than enough instances of this to raise questions on the product itself and Aprilia would do well to address this asap on newer bikes and give existing customers a seamless and smooth process of resolution when they are faced with the issue.

Absolutely what Farhaan Khan said in his video the previous night. They apparently sent him a legal notice (written by ChatGPT for sure - the wordings suggested the same) after his videos about the bike and the showroom response in general. Scare tactics as I shrewdly suspect.

The showroom is 2 km away from my house and all the bravado and beliigerence they had last April post the launch is gone when you confront them with these videos. There infact were 4-5 RS457s standing for warranty replacements.

The only place where they stumbled was the speeding on the national highways/STRR and the FuelX. Though not a user of FuelX or technically sound on the details, how can a device which alters air-fuel mixture damage an engine is beyond me. They are becoming even worse than RE at this stage.

[oilman]

Expected from Aprilia, based on my personal experience anyone who has ever dealt with any of their SC knows the Brand simply does not care.

I have had an Aprilia SXR 160 for about 4+ years now. I visit the SC every 3 months to keep my warranty intact and my experience has been a nightmare.

I have been denied warranty claim on the LED lights (discoloration) and starter motor (faulty). Escalated to Aprilia India support, never heard anything back other than a generic email reply.

From technicians legit forgetting to put screws back on the air-filter/clutch cover to having fuel stolen 3 times (that I later realised), the service experience has been horrible. The SC will NOT undertake any "additional" service work such as suspension oil change/tuneup, rear wheel brakes cleaning, or even brake-oil flush, wheels greasing, etc. just to name a few.

I have caught "lead" technician pumping engine oil into the gearbox oil slot in an adjacent vehicle, and when i asked him about it, he simply just walked away.

During my last routine service visit, the SM was suggesting that I should get the new 457, and when I asked him about the service - he proudly beamed that saying "yahi pe hoga".

God save anyone who ends up buying these vehicles.

[GTO]

Trust the Italians . In India, the most modified cars have historically been Thars, Swifts, Citys, VAGs (VWs, Skodas), BMWs...never once heard the manufacturer officially blaming reliability issues on aftermarket accessories.

please do note that Aprilia offers warranty only to the original owner.

Huh? A 1-year old used Aprilia has no warranty coverage for the 2nd owner?