Home · 2012 BMW F800 GS · Complaints

What 4 owners told NHTSA about the 2012 BMW F800 GS

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (4)Crash / fire / injury (1)Fuel system (3)Electrical system (2)Engine (1)Lights (1)

2 of 4 complaints match · Electrical system · clear filters

Aug 21, 2017Electrical systemLightsEngine

STOCK CHARGING SYSTEM FAILED AT ONLY 47,000 MILES. REPLACED WITH AFTERMARKET PARTS DUE TO COST. BMW SAYS YOU MUST REPLACE STATOR AND ROTOR, WHEN ONLY THE STATOR HAS FAILED. THE NEW STATOR FAILED WITHIN 6,000 MILES. REPLACED AGAIN, AND AGAIN. THEY FAIL ROUGHLY EVERY 8,000 MILES. THE ISSUE WAS RESOLVED WITH 2013 AND NEWER MODELS, BUT THE OLD BIKES ARE STILL FAILING AT AN ALARMING RATE. WITH NO HELP FROM BMW, THESE ARE STILL A MAJOR ISSUE. WHEN THE BATTERY BECOMES LOW, THE ABS PUMP STOPS WORKING FIRST, THEN THE LIGHTS, THEN THE FUEL INJECTION SYSTEM WITH THE MOTOR SHUTTING OFF. HAS LEFT ME STRANDED ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS. I WAS STATIONED IN GUAM WITH FIRST FAILURE. NOT EASY GETTING A TOW ACROSS A SMALL ISLAND WITH NO ACCESS TO A BMW DEALERSHIP. THE REMAINING FAILURES HAVE ALL BEEN BACK STATESIDE. THE MOST RECENT FAILURE LEFT ME STRANDED TWO MILES FROM HOME WHILE COMING HOME LATE ONE NIGHT. WHILE RIDING, MY ABS INDICATOR FLASHED, LETTING ME KNOW THAT I HAVE A LOW BATTERY. THEN THE LIGHT WENT SOLID, INDICATING ABS PUMP FAILURE DUE TO LOW VOLTAGE. THEN MY LCD DASH AND TACHOMETER WENT OUT. THEN MY HEADLIGHT, RUNNING, AND BRAKE LIGHTS TURNED OFF, AT NIGHT, ON A 4 LANE INNER CITY ROAD. NOT EVEN MY HAZARD LIGHTS WORKED. THEN THE BIKES FUEL INJECTION SYSTEM FAILED AND STALLED. I COASTED TO A RIGHT TURN LANE SAFELY AND PROCEEDED TO PUSH THE MOTORCYCLE THE REMAINING TWO MILES. UPON DISASSEMBLY OF MY STATOR, IT WAS SEVERELY BURNT TO DUE A LACK OF OIL COOLING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE MOTOR. I KNOW BMW MAKES MANY MOTORCYCLES WITH THE SAME F800 SERIES ENGINES. THEY ARE A COMMON PROBLEM APPARENTLY AND ALSO VERY EXPENSIVE TO FIX. AS THE BATTERY AND CHARGING SYSTEM IS CRUCIAL TO MOST MOTORCYCLES, THIS IS CERTAINLY A SAFETY RISK AND SHOULD BE ADDRESSED AS SO. THANK YOU.

NHTSA ODI 11016539

Jan 23, 2014Electrical systemFuel systemFire

THE BIKE WOULD NOT START. THE DEALERSHIP TELLS ME THAT WHILE LOOKING AT IT TO REPAIR THERE WAS EVIDENCE OF A FIRE. THE BEST I CAN TELL IS SOMEONE AT THE DEALER CAUSED THE BIKE TO CATCH ON FIRE. *TR

NHTSA ODI 10561245

Working with the data? Download all 4 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 28, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2012 BMW F800 GS verdict →