Total Complaints
2 filings
BMW K1200 R · model year
2 NHTSA complaints. A VIN lookup is required to determine whether a specific vehicle has an unrepaired recall.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 2003BMWK1200 R carries 2 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
The most frequently selected component label in reports for the 2003 K1200 R is power train with 1 filings, followed by service brakes (1). Complaint categories reflect owner reports and intake categorization; they do not establish a defect pattern or cause.
NHTSA currently has 34 investigation files overlapping the 2003 K1200 R. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should read the complaint-by-year trend as report volume, not a causal diagnosis. Use the related-complaint feed and the official recall lookup when researching a specific vehicle.
Total Complaints
2 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | 1 |
| SERVICE BRAKES | 1 |
RIDING ON FREEWAY ABS LIGHTS START FLASHING PULL OVER AND TRY TO STOP, NO POWER ASSIST BRAKE LEVER HARD AND BRAKES WOULD NOT STOP. FOUND FLUID WAS LOW ON REAR AND LATER FOUND ABS UNIT TO HAVE LEAK. CONTACTED BMW WAS TOLD BECAUSE BIKE WAS OUT OF WARRANTY WHEN TOLD IT WAS A SAFETY ISSUE NOT A WARRANTY ISSUE THEY WERE NOT INTERESTED. *TR
Mileage: 20,109
NOTED A GRINDING FEEL IN THE MOTORCYCLE DURING A RIDE. RETURNED HOME AND FOUND FLUID LEAKING FROM THE FINAL DRIVE ONTO THE REAR BRAKE (WHICH NO LONGER WORKED) AND THE REAR TIRE, WHICH BEGAN TO SLIP WHILE CORNERING. THE LEAK IS A SIGN OF A SEAL FAILURE CAUSED BY THE REAR DRIVE BEARINGS SELF-DESTRUCTING. THESE FAILURES ARE COMMON IN BMWS OF THIS ERA, BOTH MY RS AS WELL AS THE LT AND RT MODELS. BMW KNOWS WELL THIS IS A PROBLEM, AND NEEDS TO BE MADE TO STEP UP AND DO THE REPAIRS, WHICH ARE NOT CHEAP. *TR
Mileage: 34,947
Data vintage: August 2026. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Every figure on PlainCars is rendered directly from NHTSA complaint and safety data, no number is typed in by an editor. This year-specific record is rendered from NHTSA ODI, recall, and NCAP rows for the 2003 BMW K1200 R; no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.