1997 Harley-Davidson Sportster

Routine

Owners filed 1 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the engine and engine cooling › engine › gasoline. No safety recall has been issued.

What fails
ComponentReportsCrashesFiresInjuries
Engine and Engine Cooling › Engine › Gasoline1
000

What owners reported

Newest filings
Engine and Engine Cooling › Engine › Gasoline
Filed Oct 27, 1997CT

MOTORCYCLE IS AT A STOP, MOTORCYCLE WILL THEN BACKFIRE THROUGH CARBURETOR WHEN ACCELERATING, IT WILL STALL OUT. NEEDS TO RESTART,DEALERSHIP SAYS CANNOT FIX PROBLEM. HAS BEEN IN SHOP TWICE A WEEK SINCE IT WAS BOUGHT,SERIOUS LOUD PINCH WHICH CAUSES LOSS OF POWER ON ACCLERATION JUST ON HOT DAYS. THIS DEFECT CAN CAUSE A SERIOUS ACCIDENT. *AK

1 of 1 complaints, reproduced as filed.

Across model years

Worst on record: 2003
YearComplaintsRecallsFiresDeathsAssessment
20082000Routine
20071000Routine
20057200Routine
20039000Routine
20026000Routine
20016002Fatalities reported
20009000Routine
19996100Routine
19986000Routine
1997 — this page1000Routine
19966100Routine
19932000Routine
19921000Routine

Compare every Sportster year →

Reading this record

No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.

Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.

Most recent recall on file: none. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.