The fuel tank has been expanding consistently now for the past few years. It has began to crack the attachment points for the body plastics. I sent pictures and reported this years ago to KTM and they told me it would have to be inspected which they may not cover and even still wouldn’t guarantee it would be replaced/fixed. This puts my safety at risk if I experience a crash or collision since the integrity of the tank is in question and it puts others safety at risk because it could rupture from a fall and cause a fire. There are no warning lamps on, the only symptom has been the swelling worsening over time and stress cracking the plastic fairings surrounding it. It could possibly be putting stress under the back part of the seat also.I have not had it inspected yet by the manufacturer or the police. The problem hasn’t been reproduced to my knowledge at any dealership but I’ve seen that others have had this same issue with the same model of motorcycle.
2021 KTM 690 Smc R
Owners filed 3 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the fuel/propulsion system. No safety recall has been issued.
| Component | Reports | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fuel/Propulsion System | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What owners reported
Newest filingsThe fuel tank is expanding, leading to the fairings cracking, especially the right hand side (rear). Two fairings have been cracked and it’s impossible to refit them. The tank vent is working and on multiple occasions has vented fuel out in the garage. Multiple people reported ethanol to play a role in the expansion of the tank, however this bike has never seen anything below 91 octane. The risk of the tank bursting or nearing the exhaust is given and poses a safety risk. I have not presented it to a dealer yet, however did my own research and found out that multiple owners have this issue and also filed complaints about the exact same fuel tank situation. This should be a recall and the tank should be replaced by Ktm to prevent a potential fire hazard and or injuring the operator severely.
The fuel tank is swelling so much that all the Plastics are breaking and the tank itself is just about touching the exhaust header clamp. im getting worried it may explode if it touches the exhaust clamp.
3 of 3 complaints, reproduced as filed.
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.