Brake light will not illuminate unless full brake pressure is applied. Incident 1 - This happened 2 separate times. Once 9/2023 at 2765 miles and again 5/2026 at 20,505 miles. My cruise control would turn on but not engage. Upon investigation I discovered the brake light was not illuminating unless full brake pressure was applied. My KTM dealership diagnosed and replaced the brake light switch both times. My understanding this switch is a "pressure switch" Incident 2 - 9/2025 at 18,199 miles my cruise control would not disengage when applying the rear brake. I discovered the brake light did not illuminate unless full brake pressure was applied. The repair at my KTM dealership was to replace the brake light switch. This is very dangerous not having a rear brake light, especially on a motorcycle. Also very dangerous to have a cruise control not disengage when applying the brake. I feel lucky to discover the problem because of the cruise control. The KTM 890 and 790 DUkes do not come standard with cruise control so someone without it may ride for quite some time without knowing their brake light is not working. It does not take much internet searching to see this is a VERY common problem. I am surprised this has not been addressed in the form of a recall or making KTM improve the "brake light switch"
2022 KTM 890 Duke
Owners filed 2 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the engine. No safety recall has been issued.
| Component | Reports | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exterior Lighting | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Engine | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What owners reported
Newest filingsMany people have had issues with premature wear of the camshaft lobe and the valve followers due to the factory installed cam chain tensioner. The cam chain tensioner is almost a problem with any KTM Duke 790/890 or KTM Adventure 790/890. All of these bikes have issues with these specific problem within the first 10,000 miles. This cam chain tensioner failure can led to catastrophic engine failure leading to the engine being unrepairable and needing a completely new engine.
2 of 2 complaints, reproduced as filed.
Across model years
Worst on record: 2022| Year | Complaints | Recalls | Fires | Deaths | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 — this page | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
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.