I WAS INVITED BY THE ZERO MOTORCYCLE FACTORY TO TEST RIDE THEIR ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE AT A LOCAL DEALER. AFTER A MILE OR TWO, THE FIRST HARD BRAKING CAUSED A WHEEL LOCKUP WITH AN IMMEDIATE CRASH. I WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED AND SUBSEQUENTLY HAD TO BE HOSPITALIZED 3 TIMES FOR THOSE INJURIES AND FOR COMPLICATIONS AND SURGERY. I LATER DISCOVERED THAT BIKES OF THE SAME TYPE AS THE ONE I WAS RIDING, THE 2012 ZERO MODEL S, HAD BEEN THE SUBJECT OF TWO FACTORY RECALLS FOR FRONT BRAKE PROBLEMS, ONE OF WHICH COULD RESULT IN THE WHEEL LOCKING UP AND CAUSING A CRASH. MY INJURIES INCLUDED BRAIN CONCUSSION, SUBDURAL HEMATOMA, SEVERE LACERATIONS OF BOTH HANDS, BROKEN RIB, DEEP PUNCTURE WOUND TO RIGHT KNEE, TENDON INJURIES TO LEFT THUMB AND RIGHT ELBOW, FACIAL LACERATIONS AND SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT OF CELLULITIS IN RIGHT LEG WITH SEPSIS, AND THIGH ABSCESS REQUIRING SURGERY. *TR
2012 Zero S
Routine
Owners filed 1 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the service brakes. No safety recall has been issued.
What fails
| Component | Reports | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Service Brakes | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
What owners reported
Newest filingsService BrakesCrash1 injured
Filed Sep 26, 2014VA
1 of 1 complaints, reproduced as filed.
Other Zero models
All Zero models →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.