2012 Harley-Davidson Flstc

Owner complaints

What owners report most

1. Wheels9
2. Steering2
3. Exterior lighting1
4. Service brakes1
5. Structure1
6. Suspension1

Latest complaints

• Mar 26, 2018FL25,000 mi
  Service brakes
  My rear brakes stopped working while in motion. the rear brake pedal became rock solid & would not depress. the brake fluid was checked & found to have plenty in the reservoir. I had a harley davidson technician analyze it & was told that the ABS unit has gone bad, I was also told that there…

  My rear brakes stopped working while in motion. the rear brake pedal became rock solid & would not depress. the brake fluid was checked & found to have plenty in the reservoir. I had a harley davidson technician analyze it & was told that the ABS unit has gone bad, I was also told that there was a recall on this ABS unit for harley davidson motorcycles but only through years 2011. however, I bought my motorcycle on 09-11-11 so have to wonder whether my motorcycle would be covered. this same technician says he has had to remedy this dangerous issue for several customers, owning motorcycles manufactured past 2011. I was also told that the situation can become even more dangerous (it the rider IS unaware of the problem), if they are to press the pedal very hard, the rear brake could possibly engage & not release. I have fulfilled my scheduled maintenance per the manual. flushing the ABS system was not a requirement in the regular maintenance requirements. this seems to be an ongoing dangerous, defective problem that harley davidson should review & extend the years that need to be recalled.

• Apr 15, 2015NJ1,800 mi
  Wheels
  I was riding normal speed of about 60 mph and went into very dangerous wobble/ weave. I let go of throttle and layed my body weight over the tank and was able to slow to a stop. Checked and found all spokes on rear wheel were dead and loose. Bike only has 1800 miles on it. I have seen tons of…

  I was riding normal speed of about 60 mph and went into very dangerous wobble/ weave. I let go of throttle and layed my body weight over the tank and was able to slow to a stop. Checked and found all spokes on rear wheel were dead and loose. Bike only has 1800 miles on it. I have seen tons of forums online all complaining about this very issue and yet harley has not made this a legit recall or known problem... Someone with little riding skill will wind up being killed from this issue. Until it becomes a known problem people are selling their faulty rims on ebay after bying new ones as well. *tr

• May 12, 2014TX7,700 mi
  Wheels
  Bought new 2012 flstc H-D in february 2011. Took the bike in for the first 1,000 mile service. When I picked the bike up it was noted on the service ticket that all spokes where loose on the front and rear wheels. Now have 7700 miles on the bike and took it in for new rear tire.[ have noticed just…

  Bought new 2012 flstc H-D in february 2011. Took the bike in for the first 1,000 mile service. When I picked the bike up it was noted on the service ticket that all spokes where loose on the front and rear wheels. Now have 7700 miles on the bike and took it in for new rear tire.[ have noticed just in the week before handling a little different] when the dealer was installing the new tire they called me into the work area to show me there was a wobble in the rear wheel. I thought this was not a problem because I had bought the extended warranty. After checking the factory warranty had gone out on april 5th,2014 and the selling dealership did not include the wheel and tire warranty in the extended warranty.[ all this IS happening on 05/06/2014] the dealer could not warranty the wheel and recommended that I put a tubeless mag wheel on the bike because H-D has a problem with the spoke wheels on the flstc models. and I would be back with the same problem if I put the spoke wheel back on. They even had new bikes come in with the same problem straight from the H-D factory. So $790.00 plus labor later! You would think with the dealerships informing the H-D factory about this that big H-D would stand up and take care of the customer with this problem and fix their bikes and fix the problem at the factory!! *tr

• Jul 2, 2013WI3,000 mi
  Wheels

  TL* the contact owns a 2012 harley-davidson heritage motorcycle(n/a). The contact stated that while traveling 65 mph, the vehicle shook violently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was determined that the rear wheel spokes were loose. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 3,000. updated 9/23/13 *cn

• May 26, 2013KY560 mi
  Steering · Suspension · Wheels
  Traveling on an interstate at approx. 65 mph, bike developed an unstable condition that felt similar to riding on an under inflated rear tire. Visual inspection found extremely loose spokes on the rear wheel rim resulting in the tire traveling at a different axis than the hub when under load.…

  Traveling on an interstate at approx. 65 mph, bike developed an unstable condition that felt similar to riding on an under inflated rear tire. Visual inspection found extremely loose spokes on the rear wheel rim resulting in the tire traveling at a different axis than the hub when under load. Returned bike to the dealer and was told that it was a known problem with the 2012 heritage soft tail bikes and they had a previous instance of the same condition. Currently awaiting return of the bike after warranty repair. *tr

• Aug 10, 2012NH1,500 mi
  Steering · Wheels
  While riding on the highway the front wheel began to wobble excessively, causing loss of control of the motorcycle. No accident occured, but the motorcycle was dangerously difficult to handle, the whole bike wobbling uncontrollably. Steering was also compromised. Slowly proceeded to harley davidson…

  While riding on the highway the front wheel began to wobble excessively, causing loss of control of the motorcycle. No accident occured, but the motorcycle was dangerously difficult to handle, the whole bike wobbling uncontrollably. Steering was also compromised. Slowly proceeded to harley davidson dealer and was informed that this had occured with this motorcycle and that it was a "spoke loosening" problem that they were aware of with this particular model and year. *tr

• Jul 28, 2012LA3,200 mi
  Wheels
  I entered interstate 12 and began to accelerate. my recently purchased used (2800 miles) heritage classic developed a severe wobble at around 60 mph. the wobble worsened and it became difficult to stay on the motorcycle. I rolled off throttle and allowed the motorcycle to slow on it's own…

  I entered interstate 12 and began to accelerate. my recently purchased used (2800 miles) heritage classic developed a severe wobble at around 60 mph. the wobble worsened and it became difficult to stay on the motorcycle. I rolled off throttle and allowed the motorcycle to slow on it's own without breaking. the wobble subsided and I was able to get the bike to the side of the road. this had happened twice earlier in the day, but this wobble event was much more severe. I took the bike to the harley dealership in slidell, la. And was told the spokes on the back rim were loose and this was a known issue with 2012 heritage classics. the motorcycle had approx. 3200 miles on it at the time of this event and road conditions were dry and smooth. researching this on the internet, I did find this type of event IS well known on this vehicle. this time, I was able to stay on the bike, albeit with great difficulty, and was not injured. the wobble was severe enough it could easily have turned out much different. I am lucky. a witness who was behind me stopped to see if I was okay and stated, "that looked like a wild ride." I don't want to experience this at highway speeds again. spokes were tightened and no further wobble developed today. though not new to riding, I had purchased this vehicle used from mike bruno's harley davidson in slidell 4 days previous to the event and took possession of the motorcycle 3 days prior to the event. though I noticed a looseness in the rear end when I first rode the bike, I assumed it was just a new bike with a new feel. I was wrong, almost painfully so. I would like to say the dealership was very responsive and concerned. action should be taken to correct this issue to prevent injury and possible death of the rider. *tr

• May 14, 2012CO160 miCrash1 injury
  Structure › Motorcycle › Kickstand/center stand
  The second time I rode my brand new 2012 harley davidson heritage softail, the kickstand was lowered and inexplicably broke off the motorcycle causing it to fall over while I was astride the vehicle. this caused over $3500 in damages and injury to my elbow. harley davidson company has been…

  The second time I rode my brand new 2012 harley davidson heritage softail, the kickstand was lowered and inexplicably broke off the motorcycle causing it to fall over while I was astride the vehicle. this caused over $3500 in damages and injury to my elbow. harley davidson company has been extremely unresponsive regarding this incident and it has been necessary to hire an attorney to remedy this situation. The HD company instructed me to turn a claim into my insurance company which I reluctantly did as I felt HD should be responsible for all repairs. after an independent repair shop had ordered parts (that cannot be returned), HD then stated they would take care of all repairs but only if the repairs were done at an HD dealer. they have not said what repairs they would perform. In the meantime, this motorcycle has been sitting in a shop waiting for HD to inspect it and present their findings for almost 2 months. when asked to send the HD engineer's repairs list and the estimate from the local HD dealer to my attorney, HD originally stated they would, then stated they had only the estimate sent by the independent shop. The HD inspector found additional damages (alluded to in a communication between the HD contact person and my attorney) but as of this morning, HD states they do not have a report written by their inspector-which, frankly, seems highly unlikely and could include repairs to the vehicle involving safety issues. *js

• May 4, 2012GA900 mi
  Wheels
  At 900 miles there was a noticeable instability in the tracking of the wheels at all speeds with more ?wobble? During decelerations and braking HD dealer instructed me to park the motorcycle and they would retrieve it the rear wheel spokes were loose causing the at-risk condition informally I was…

  At 900 miles there was a noticeable instability in the tracking of the wheels at all speeds with more ?wobble? During decelerations and braking HD dealer instructed me to park the motorcycle and they would retrieve it the rear wheel spokes were loose causing the at-risk condition informally I was informed it was a know issue and HD has a program for remediation the rear wheel was replaced; no other defects were found. *tr

• Feb 4, 2012AZ800 mi
  Wheels

  The first incident started as a wobble on deceleration. The vehicle was parked until the day of the appointment at the dealership. While taking the vehicle in the deceleration wobbles continued and escalated to a pronounced wobble in the 65-70 mph range. Problem was determined to be loose spokes in the rear wheel. *kb

• Feb 4, 2012AZ775 mi
  Exterior lighting

  Pulling onto the roadway I heard a hiss then a pop and saw something fly in front of the headlight. Further examination revealed that one of the passing lamps had blown out internally

• Dec 15, 2011FL
  Wheels

  2012 harley davidson flstc motorcycle. Consumer writes in regards to a slight wobble when coming to a stop. *tgw the consumer stated the wobble soon became noticeable all the time at any speed. the consumer returned to the dealer who diagnosed the problem as a loose rear wheel spoke. *jb

Service bulletins

Technical service bulletins and other communications the manufacturer sent dealers about this vehicle. Ask a dealer for the full document by its number.

• 11008736SERVICE BULLETIN M1555 (REV E): BATTERY WARRANTY GUIDELINES. PURPOSE: Revision E. Added: Added procedures for the DCA-8000 E Battery Tester.* Updated: All sections. This bulletin informs the dealership network that Harley-Davidson has provided guidelines for battery warranty.
• 11007544SERVICE BULLETIN M1490 (V 24.8.8): DIGITAL TECHNICIAN II - UPDATES AND RELEASE NOTES. PURPOSE: This bulletin informs dealers that Harley-Davidson has made a software update to Digital Technician II (DT II). DIGITAL TECHNICIAN II (PART NUMBER: HD-48650). Version 24.8.8. Release Date: Week of August 5, 2024. New Features for Harley-Davidson vehicles: Advanced Module Replace for 2021 and later Revolution Max; 2023 and later CVO Touring; and 2024 Street Glide (FLHX), Road Glide (FLTRX). New Features for LiveWire vehicles: Updated calibrations for 2024 S2DM EV1/ EV6; 2024 S2MH EV1; and 2024 S2DM, S2MH. Changes: Added Hand Control Module (HCM) (Part No. 71500522A and 71500536A) for reflash support.
• 11005514GENUINE MOTOR PARTS AND MOTOR ACCESSORIES BULLETIN PAB1158: OIL FILTER PACKAGING AND CASE QUANTITY UPDATE. PURPOSE: To inform dealerships that Harley-Davidson has made updates to oil filters including new part numbers, packaging design, and bulk case quantity changes.
• 11001293SERVICE BULLETIN M1490 (V 24.6.4): DIGITAL TECHNICIAN II - UPDATES AND RELEASE NOTES. PURPOSE: Revision. This bulletin informs dealers that Harley-Davidson has made a software update to Digital Technician II (DT II). DIGITAL TECHNICIAN II (PART NUMBER: HD-48650). Version 24.6.4. Release Date: Week of May 1, 2024. New Features for LiveWire S2DM and S2MH, 2024 Revolution Max, and 2024 Touring.
• 10254115SERVICE BULLETIN M1612 (REV A): MILWAUKEE-EIGHT AND TWIN CAM TRANSMISSION GEAR PACKS. Purpose: Revision. Update: Notes for Table 3 and 4. * Updated: Part Numbers. This bulletin informs dealers that all: Twin Cam gear packs on CVO, Dyna, Police, Softail, Touring & Trike models and Milwaukee-Eight gear packs on CVO, Police, Softail, Touring & Trike models ordered after December 04, 2023 will not come with the shift drum, forks, shafts and related hardware. Models Affected: 2006-2017 Twin Cams: Dyna models 2007-2016 Twin Cams: CVO, Police, Touring and Trike models 2007-2017 Twin Cams: Softail models 2017-2024 Milwaukee-Eight: CVO, Police, Touring and Trike models 2018-2024 Milwaukee-Eight: Softail models
• 10248401GENUINE MOTOR PARTS AND MOTOR ACCESSORIES BULLETIN PAB1146: 68193-95 BULB WEDGE, FENDER TIP LAMP. Purpose: To inform dealers of an issue with the bulb wire terminals not being to specification. The light bulbs were used in numerous front and rear fender tip light assemblies for domestic and international applications.
• 10248398SERVICE BULLETIN M1612: MILWAUKEE-EIGHT AND TWIN CAM TRANSMISSION GEAR PACKS. Purpose: This bulletin informs dealers that all: Twin Cam gear packs on CVO, Dyna, Police, Softail, Touring & Trike models and Milwaukee-Eight gear packs on CVO, Police, Softail, Touring & Trike models ordered after December 04, 2023 will not come with the shift drum, forks, shafts and related hardware. Note: Resubmission is a correction to Selected Products Section of Transaction ID 24MC44619, NHTSA ID 10248397. Models Affected by M1612 to include only: 2006-2017 Twin Cams: Dyna models 2007-2016 Twin Cams: CVO, Police, Touring and Trike models 2007-2017 Twin Cams: Softail models 2017-2024 Milwaukee-Eight: CVO, Police, Touring and Trike models 2018-2024 Milwaukee-Eight: Softail models
• 10248397SERVICE BULLETIN M1612: MILWAUKEE-EIGHT AND TWIN CAM TRANSMISSION GEAR PACKS. Purpose: This bulletin informs dealers that all: Twin Cam gear packs on CVO, Dyna, Police, Softail, Touring & Trike models and Milwaukee-Eight gear packs on CVO, Police, Softail, Touring & Trike models ordered after December 04, 2023 will not come with the shift drum, forks, shafts and related hardware.
• 10179446GENUINE MOTOR PARTS AND MOTOR ACCESSORIES BULLETIN PAB1100: TWIN CAM LONGBLOCK & WARRANTY ENGINE - PROGRAM UPDATES. PURPOSE: To inform dealers of certain twin cam longblock and twin cam warranty engines are no longer supported. Instead, shortblocks should be ordered where applicable.
• 10158172GENUINE MOTOR PARTS AND ACCESSORIES BULLETIN PAB1084: SOFTAIL BACKREST PAD IMPROVEMENTS. Purpose: To inform dealers of design improvements for the Compact Passenger Backrest Pads. Some of these pads can become loose resulting in the backrest pad slipping on the sissy bar. The new backrest pads, designated with an ?A? revision, have been redesigned to fix this issue.
• 10153955SERVICE BULLETIN M1485: 2000 - 2017 SOFTAIL - FUEL TANK GASKET. Purpose: Service fuel tanks for Softail motorcycles are now being updated to include a top plate gasket (Part No. 61381-02A) with all new replacement tanks. Harley-Davidson strongly recommends using the new gasket when servicing the fuel tank. The updated gasket has improved sealing of fuel vapors and improved compatibility with fuel that contains ethanol alcohol additives. Motorcycles Affected: 2000 - 2017 Softails, all models excluding FXSTD, FXSTDSE, FXSTDSE2, FXCW and FXCWC.
• 10139399TECH ARTICLE TA0023: TA0023: Crankshaft Rod Bearing. Purpose: Technicians have been falsely identifying connecting rod bearings as failed due to a perception of resistance as the rods are rotated. The clearance of the Twin Cam and Milwaukee-Eight crank pin bearings are maintained to a very tight range. This optimizes performance and maintains low mechanical noise in operation. The connecting rod bore can also distort slightly in operation due to stress relaxation. As a result, bearing clearance decreases due to the contact zone broadening and the load being distributed over more rollers. The combination of a bore being slightly out of round and reduced bearing clearance can result in varying degrees of resistance through the range of motion. Axial clearance is also tightly controlled for proper alignment. For these reasons, zones of resistance can be found when the connecting rods are rotated by hand through their range of motion. Resistance during rod motion, by itself, is not an indication of a performance or durability concern.
• 10090280This document will outline inspection and measurement procedures for gerotor style oil pumps. It provides inspection procedures only without specifications.
• 10090241The purpose of this bulletin IS to create dealer awareness of a change in registered accessory labor codes and associated times.

Every Harley-Davidson Flstc model year

Bars are owner complaints, dots mark years with recalls. Select a year to open its report.