V4SS quality disaster

kommando said:
Looks like the V4 SS is a quality disaster with potentially 20 safety critical concerns.

SuperBike Magazine - Norton V4SS defect list.

www.superbike.co.uk www.superbike.co.uk

If you own one then fixing it is your responsibility.
Click to expand...
Wow. Thats a shocking list of potentially very serious design failures, with potentially disastrous effects. Fire risk, engine seizures, brake failures, frame cracks... it makes the quibbles about relays and sensors on the 961s seem like nothing !

Owners instructed to remove the battery and not ride! Seems to me it’s a huge blessing that Norton did not get the 650s out to market when planned !

It would be very interesting to hear the head of designs response to these design failures...
 
Not sure if it carries across to SG 961's but for the V4 SS the new Norton will identity and list all the design errors and redesign the V4 SS. However the SG owner has to undertake and pay for repairs and then join the list of creditors to claim this cost back.
 
kommando said:
Not sure if it carries across to SG 961's but for the V4 SS the new Norton will identity and list all the design errors and redesign the V4 SS. However the SG owner has to undertake and pay for repairs and then join the list of creditors to claim this cost back.
Click to expand...
Personally, I’m would suggest that TVS are investing in this activity with the V4 because they intend to get into full production with it. It’s their intended flagship product. Also, they want to get into full, high volume, production with the 650s, and many design features are the same between the two.

They do not intend to revert to series production of the 961.
 
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Do they still employ Skinner ?I believe the chief designer of the V4, pretty sure they do. I wonder what he has to say (nothing I guess)
 
Seems to me that TVS are trying hard to do the right thing here, without shooting themselves in the foot.

They‘re trying to solve the problems, but avoid liability. If they took the liability on they could find themselves with 200 owners wanting their £50k back... £10m down the drain. That’s a big chunk when they ‘only’ paid £16m for the company.

But OTOH some of those repairs look expensive. Are they really gonna leave the cost to the customers? Fixing that list of 35 items looks like a bill of several thousand pounds to me.

I gotta say, I really feel I dodged a bullet that my Super Light order never materialised... :oops:
 
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Fast Eddie said:
Personally, I’m would suggest that TVS are investing in this activity with the V4 because they intend to get into full production with it. It’s their intended flagship product. Also, they want to get into full, high volume, production with the 650s, and many design features are the same between the two.

They do not intend to revert to series production of the 961.
Click to expand...
What I meant was that SG buyers of the 961 with warranty issues and/or design faults cannot expect the TVS Norton to contribute to costs of repair or cost of replacement parts. So they will be charged for the work and parts and then need to claim from the liquidator. If an SG V4SS owners gets to hear of an SG 961 owner having TVS Norton contributing to a repair or parts then the precedent is set for TVS Norton to also cover the SG V4SS repair costs.
 
With a total of 20 recalls the buyer's are left with a double wammy - namely do you ignore the recalls, or risk sending the bike back to Doddington, when the factory was open, and find that the wonderful SG stripped your bike of parts to keep his production line going, as he did?
 
The 20 recalls are going to be reported to the DVSA

www.gov.uk

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency

We carry out driving tests, approve people to be driving instructors and MOT testers, carry out tests to make sure lorries and buses are safe to drive, carry out roadside checks on drivers and vehicles, and monitor vehicle recalls. DVSA is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department for...
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk

With that many can you even insure an SG V4SS without an engineers report detailing all the fixes have been applied.

And are these worth £50K anymore ? Don't think so.

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Grim news for the poor buggers who shelled all that money out. I think at least a few of them won't be loaded , they just wanted one so bad they used their pensions and savings .
 
Considering the lack of testing of the 961 I always thought they were over-ambitious with the v4ss with potential safety issues.

A mix of fire hazards and brake failures - crash and burn baby, crash and burn.
 
trident sam said:
Grim news for the poor buggers who shelled all that money out. I think at least a few of them won't be loaded , they just wanted one so bad they used their pensions and savings .
Click to expand...
I agree, but hopefully they will end up with sorted bikes eventually. Does anybody know how many they sold?
 


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