The 1998 Buell S3t has 1 NHTSA recall campaign affecting an estimated 4,724 vehicles. Recall repairs are always free at any authorized dealer. Owners have filed 2 complaints with NHTSA, most often about the structure. Last updated July 5, 2026.
VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: MOTORCYCLES. FAILURE OF ONE OR MORE TURN SIGNAL LAMPS WOULD NOT BE INDICATED TO THE OPERATOR OF THE VEHICLE (NO NOTICEABLE CHANGE IN THE FLASHING RATE OF THE TURN SIGNAL INDICATOR LIGHT). THIS DOES NOT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF FMVSS NO. 108, "LAMPS, REFLECTIVE DEVICES, AND ASSOCIATED…
Consequence
AN OPERATOR WOULD NOT BE AWARE THAT THE TURN SIGNAL LAMPS WERE NOT WORKING.
Remedy
DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE TURN SIGNAL LAMPS ON THESE MOTORCYCLES.
Complaints by component
STRUCTURE:FRAME AND MEMBERS:UNDERBODY SHIELDS
1
SUSPENSION:FRONT
1
Total complaints2
What owners report
Verbatim reports filed with NHTSA, lightly edited for readability and with personal
information removed.
“Motorcycle handling suddenly deteriorated, became unstable. Upon stopping to investigate could not determine cause. Went immediately to buell dealership where certified buell technician adjusted rear shock preload. This improved the handling somewhat but did not correct it. Another buell…”
“The consumer did not receive recall repair (99v-086) when being serviced, the component failed while driving due to improper recall service. *mjs”
Defect investigations
InvestigationPE03043 Opened 2003-09-23 · closed 2003-10-30
THROTTLE FAILS TO RETURN TO IDLE
TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM DESCRIBED ABOVE, BUELL IS RECALLING THOSE FUEL-INJECTED MOTORCYCLES THAT IT BUILT WITHOUT A THROTTLE CABLE CONTROL CLAMP.FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS SUBJECT, PLEASE REFER TO THE MEMORANDUM ENTITLED THE SCOPE OF BUELL'S SAFETY RECALL, 03V-427 COPY ATTACHED.
Recall, complaint, and investigation records from official NHTSA datasets (FLAT_RCL,
FLAT_CMPL, FLAT_INV), synced weekly. Counts reflect NHTSA records for the 1998 Buell S3t as of
July 5, 2026. Complaint narratives are consumer-submitted and unverified. This page
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