Stella Automatic: Recall By Bashan (Read 1,280 times)

[Bashan]

Boy Pedro, good thing you snagged the manual!

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a recall notice for 2014 Stella 125 Automatic scooters manufactured December 2013 through March 2014. The 800 potentially affected units may have a “faulty engine control unit which can cause the engine to stall without warning.”

According to the Defect Notice submitted by Genuine Scooters to the NHTSA, the 800 units represent the entire stock of this particular model imported into the United States. Detailing the defect, Genuine explains that “there is a potentially faulty circuit in the ECU which may cause the engine to fail upon starting or may cause the engine to stop without warning.”

Affected models were first distributed in March 2014, and by the end of that same month Genuine had “received complains about scooters that would not start during dealer preparation.” By April 2014 replacement ECUs had been shipped. To-date there are have been no reported crashes, injuries or fatalities, although there have been 37 warranty claims.

Customers with an affected model can take their Stella 125 Automatic to a Genuine dealer to have the ECU replaced, free of charge. Owners can contact Genuine customer service at 1-773-433-1311 for more information.

Additional information can be found at www.safecar.gov or by calling the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236. The NHTSA campaign number for this recall is 14V408000.

Now can someone explain these mirrors to me!!?? Sheeesh! THOSE need a recall.

[cyborg]

This one big reason I try not to buy first year production,, snags/glitches/design/ production problems you name it,,,

[randy]

I wonder why with all the different issues on the E bay Chinese scoots they are not held to same standards as other manufactures? I have owned several and three of them would flash the headlight and tail light in harmony with the turn signals not to mention the other common to Chinese scoot problems.As far as the mirrors the handle bars they truthfully work pretty well when you put a windshield on it and I have noticed some have actually put longer mirrors on them.

[Bashan]

They're not held to the same standard because they are dirt cheap. And yet, some people get them for a song and endlessly complain that this or that breaks and the warranty sucks. All of the above is true including the song. Having purchased a SYM I've probably bought my last Chinese scooter, the savings for me doesn't outweigh the pain in the butt factor. But why should they be held to the standard of Taiwanese bikes when they are 1/4 the cost?

[randy]

Cost should not be an issue. If they manufacture a vehicle to operate on the streets with other vehicles they should be held to the same standards, purchase price should not be of any issue.What is the starting price of when safety is of concern? They dump that cheap crap on our shores and the liability ends at the dock.

[cyborg]

You can make just about anything you can dream up,,,, people buy

[kz1000st]

Besides, don't blame the Chinese if the government doesn't do its job. Rocket has a headlight switch that lets me ride without it on, no kill switch and all gears upshift down and downshift up. Isn't there a standardization guideline that Fed DOT is supposed to follow that says shift on the left, first gear down, all others up? New York calls Rocket a moped with a top speed of 30 mph. Want to clock me?

How about 250cc scooters, even Japanese, with J rated tires? Max speed 62 mph.

I'm not disagreeing with you Randy but as long as vehicles that can be used on the road are sold in crates there will be no oversight-ever. Genuine sells through a dealer network that the Feds can track. The Government hasn't bothered to make online sellers keep those records.

[FACE PLANT FOR LIFE]

Sept 26, 2014 12:11:35 GMT -6 kz1000st said:

Besides, don't blame the Chinese if the government doesn't do its job. Rocket has a headlight switch that lets me ride without it on, no kill switch and all gears upshift down and downshift up. Isn't there a standardization guideline that Fed DOT is supposed to follow that says shift on the left, first gear down, all others up? New York calls Rocket a moped with a top speed of 30 mph. Want to clock me?

How about 250cc scooters, even Japanese, with J rated tires? Max speed 62 mph.

I'm not disagreeing with you Randy but as long as vehicles that can be used on the road are sold in crates there will be no oversight-ever. Genuine sells through a dealer network that the Feds can track. The Government hasn't bothered to make online sellers keep those records.

That sounds exactly what my scooter does (minus the gear selection). It has a switch that can turn the headlight/running lights off, and it also has no kill switch. I never did understand the need for a kill switch, anyhow.

[randy]

If you ever have a throttle stick you would sure wish you had a kill switch. With a cable operated throttle it can very easily happen. I had a 427 Nova and the throttle stuck wide open in first gear I didn't know whether to chit or go blind.

[cyborg]

That will get yer blood pumpin!!!!

[Bashan]

Randy......why was your throttle wide open in first gear with a 427? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Bad boy, newspaper on the nose! Rich

[FACE PLANT FOR LIFE]

Oct 1, 2014 18:27:12 GMT -6 randy said:

If you ever have a throttle stick you would sure wish you had a kill switch. With a cable operated throttle it can very easily happen. I had a 427 Nova and the throttle stuck wide open in first gear I didn't know whether to chit or go blind.

Yes, I do suppose I would wish I had a kill switch, if it weren't for the fact that I could just turn the key off. It's literally right underneath my dashboard, it wouldn't be that hard for me to just turn it off. If the key was in some very weird place I can imagine needing a killswitch. Then again I can imagine the safety issues, having to take one hand off the handlebar to turn off the key, also. I wouldn't might a kill switch, but for me it's not a necessity. I don't have room for a killswitch anyways, and I really don't want to be drilling out plastic to put one in!

Now if by some reason your throttle got stuck wide open, your killswitch lost its ground, and so did your ignition switch, well....hold on tight..and also press on the brakes as hard as possible! What would you even do if that was to happen? A loss of ground to both ignition and kill switch (the spark plug could not be grounded) and your throttle was stuck wide open...hmm? I do know it's possible for the killswitch to break. My brothers VIP had a killswitch that sometimes did and did not work, and it affected his ignition, too. So at random you could just start his scooter. Imagine if his throttle was stuck wide open..