I thought everyone here would find this interesting. Picking up the bike tomorrow; we'll see.
A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed in Texas, alleging that a malfunctioning electronic throttle on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle caused a fatal accident in 2008.
The Harley-Davidson lawsuit was filed in Tarrant County court by Cindy DeBartolo, whose husband, John, was killed on March 24, 2008 when he lost control of his 2008 FLHX Harley-Davidson days after repairs were supposedly made to address problems with the throttle. Cindy DeBartolo was also riding on the bike at the time of the crash and sustained serious injuries in the motorcycle accident as well.
According to the complaint, the electronic throttle malfunctioned on the motorcycle just a week after John DeBartolo purchased the Harley-Davidson bike on March 15, 2008 from Longhorn Harley-Davidson in Grand Prarie, Texas. He took the motorcycle back to the dealership for repair, and it was returned to him on March 22. The motorcycle accident lawsuit alleges that couple was riding the bike two days later when the electronic throttle failed again, causing the fatal crash.
Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc. and LHD Partners L.P., doing business as Longhorn Harley-Davidson, are named as defendants in the lawsuit. DeBartolo alleges that the motorcycle was defectively manufactured and unreasonably dangerous, and that the dealership failed to properly repair the electronic throttle.
In December 2009, Harley-Davidson issued an unrelated recall for more than 111,000 family touring motorcycles due to fuel tanks that could leak or catch fire after a crash. The Harley-Davidson motorcycle recall affects 22 different models of 2009 and 2010 Harley-Davidson Touring, CVO and Trike motorcycles, which were manufactured between June 6, 2008 and November 19, 2009.
