2025 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R

While riding at normal speed, I heard a loud popping noise from the engine, followed by immediate power loss. The motorcycle shut off without warning and coolant began leaking heavily near the front wheel. There were no warning lights or symptoms beforehand. The bike had fewer than 3,000 miles on it and was well maintained. I had to tow the motorcycle to the dealership, where a teardown revealed catastrophic engine failure—including internal damage to the crankcase, pistons, and transmission holder. The issue was later confirmed to be related to a manufacturer-issued recall, which had never been disclosed to me prior to the failure. Despite the severity of the issue and the recall connection, the dealership was unable to complete the repair for over two months due to parts delays and poor communication. The vehicle was non-operational the entire time. This failure created a serious safety risk and resulted in over $1,900 in financial losses due to towing, alternate transportation, and financing costs.

The contact's son owned a 2025 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R. The contact stated that while his son was driving at an undisclosed speed, he was involved in a collision with two other vehicles; the cause of the collision was still under investigation by the California Highway Patrol. The contact was unaware if any warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard and deemed a total loss by the owner's insurance provider. A police report was filed, and injuries as well as a fatality were reported. The contact's son was transported to an area hospital by EMT but was unfortunately pronounced deceased as a result of the accident. Though it was unknown at the time if a specific failure had occurred, upon investigation, the contact concluded that the accident may be related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V376000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The manufacturer was not notified of the accident. The failure mileage was unknown.

Currently the bike is under a "Do not ride" and is inoperable and will continue to be for an extended period of time for myself and many others, with no compensation or alternative during the downtime. Myself and many other riders are stuck with loan payments and/or insurance payments on a bike that is not even a year old in many cases with no word from the manufacturer other than the recommended fix we will be waiting in queue for. This fix is extremely damaging to our value of the $13000-$14000 many of us paid and it will be worth only a fraction of that to resale from here on. Not to mention the reliability of having our engine opened but local mechanics and serviced by them.

My 2025 Kawasaki ZX-6R was recently included as a part of a federal recall concerning a defective crankshaft bearing. A critical engine component, the failure of which could lead to engine seizure, stalling or loss of power - posing a very serious risk and likelihood of a crash. After learning of this recall, I contacted my authorized dealer who confirmed that my VIN was affected, but advised me to CONTINUE RIDING, until I got a letter which would give more information on getting it repaired. I am currently unable to use the motorcycle as a mode of transportation or recreation, significantly affecting my mobility. Given the nature and severity of this defect, I do not accept any resolution that involves partial disassembly or reconstruction of the engine. That is not what I paid for when buying a new motorcycle. I believe the only fair and reasonable remedies are either: Option A: A full engine replacement with a new factory-built, unblemished engine installed by an authorized dealer, with a full reset of warranty coverage from the date of installation. Option B: A complete refund of the original purchase price of the motorcycle, including all dealer fees and taxes, while allowing me to retain title and possession of the bike given the substantial non-recoverable investment in modifications made in good faith." I have requested they confirm a resolution by July 10th and, according to '49 CFR Part 573', and whereby the NHTSA interprets 'reasonable timeframe' as 60 days, that the remedy is completed by Aug 5th, 25.

2days after I bought this bike Kawasaki issued a stop sale and DNR due to faulty #5 crank bushing, and refused to buy the bike back but instead expected me to sit and pay payments and insurance on a bike that I can’t ride for possibly a year with no fix in mind so I had to trade it in and take a big loss on a brand new bike, kiss off Kawasaki that will be my last purchase from you.

Spent an hour waiting to talk to a Kawasaki rep and was told this about the 24/25 recall. "Currently, the recall affects all bikes. There is no current fix on the way BUT Kawasaki is confident (lol) that one will be on the way soon. Do not ride your zx6r for your own safety, but also because if the mechanical failure happens, your bike will take much much much longer to fix." People are spreading so much BS about this issue and a lot of it comes from being overly hopeful that maybe we all aren't screwed. Well, we are. This fix WILL affect every bike, or at the least every bike will need to be inspected, the recall is still not inbound to dealers, and even when it will be (like many have mentioned) this major repair will be done by some kid who's a technician at your local dealer...that's frightening in it of itself. I'm pissed about all this. I'm pissed I bought the bike 2 months before this, I'm pissed I won't have a rideable bike for maybe 6+ months and MOST OF ALL I'm pissed that this will forever be a huge black eye on my $13000 bike.The 24/25 ZX6R's will go down as the "BAD YEAR DONT BUY" bikes. That's the worst part. Even after the fix these bikes will all be bikes that have been cracked open for inspection/fixes. I've been living in limbo with this for weeks now going between hopeful, trying not to care and being angry that about the situation. People are rightfully extremely disgruntled owners of useless $13000 bikes that we just bought for right now. Riding season isn't year round for a lot of us. Anyway, hope I'm wrong. Hope the kawi rep I talked to is wrong. Hope this ends up being something that only affects 1% of the almost 18,000 25/25 ZX6r bikes even though I think we aren't getting accurate info from that document either.

My 2025 Kawasaki ZX-6R was recently included as a part of a federal recall concerning a defective crankshaft bearing. A critical engine component, the failure of which could lead to engine seizure, stalling or loss of power - posing a very serious risk and likelihood of a crash. After learning of this recall, I contacted my authorized dealer who confirmed that my VIN was affected, but advised me to CONTINUE RIDING, until I got a letter which would give more information on getting it repaired. I contacted Kawasaki customer care on two separate occasions via their chat option, copies of these interactions is included hereto whereby they proceeded to give conflicting responses that provided little to no information. I have also sent them a letter containing the following: "I am currently unable to use the motorcycle as a mode of transportation or recreation, significantly affecting my mobility. In addition, I have made over $9,000 in aftermarket modifications, which are rendered useless unless I’m willing to endanger my safety by ignoring the recall." and "Given the nature and severity of this defect, I do not accept any resolution that involves partial disassembly or reconstruction of the engine. That is not what I paid for when buying a new motorcycle. I believe the only fair and reasonable remedies are either: Option A: A full engine replacement with a new factory-built, unblemished engine installed by an authorized dealer, with a full reset of warranty coverage from the date of installation. Option B: A complete refund of the original purchase price of the motorcycle, including all dealer fees and taxes, while allowing me to retain title and possession of the bike given the substantial non-recoverable investment in modifications made in good faith." I have requested they confirm a resolution by July 10th and, according to '49 CFR Part 573', and whereby the NHTSA interprets 'reasonable timeframe' as 60 days, that the remedy is completed by Aug 5th, 25.