Yamaha Road Star Limited Edition: problems, complaints, bulletins

Summary for the Yamaha Road Star Limited Edition across 1 model years: 14 owner complaints and 0 NHTSA service bulletins, plus repair videos. Pick a year for details.

Model years

Year	Owner complaints	involving a crash	Technical service bulletins (TSB)	YouTube repair videos
2003	14	0	0	0

What fails most often

1 Powertrain 100% of all complaints
2 Service brakes 7% of all complaints

Circle size and colour show each component’s share of NHTSA complaints. Schematic only, not a drawing of the exact model.

Powertrain: 14 complaints (100% of all).
Service brakes: 1 complaints (7% of all).

Symptoms owners describe

How many of the 14 NHTSA complaints mention each symptom (automatic count from complaint text; one complaint can mention several).

transmission slipping1 · 7%
jerking, harsh shifts1 · 7%

Components owners complain about

Component	Owner complaints	involving a crash	Technical service bulletins (TSB)
Powertrain	14	0	0
Service brakes	1	0	0

What owners report

Short excerpts of NHTSA complaints in the original wording. These are owner statements not verified by NHTSA; personal data removed.

I was riding south bound interstate 95 about 65 mph when all of a sudden my yamaha silverado lost speed and started jerking. I pulled the clutch in and let the bike slow down. I then tried to downshift but the shifter was frozen, finally I got it to go into gear.
Powertrain · 2003 · 2010-09-05 · NHTSA complaint #10353965
I was traveling down the freeway when suddenly 5th gear was gone causing me to suddenly loose speed in heavy traffic. I was able to downshift into 4th gear and continue moving at a slower speed, but 5th gear is completely gone. This is the only time it has occurred to me, but there is absolutely no 5th gear.
Powertrain · 2003 · 2009-07-26 · NHTSA complaint #10278355
Three months ago consumer received a recall letter regarding automatic transmission failure. Dealership still did not have the parts available to conduct recall repairs. Consumer was angry that yamaha had not issued any statement on how long it will take to obtain the component items on recall.
Powertrain · 2003 · 2004-04-16 · NHTSA complaint #10067271

When owners complained

NHTSA complaints by filing year. The peak shows at what age the problems show up most.

200412
20091
20101

What to check before buying

Powertrain. Shift quality under load, harsh shifts, transmission codes, CV joints.
Service brakes. Pedal feel, ABS operation, leaks, discs and hoses.

Other models of this make

Read also

Sources: public NHTSA data (USA): service bulletins and owner complaints; YouTube: links to videos credited to their authors. Complaints are owner statements not verified by NHTSA, and describe defects rather than crash damage. Data updated 2026-11-05.