2008 Can-AM Spyder RS Steering Problems

“Vehicle is a 2008 Can-Am spyder on 2/20/2009 while moving the vehicles steering locked completely. I was unable to move the steering either left or right. While trying to turn I felt a pop and the vehicle steering returned. This has happened before while sitting still but never when the vehicle was in motion.”

“Besides a number of mechanical problems with my can am spyder that have been fixed under warranty, the worst episode was when my power steering became intermittent. I was hundreds of miles from home when it went out on me twice. I was moving at about 35 MPH when the spyder proceeded to steer to the right all on it's own and it took a bit of muscle to steer it back to center to avoid hitting a tree. This was the first time it happened. A day later the same thing happened at around the same speed. …”

“2008 Can-Am spyder power steering is intermittently turning 'on' and 'off' and 'locking up' causing driver of motorcycle to fight steering to keep bike on road. This only started to occur after I had around 5,000 miles on the bike. This is happening on my own spyder, as well as many others I have spoken to in various online forums. There has been 1 death in texas that may be due to this failure. There has been 1 serious accident in california where the rider has stated this steering problem was the cause of the accident. …”

“I was riding my 2008 Can-Am spyder roadster on the interstate at approximately 70mph when I noticed that it began drifting into the next lane all on its own, when I tried to correct back into my lane the steering felt stuck and when I pulled harder to correct it then it would suddenly overcorrect and shoot over into the lane on the other side. This happened several times and as I slowed to merge onto another highway I heard a loud popping sound and the front wheels started turning left and right all by themselves and clicking and popping. …”

“Steering felt like it was locked. As I applied more (significantly) force to correct the steering it suddenly jerked and steered in the direction I was trying to get it to go. It would steer in quick jerks and it was difficult to keep it in the lane of the road. Even while going in a straight line it felt like it was trying to steer left on its own. I had to hold a lot of pressure on the handle bars to keep it going in a straight line. At one point I almost ran into a car on my right as the road was curving and the steering was locked. I felt I could only maintain some control below 40 MPH. …”