Canyon Emtb Battery Safety Notice

[Dcl74]

Hi all,

Newbie here!

Yesterday I received an email from Canyon advising the battery in my Canyon ONCF 9 has a potential safety problem and a stop ride notice issued. I spoke with Canyon UK service centre on the website Chat today and they could not advise when this will be resolved and merely stated a further email would be sent within the coming 4 weeks, which is completely unacceptable!

I've done a thorough inspection of the battery casing as per their guidelines and my casing is in perfect condition. So am tempted t
to still ride it.

But wondered. Has any other Canyon owners received the email and is their battery casing damaged/cracked at all?

 

[Zed.]

But wondered. Has any other Canyon owners received the email

Important safety note from Canyon: the Spectral:ON CF / CFR and Torque:ON CF models may have damage to the battery

Full notice - Mandatory battery check and safety notice Extract: „Understanding the issue The batteries used for our E-bikes are sourced from reputable companies and tested to meet or exceed industry standards. We have been notified that a small number of batteries may be liable to damage the...

www.emtbforums.com

its been mentioned a few times on these forums and also on various fb groups

if it helps, my 900wh battery is undamaged

Rich.

 

[Dave H]

Hi all,

Newbie here!

Yesterday I received an email from Canyon advising the battery in my Canyon ONCF 9 has a potential safety problem and a stop ride notice issued. I spoke with Canyon UK service centre on the website Chat today and they could not advise when this will be resolved and merely stated a further email would be sent within the coming 4 weeks, which is completely unacceptable!

I've done a thorough inspection of the battery casing as per their guidelines and my casing is in perfect condition. So am tempted t
to still ride it.

But wondered. Has any other Canyon owners received the email and is their battery casing damaged/cracked at all?

I am having my third battery delivered tomorrow. My first battery was a 720w and suffered cracks at the mounting bosses and every screw placement on the casing. My latest battery is less than a year old and is a 900wh version as I paid to upgrade when they replaced the totally knackered 720wh . I checked the 900wh about 2 weeks ago and it has started to crack around the mounting bosses again, although the rest of the case is OK. I informed Canyon and sent photos..they got back to me within 10 minutes offering a replacement which arrives tomorrow. I got the dreaded email yesterday about not using the bike...madness...I can't see how they can resolve this without a total re engineered battery or a buy back scheme...it's gonna cost mega bucks .

 

[Straker]

Whilst I find having an unusable bike extremely frustrating, Canyons communication has been clear and timely. Problems and defects can occur with many products, this maybe a defining moment for the markets perception of Canyon, it’s an opportunity….. do right by their customers or do a VW and go all corporate and damage their brand. The measure of a company or person isn’t what they do when everything is perfect, it’s their response when things go wrong.

 

[Winford]

Been riding mine almost daily. Battery is in perfect shape and case is still solid. Not waiting. I have seen threads from Germany going back to early spring with these issues. They are pretty rare. but if you do have one from a bad batch of plastic, you could have issues and id use caution. Canyon put the warranty of the battery on Shimano, but you are getting the notice from Canyon because they sold it to you. So Shimano is now scrambling on how to bets remedy the products failure. It could be an inspection and send you on your way, or a new battery. Shimano does not know yet, and they may be afraid of the Chinese company that produced these batteries for Shimano. They will not accept the same product that has been found to be a problem. Im guessing a new company might be hired to build replacements that use a better grade of plastic. That is all it is, and it is where we are at.

 

[irie]

Whilst I find having an unusable bike extremely frustrating, Canyons communication has been clear and timely.

Certainly not timely given that this has been happening since "early spring"!

I have seen threads from Germany going back to early spring with these issues.

 

[Straker]

Certainly not timely given that this has been happening since "early spring"!

At the point of commenting I was unaware of the history. I would opine that Canyon have been aware of battery issues from early in the products life and have attempted to address them by up dating the battery design/ manufacturing issues.
There are 4 battery series affected and the nr in 2 yrs may indicate that they’ve been aware and attempting fixes after the earliest failures.

It’s likely that there’s been an event that’s escalated the issue from a product reliability/ quality issue into a consumer safety issue which has triggered the current recall.

I agree they have done more sooner on the quality issue, regarding the recall assuming they had knowledge of a safety related incident and acted promptly I think they’ve done the right thing now…..

 

[irie]

At the point of commenting I was unaware of the history. I would opine that Canyon have been aware of battery issues from early in the products life and have attempted to address them by up dating the battery design/ manufacturing issues.
There are 4 battery series affected and the nr in 2 yrs may indicate that they’ve been aware and attempting fixes after the earliest failures.

It’s likely that there’s been an event that’s escalated the issue from a product reliability/ quality issue into a consumer safety issue which has triggered the current recall.

I agree they have done more sooner on the quality issue, regarding the recall assuming they had knowledge of a safety related incident and acted promptly I think they’ve done the right thing now…..

I would opine that Canyon, having been left with no alternative, has been forced by events into now doing the right thing.

 

[Zed.]

Canyon put the warranty of the battery on Shimano, but you are getting the notice from Canyon because they sold it to you.

buyers contract is with the retailer as far as I'm aware (UK based)

Shimano accepted the batteries under their warranty umbrella scheme thing so it's their problem now - batteries made (for Shimano / under Shimano design & specifications?) by Trendpower as sub-contractor.

I'm unsure as to how many Shimano battery designs are made by Trendpower BUT both of the Orbea Eeeb's owned by my Mrs have these fitted (2023 Orbea Rise m20 with ep8rs motor and 2022 Orbea Gain d30 with Mahle motor)
BOTH of these bikes suffered battery failure at around 9 months (Rise) and ~18 months (Gain) old / use and were warranty replaced

Rich.

 

[Timochka69]

A local rider (Finland) just posted in FB that he got a new battery on mail today.

 

[Straker]

That’s interesting, I wonder what the battery nr is? 01,02,03 & 04 were in the recall so is there an 05? Etc

 

[Zed.]

A local rider (Finland) just posted in FB that he got a new battery on mail today.

interesting

is it possible that this battery is a warranty replacement from before the email / do not use notification was released to the world?

That’s interesting, I wonder what the battery nr is? 01,02,03 & 04 were in the recall so is there an 05? Etc

Rich.

 

[whitymon]

Maybe they have just good ones from all batch, maybe they fix it somehow?

I am still not reassured that it would not happen again past warranty where they do not have to honor anything anymore.

 

[JP-NZ]

As painful as it maybe I'm sure Canyon are going to have to recall/refund all of the affected bikes. As others have said I don't see how you can change the (stupid) battery mounting system.

 

[Mikerb]

I am not affected by this and sympathise with those that are. If this was an issue for me I would be more inclined to think the battery fixing method was the primary mistake here rather than the quality of the plastic casing. That method of fixing may well be reliable in an urban bike where it would not be subject to the same degree of shock but maybe not in a mountain bike. The only thing that would convince me the problem was properly resolved would either be a modification to the fixing method ( very unlikely) or a replacement battery with a substantive re-design of the battery casing and bolt fixing areas. I would want evidence of that re-design which should consist of reinforcement and distribution of the load from the fixing points to a far greater area of the battery casing.
PS given the casing failures have been found on consequative serial numbers of these batteries I would suggest those number merely refer to batch numbers and clearly nothing changed in their design during the various production runs.

 

[Winford]

I don't see

Thats the problem. They do not need a redesign. They need better plastic. The Chinese pants that made these just went to cheap on their mixture.

 

[Winford]

I would be more inclined to think

Thats the problem here too. You dont have the knowledge to offer up such a solution. Better plastic fixes the problem period. The reason most cases are still in perfect condition, is because the design is fine. The Chinese company had a bad batch of plastic that caused failure in a few units. Quality control is low there, so a few problems escaped. Better plastic solves everything. The engineers knew what they were doing, the supply chain failed when Shimano used a substandard manufacturer.

 

[Winford]

Shimano accepted the batteries under their warranty umbrella

No Shimano did not accept these,. Shimano had them made to Canyons specifications. Its why the shimano warranty stamp is on the battery. Sorry do not mean to be so nitpicky, but details matter. My only point was, that the only reason Canyon contacted us, was because the sold the bikes to us. As you also pointed out.

 

[JP-NZ]

Thats the problem. They do not need a redesign. They need better plastic. The Chinese pants that made these just went to cheap on their mixture.

Its not the first time Canyon has released a bike with battery mounting issues (look at the StriveON). Really poor from one of the larger direct to market brands.

 

[Winford]

battery mounting issues

You have to pay attention bud, this is not a mounting problem. The bad cases with bad plastic are splitting at the seams. And falling apart in all locations, not just the mounting locations. You will see that the vast majority do not have problems. And the failure points extend beyond mounting points. ----------- I beat on my bike 3000 hard miles in a hair over 6 months, of rocky rutty technical trails with over 300,000' of climbing, and setting records on strava while doing such. And my mounting points are solid, because mine was made with a good batch of plastic.

 

[Straker]

As painful as it maybe I'm sure Canyon are going to have to recall/refund all of the affected bikes. As others have said I don't see how you can change the (stupid) battery mounting system.

I don’t believe they can change the mounting arrangement, however they could change the construction details and materials, even if it doubles the production costs of the batteries it would still be che

You have to pay attention bud, this is not a mounting problem. The bad cases with bad plastic are splitting at the seams. And falling apart in all locations, not just the mounting locations. You will see that the vast majority do not have problems. And the failure points extend beyond mounting points. ----------- I beat on my bike 3000 hard miles in a hair over 6 months, of rocky rutty technical trails with over 300,000' of climbing, and setting records on strava while doing such. And my mounting points are solid, because mine was made with a good batch of plastic.

lots of users have had different experiences to yourself. On my 004 900w battery with 1,000 miles of robust usage, there is evidence of cracks around the brass mounting inserts.

The absence of splits of other defects on this pack from spring 2024 would appear to indicate that Canyon have addressed the bulk of the manufacturing quality control issues and are left with a mounting point stress crack issue which will require an alternative solution than the typical brass inserts welded in plastic.

Canyon should include leak / moisture detection in the packs if infiltration can lead to fires (all manufacturers should! They should also include similar detection in their motors and make their products fit for use…….).

 

[JP-NZ]

You have to pay attention bud, this is not a mounting problem. The bad cases with bad plastic are splitting at the seams. And falling apart in all locations, not just the mounting locations. You will see that the vast majority do not have problems. And the failure points extend beyond mounting points. ----------- I beat on my bike 3000 hard miles in a hair over 6 months, of rocky rutty technical trails with over 300,000' of climbing, and setting records on strava while doing such. And my mounting points are solid, because mine was made with a good batch of plastic.

Cool story. What’s your problem then?

 

[Uncomfortably_Numb]

I've been contributing to the other threads regarding this but thought I'd add this. Got my Spectral:ON CF8 in August with the 900wH battery (plus managed to buy a spare).
Having only done 47 miles with only one off-road (just an XC ride, nothing challenging or hostile) ride, I pulled the original battery yesterday and an initial cursory glance revealed nothing.

However, I was sat looking at it earlier and the light caught on the plastic around the thread bosses and low and behold there is a tiny hairline crack extending forwards (towards the strap) from each thread boss. They are tiny almost imperceptable cracks and unless you take a magnifying glass to them, you would probably miss them.

47 miles from new with one very mild off-road ride and the cracking has started!

 

[DeanBeanoTaylor]

Ill add to this, I've had my Spectral: ON CF9 a year now with 700 miles of rough all mountain, enduro rides and races.

I've removed the battery once to change dropper and cable.

I have a 720wh 0003 Battery (still on original battery) and I've inspected it and its fine, I've continued to ride it (only twice since the communication).

Does there seem to be a trend of which serial no. batteries are cracking? Or is it just random? Do the serial no's go in order of build date for example 0001 oldest 0004 newest?

I cant not ride it after paying £7k for it and how long will an alternative take to sort out? Could be months and months. Luckily its UK winter season so less riding to be done but still, not great is it.

Theyve also taken stock for the bikes with these batteries off their website.

I vote we send them back and get ones with next years colours

 

[Uncomfortably_Numb]

Ill add to this, I've had my Spectral: ON CF9 a year now with 700 miles of rough all mountain, enduro rides and races.

I've removed the battery once to change dropper and cable.

I have a 720wh 0003 Battery (still on original battery) and I've inspected it and its fine, I've continued to ride it (only twice since the communication).

Does there seem to be a trend of which serial no. batteries are cracking? Or is it just random? Do the serial no's go in order of build date for example 0001 oldest 0004 newest?

I cant not ride it after paying £7k for it and how long will an alternative take to sort out? Could be months and months. Luckily its UK winter season so less riding to be done but still, not great is it.

Theyve also taken stock for the bikes with these batteries off their website.

I vote we send them back and get ones with next years colours

Dean,
Just double check your battery around the thread bosses, with a magnifying glass. Mine passed visual inspection and it was only by chance that I noticed something odd and investigated further with magnification.

 

[Straker]

Dean,
Just double check your battery around the thread bosses, with a magnifying glass. Mine passed visual inspection and it was only by chance that I noticed something odd and investigated further with magnification.

This! Mine looks fine from above…. However with lighting from the side a crack propagating from the brass insert is clearly visible….. I wouldn’t have discovered it from casual inspection and wouldn’t have removed the battery unless necessary to replace a cable outer etc…

 

[Zed.]

cba to check mine, email said to dispose so its gone to me

sorta

Rich.

 

[Mikerb]

I dont know the exact details of the fixing method for the battery on these bikes but if it is bolted to the down tube top and bottom it would need to be a ble to flex since a carbon downtube ( rather more than an ally one) is likely to flex to a degree. That might explain the cracking elsewhere than just the bolting points.

Sorry, but to suppose the root cause here is a sub standard plastic used to form the casing is pretty naive. There are plenty of other variables that could explain why some of these batteries appear not to have suffered damage. Given the spread of time and production runs/batches of batteries that have failed, together with the fact the same factory would have used exactly the same plastic for thousands of its other battery products, it is just not feasible.

 

[Winford]

evidence of cracks around the brass mounting inserts.

Understood. That is the vast minority of bikes out there. Very few out of the thousands sold have failures. For a weak case with bad plastic, the mounting point is the weak link. With good plastic it is not.

 

[Winford]

What’s your problem then?

Waiting for A new battery is my only problem. But people here that are not qualified to make comments on a topic they do not understand, is comic relief while waiting.