Harley-Davidson Fxdb: which years to buy, and what breaks on them
Best and worst years of the Harley-Davidson Fxdb
Too few model years of the Harley-Davidson Fxdb carry enough owner reports to rank them against each other. The years below show what has been reported and at what mileage, without a score on top.
38 owner reports across 8 model years, 35 of them carrying an odometer reading. 1 year carry enough reports to score.
What tends to break across the Harley-Davidson Fxdb
Taking the most-reported failure from each model year, the recurring problems on the Harley-Davidson Fxdb are steering column or shaft failure (worst mode in 1 year), other wheel or tire problem (worst mode in 1 year) and other engine problem (worst mode in 1 year). A fault that heads the list in most years is characteristic of the design; one that heads a single year is usually a batch or a supplier.
Every model year, scored
Shorter is better, and the outlined row is the best year of the line. A year with too few reports to score is shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not the same as no problems.
| Year | Reports | Per 1,000 | Median report | Most reported problem | Recalls | Risk | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 Harley-Davidson Fxdb | 4 | 65.6 | 3k | Steering column or shaft failure | 1 | not rated | Unrated |
| 2008 Harley-Davidson Fxdb | 5 | 46.7 | 5k | Other wheel or tire problem | 1 | not rated | Unrated |
| 2009 Harley-Davidson Fxdb | 18 | 27.4 | 6k | Other engine problem | 2 | 84 | Low confidence |
| 2010 Harley-Davidson Fxdb | 1 | 9.3 | 500 | Premature brake pad or rotor wear | 0 | not rated | Unrated |
| 2012 Harley-Davidson Fxdb | 3 | 28.0 | 13k | Tail light, brake light or signal failure | 0 | not rated | Unrated |
| 2013 Harley-Davidson Fxdb | 1 | 9.3 | — | Other brake problem | 0 | not rated | Unrated |
| 2015 Harley-Davidson Fxdb | 4 | 37.4 | 11k | Master cylinder or brake booster failure | 0 | not rated | Unrated |
| 2016 Harley-Davidson Fxdb | 2 | 18.7 | 1k | Complete transmission failure | 0 | not rated | Unrated |
What each column means
Reports counts owner complaints filed with NHTSA against that model year. Filing is voluntary and unverified, so the count is a floor on how often something went wrong, never a census. It also rises with how many cars were sold, which is why the next column exists.
Per 1,000 divides those reports by an estimate of how many of that model year are on the road, so a common car and a rare one can be compared. The estimate comes from the vehicle counts in recall campaigns covering the same model year, which is the only per-model fleet figure published free of charge; where no recall covers a year, this column is blank rather than guessed.
Median report is the odometer reading at the midpoint of that year's reports: half of the readings owners gave were below it. It is a description of when problems get reported, not a prediction of when this car will break, and it needs at least eight readings before it is shown at all.
Risk is a 0–100 score combining how often reports arrive relative to fleet size, how serious they are, and how early they land, ranked against other vehicles of the same model year only. Confidence says how much evidence sits behind it: a low score on thin evidence is a shrug, not a clean bill of health. Both are defined in full on the methodology page.
Generations, and why the boundary matters
The Harley-Davidson Fxdb splits into generations: 2007–2010, 2012–2013 and 2015–2016. Comparing years inside one generation is the fair comparison — same body, same engines, usually the same suppliers.
Generation boundaries here are inferred from the pattern of model years in the data rather than taken from manufacturer documentation, so they are occasionally a year out. Where a boundary matters to a purchase, check it against the build date on the car.
| Generation | Years | Best year | Worst year | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-2010 | 2007–2010 | — | — | — |
| 2012-2013 | 2012–2013 | — | — | — |
| 2015-2016 | 2015–2016 | — | — | — |
How to use this page
The honest way to read a table like this is worst-first: rule out the years with high scores and heavy complaint volume, then choose among the rest on condition, history and price. A low score is not a promise, and a high one is not a verdict on the specific car in front of you.
Every figure comes from owner complaints filed with NHTSA and from recall records, both voluntary in the sense that nobody audits them for completeness. Counts are floors. The AtWhatMileage methodology page sets out each formula.
How the generations are drawn. NHTSA does not publish generation boundaries, so ours are inferred from breaks in the recall and complaint record and from the model's own year range. They are close to the enthusiast consensus but not authoritative — if a boundary looks wrong for a car you know well, tell us and we will fix the table rather than argue with you.
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed