Model year report

2008 Harley-Davidson Fxdb: what breaks, and at what mileage

What breaks on the 2008 Harley-Davidson Fxdb

Only 5 defect reports have been filed with NHTSA about the 2008 Harley-Davidson Fxdb, which is too few to compute mileage percentiles or a risk score. The reports reported other wheel or tire problem.

When each failure gets reported

Median

Other wheel or tire problem

7k
Other powertrain problem

5k
Other suspension problem

300

Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens

How reports accumulate

Share of reports filed by each mileage

Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.

Line share of reports filed by that mileage

Every reported failure mode

Mileage figures are percentiles of owner-reported readings. Click a column to sort.
Failure mode	System	Reports	With reading	25th	Median	75th	Per 1,000	Typical repair	Severity
Other wheel or tire problem	wheels	3	3	—	7k	—	28.0	$200–$1,500	High
Other powertrain problem	transmission	1	1	—	5k	—	9.3	$400–$4,500	High
Other suspension problem	suspension	1	1	—	300	—	9.3	$350–$2,000	Moderate

Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.

Other wheel or tire problem

I purchased a harley davidson street bob in july. The day I bought this motorcycle I pulled out of the parking lot on to the service road and the front wheel started wobbling real bad. I returned to the dealership and they said they replaced the front end and I went on my way with the new bike. This was never logged into the manufactures warranty. I have not had any more problems out of the front end. A month later the rear tire went flat as I was riding. I pulled over and tried to air it up and it was leaking out of the valve stem. The dealership said I have to buy a new tire and I did even though I felt like they should have taken care of it. Then on 10/8/08 I was riding it to work as I do mon-fri and the 6 bolts that hold the rear pulley sprocket to the rear wheel were loose and worked there way out until they bent over and logged into the frame causing the rear tire to lock up. I was going about 45 MPH and came to a complete stop. There was a sports car behind me that locked his wheels up and stopped about 4 inches from hitting me. If this was a truck it would have been a different ending. The dealership said they had nothing…

5,000 miles NHTSA complaint 691770 filed 2008-10-10

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 harley davidson dyna series low rider. The contact stated the rear tire is a dunlop k591 160/70v-17. The contact noticed in early june 2011 a split in the center rain grove. On aug. 19, 2011 found additional cracks in the tire in these center rain groves. The motorcycle was taken to a local motorcycle shop who stated the tire was defective and the splitting was abnormal. This motorcycle shop suggested it be taken to kents harley davidson where effort to contact ?dunlop motorcycle tire consumer affairs department? Went un-responded to, until the date of this report. Kents harley davidson can provide pictures of the defective tire. The current mileage on the tire is around 7000 miles and the tire has 4/32 tread left from a new 8/32 depth. This is a life threatening situation and dunlop is refusing to respond to the defect. It should be further noted dunlop is willfully , deliberately ignoring their warranty on motorcycle tires and are therefore willfully deliberately endangering customers and have full knowledge they are doing so. I have all correspondence and photos to prove this in a court of law. The…

20,000 miles NHTSA complaint 875984 filed 2011-08-25

Recalls on the 2008 model year

NHTSA has issued 1 recall campaign covering the 2008 Harley-Davidson Fxdb, affecting an estimated 107 vehicles. A recall is a different kind of evidence from a complaint: it is the regulator and the manufacturer agreeing that something has to be fixed, and the fix is free for as long as the car exists.

The campaigns cover engine and engine cooling:exhaust system:manifold/header/muf. Whether the work was actually done on the car in front of you is a question only the VIN can answer, and the manufacturer or NHTSA will answer it free.

One caution about reading these together: a recall usually raises the complaint count for the same part, because owners who read about it go and file. The mileages stay informative; the counts get noisy.

07V535000

ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:EXHAUST SYSTEM:MANIFOLD/HEADER/MUFFLER/TAIL PIPE

538 vehicles 2007-11-20

Defect: On certain motorcycles built and shipped to california, the catalytic muffler protective heat shield was not installed. This condition could allow direct contact with this muffler and cause injury.
Consequence: If contact occurs while riding, it could cause loss of control of the motorcycle, leading to injury or death.
Remedy: Dealers will install the heat shields to the mufflers free of charge. The recall began on november 26, 2007. Owners may contact harley davidson at 1-414-343-4056.

Recall work is free at a franchised dealer regardless of the car's age. Check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls before assuming it was done.

Every year of the Harley-Davidson Fxdb

Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.

Risk score by model year, out of 100

Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.

What the reports on file say

The complaints recorded against the 2008 Harley-Davidson Fxdb are other wheel or tire problem (3 reports, around 7k miles), other powertrain problem (1 report, around 5k miles) and other suspension problem (1 report, around 300 miles). With a sample this size these are anecdotes rather than a pattern, and they are shown because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see them than nothing.

Why this page is short

A model year needs about 8 reports before percentiles mean anything, and this one does not have them. Complaint volume tracks how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road, so a thin page usually means a rare car, a new car, or a car whose owners do not file.

Other years of the same model do have enough: 2009. The mechanical parts are often shared across those years, so their pages are the better guide to what this one is likely to do, with the caveat that a shared part is not a shared production line.

Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.

What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car

Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt 20 August 2026 Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed