Safety Card Start requirement

[Rotax]

OK, this is the question.
We were riding Friday and we stopped for a butt break say for 10 minutes.
When I tried to restart the bike...Nothing!
I went through the start sequence again nothing!
I have owned my 2016 F3-S since early April and strangely enough I never noticed the message that
flashes across the center of my dash that states....."remove the left access panel, read safety card and press the eco/mode
button to start the bike.
DA!!!
Honestly, all, this is the first time I actually noticed these instructions!
I promise there is a question and here it is.
What does the left access panel interface with that the ECU now knows I have looked at the safety card, so now the bike will start??
I have not noticed any switches or wires that touch where the access panel is, or that matter the latch that secures the panel?
There has got to be a way to fool the ECU into thinking the access panel has been removed?
Rotax

[Dmetcalf]

This post is interesting and I had no idea that could occur. I’ll be watching this thread. Thanks for posting

[Steve W.]

That is a reminder, not a requirement.

You would think that after owning the bike for a couple of hours and maybe starting it three or four times, you would have that card memorized. Of course, that's if you had seen the reminder.

Not sure if your F3 is any different, but many of us with RTs simply turn the key, immediately press the ECO/MODE button, then press the start button.
Some RTs will do that, others won't, it might be something that changed in '16 or '17.

Then there are the others that turn the key ON, then put on their helmet and gloves while the computer is booting, then finally press the ECO/MODE and start buttons.

Once you have read the card and understand it, feel free to just remember it's there, but otherwise ignore it. :thumbup:

.

[billybovine]

The safety card is not connected to the ECM. There is no way for the ECM to know if you have read the safety card.

Everybody gets caught from time to time and when you press the start button, nothing happens. Did not press the mode button hard enough or too soon. The kill switch is not in the run position. It's in gear. So on a SM, the clutch lever has to be pulled in. On a SE the brake pedal has to be pressed down and held.

[MONK]

On a SE the brake pedal has to be pressed down and held.

Only if you shut if off in gear. If you shifted to neutral before shutting it off, you don't need to touch the brake. On a side note, if you shut it off in gear, it will automatically shift to neutral once it's started.

[redrazor]

Then there are the others that turn the key ON, then put on their helmet and gloves while the computer is booting, then finally press the ECO/MODE and start buttons. :2thumbs::agree:

[Woodaddict]

it will automatically shift to neutral once it's started.

not quite,,,,,,,if shut off in gear, have to press brake, it will start, the shift to neutral. Not other way around

YOU GOT IT, HAD TO RE-READ

[ARtraveler]

I have never read the safety card on my F3L. Heck...I don't even know how to get to it. Pushing the mode button to acknowledge that I did has always been good enough to get going.

PS...don't rat me out to BRP. :roflblack:

[Rotax]

I just went to the garage sat on the bike and did as follows: Kill switch is ALWAYS ON. Turned on the key, pressed the brake, and Bike ( I have a SM6) in neutral with lever pulled in, pressed the mode button and saw the following:
"Please remove left access panel and read safety card. Then press Eco/mode button."
If I did not do that in that order the bike will not start. Also, the digital message keeps repeating UNTIL, I life up the access panel, and press eco button. THEN the digital readout STOPS and the bike will start.
So maybe BRP is physiologically screwing with me knowing the bike will not start unless I comply with there requirements?
Otherwise since there is no pressure switch attached to the access panel, something else is going on?
PS Eco/Mode switch was replaced in June
Rotax

[bigbadbrucie]

Poltergeist????

[Snowbelt Spyder]

Rotax - turn on the key and WAIT. Don’t do anything else.

AFTER the safety card message appears on the screen, THEN push the Mode button. The safety card screen will then clear and you can continue with the startup.

Based on what you described, you’re simply pressing the button too soon.

The ECM does not know if you removed the panel and read the card. It’s on the honor system.

[billybovine]

Only if you shut if off in gear. If you shifted to neutral before shutting it off, you don't need to touch the brake. On a side note, if you shut it off in gear, it will automatically shift to neutral once it's started.

Huh! What are you trying to say that's different.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

The best use of the safety card on the RT is pull it out and drop it down as a shade for the cluster if the sun is shining onto the cluster. Keeps the cluster from getting too warm and blanking out.

[bluewoo]

OMG im getting a chuckle out of this:roflblack: I forgot about pressing the break pedal one day luckily nobody was looking!nojoke


Snowbelt Spyder says it all,just wait for the message next time then press MODE.

[Rotax]

I'm going to give it a try right now Doug and I will let you
know. Time now is 16:35
Thanks
Rotax

[Rotax]

Doug,
Well done!
16:45
Rotax

[Peteoz]

Doug,
Well done!
16:45
Rotax

Yep.....I also have a 16 F3......all that is happening when you remove the panel is adding “Elapsed time”. It has nothing to do with preventing you starting the bike per se and is certainly not a required step, as you have now found from Doug’s advice����. Sometimes our imagination runs away with us :thumbup: .

Pete

[Snowbelt Spyder]

Doug,
Well done!
16:45
Rotax

There you go. What most of us do then, Rotax, is walk up to the machine and turn the key on right away. Then put on our helmet, etc. By the time that's done, the system has booted up and the safety card screen is up on the display. Push the Mode button and then go enjoy your air bath.

And by the way - a lot of pre-owned machines don't have their owner's guides anymore. If you need one, click this link and go to this web page. In the upper left drop down menu, select Roadster, select your year and continue selecting until you have selected your machine. Then just download the document to your computer as you normally download any document. Stay safe and watch out for deer.

http://www.operatorsguides.brp.com/Index.aspx?lang=E&s1=210efccc-0db5-4794-8809-23a9880d6c93

[billybovine]

BRP has half fixed this with newer models. On my 2018 F3L. I can press the mode button almost immediately after turning on the key. Maybe a 1 second delay needed before pressing the mode button. So the time delay thing is fixed. But you still need to do that dumb a$$ step of pressing the mode button.

So I can climb on mine. Turn on the key. Press the mode button. Press the start button. But can't put it in gear until the gauge sweep has happened. Maybe a couple seconds wait. If I am really fast that day.:D