Has anyone else had a problem with the paddle on an SE6 becoming reluctant to return to the center position?

On my wife's 2015 RT Ltd, she sometimes struggles lately to change gear - as does the bike - and we have traced it to the paddle not always re-centering when pressure is released. If I press the "-" button I can feel a decent spring pressure resisting my press, and forcing the paddle back to the center as soon as I release my pressure. With the "+" button, however, I can feel distinctly less spring pressure and it therefore sometimes fails to recenter without a little encouragement.

I have disassembled the clamshell surrounding the paddle mechanism, and I can see that it appears to use a metal flag on each side to press down on (presumbly) a spring-loaded ball bearing, each of which in turn presses onto a membrane switch to tell the ECU to change gear. See first photo.

SE6-paddle-mechanism1.jpg

As you can see in the second photo, one ball bearing has become recessed into the cylinder it moves in. I can attract it back to its normal position with a magnetised screwdriver, but it seems to have virtually no spring pressure behind it.

SE6-paddle-mechanism2.jpg

I guess my next step is to remove the rotating mechanism with its flags and see what exactly lives in those little cylinders - is it a ball bearing and spring, or what? Has the spring disintegrated?

I just wondered if anyone else had experienced anything similar with this mechanism?

By the way, it may not be possible to buy any of the separate pieces of this mechanism - I think you have to buy the entire assembly with built-in harness which runs back to the innards of the bike, requiring about a day's work to replace it all!