Don't know how far back it goes as my 2010 has a regular ignition key, no Dess, :clap: However any truck or car or motorcycle or............all have a dess of some sort for the last 10 or so years. Just be aware of where you park, a little common sense goes a long way.
Old Timer, your 2010
DOES have a DESS, just not one that fails often, if at all?!?

I can't recall if there's been
any reports of a pre 2014 DESS failure here, but maybe?? :dontknow: Buuut, the other side of the pre-2014 DESS performance was that the keys weren't easy to replace, and we have seen
a few people having issues with that; altho the simple/non BRP approved answer to those problems is to just clone at least one of your keys
BEFORE you lose any of them, & then keep a good key in a safe place... Just about any good locksmith can do that cloning for you, and here in Oz, if you buy one of their chipped blanks, get it cut & cloned by them, then the whole lot's probably not going to cost you as much as $100... :thumbup:
However, and more to the point of this thread, there have been quite a few reports of post 2014 DESS failures leaving people stranded at the most inopportune times,
and I think those who haven't experienced this juuust might not be quite aware of how frustrating it can be to simply never know if your bike will start this time or at any time?! Once these DESS issues start, they don't go away until fixed, they just get worse - but they may not happen
EVERY time you try to start your bike, at least not initially! So picture this - you go out one day & your bike doesn't start... you muck around with it for 20 minutes & suddenly it starts & all appears fine. And then it starts OK for the rest of the month. Fine, no biggie, you can work with that - only a short while later, when you're 2 days into that 10 day trip you've planned forever with your SO, it bloody well starts happening again!

Only this time
nothing you can do will get it going again! So 4+ hours later, you finally get a tow to the nearest dealer who puts the key in & it starts up fine immediately, and they then can't get the failure to repeat!! Same thing happens like that a few more times over the next 8 days, costing heaps & totally ruining your trip; and by the time you get home, it's juuust
NOT starting at all for some hours on about every 3rd start attempt! Orright, it's obviously a dud DESS, and it only takes you 2 (or 6!

) months to convince the dealer of that & that they need to warranty it, so it's finally replaced, and things are good for a year...... until it starts happening again! :gaah:
Only by now, your bikes outta warranty and they want you to pay something like $1k to fit exactly the same device that's already failed in your Spyder twice.... Do you fork out the $$ and get the replacement, or go find someone who'll turn DESS off? OK, you're worried about security, so you take the hit in the wallet... and then within a year or so, once again you're back in the world of bloody frustration that this freakin stupid DESS failure brings!! :cus: And it
ALWAYS fails on you when you least want it to!! :cus:

:cus: So maybe you start avoiding riding, planning shorter trips so you know you can get home if you need to, things like that. Great security system - if your bike never leaves home it'll never get stolen, right?!? :thumbup:

.
NO!! Buggrit, you bought your Spyder to RYDE, so dammit, you're gonna ryde! And off you go to meet up with a few mates, but first, you'll just stop & get one of those really great coffees/buns/rolls/whatever from that little place in the seedy neighbourhood you hafta pass thru on the way... OOPS!! Bike won't start!!

Only it's really the worst possible neighbourhood for anyone to leave a bike
ever, and not a great place to stay longer than it takes to pick up said coffee/whatever, so you
immediately call for a tow!! And of course, Murphy jumps in - Towie arrives, & his rig is a boom rig that can't tow your Spyder without damaging it.... :cus: But there's already a bit of an ugly crowd watching, and while you really don't want to damage your Spyder by letting this boom rig pick it up &/or tow it; you just can't leave it here either! :shocked: And the crowd's started to move in, sensing the desperation - your SO Pillion
really doesn't want to stay here any more, so whaddaya gonna doo!! ......:shocked:
if only you'd had the DESS turned off instead when you last replaced it!!! :banghead:
I don't really think you can really call
THAT ^^ '
security', can you?? :dontknow: Some might feel that there's a whole lot more '
security' in
knowing that all else being equal, your Spyder
WILL start whenever you turn the key and press the button;
but a so called 'security system' that makes starting a gamble each and every time - is that really any safer than having a relatively low volume, easily identified, not easy to start or lift and with little real 'parting out' value machine that's not really all that attractive as a theft target?? :dontknow:
How many Spyders have actually been stolen anyway?? Have
ANY stolen Spyders been Spyders with their DESS disabled?? How many people have been
REALLY put out/trips ruined &/or faced significant extra costs & difficulties thru DESS failures that could have been avoided if their DESS either worked properly or was disabled? :dontknow: I don't know the real answer to those first two questions, but there's been
none reported here that I'm aware of; and when it comes to that last one, have you
SEEN how long Deanna's DESS AGAIN ***** thread is?? There's quite a few, and I bet there's been even more not reported in that thread
Juuust Sayin' :cheers: