The 2009 Honda GL1800 has 5 recalls, the most serious being a faulty airbag inflator that can rupture and send metal fragments into the rider, with a risk of serious injury or death.
The airbag inflator concern appears across multiple filings but describes the same underlying problem: the inflator can degrade over time and explode rather than deploy cleanly. Some filings are limited to motorcycles originally sold or registered in high-humidity states and territories such as Hawaii, Florida, and Texas, where heat and moisture accelerate the degradation.
The brake recalls also describe the same defect across multiple filings. The combined braking system's secondary master cylinder can cause the rear brake to drag even after the rider releases the lever. A dragging rear brake raises the risk of a crash on its own, and if the condition persists over an extended ride, the heat buildup can be enough to start a fire at the rear brake.