Fixing the Piaggio Beverly & Vespa Keyless Ignition Cut-Out Issue

From 2020, Piaggio started rolling out a keyless ignition system on many of its scooters, including the Beverly (300 and 400), the MP3, and the Medley. I believe modern Vespas use a very similar system too.

The concept is simple: as long as the key fob is nearby, you just push and turn the main switch on the dashboard. One click clockwise unlocks the steering lock; a second click powers up the bike, ready to start. It's clever, but as I discovered, it has a weakness.

What happens when this clever switch starts to fail? I found out the hard way. A few months into owning my 2023 Beverly 400 S, a mysterious and worrying problem started to develop. It began with the engine cutting out for a split second while riding, then instantly coming back on. At first, I thought it was a fuel or engine issue.

A few days later, the problem got worse. When the engine cut out, the entire digital display would now die with it before flickering back to life. Okay, I thought, it's an electrical gremlin. Then, the inevitable happened: it cut out and didn't restart. I had to cycle the ignition switch off and on again to get it going.

It was in that moment I realised the switch itself felt incredibly loose and "rattly." This was my "aha!" moment. Maybe the problem wasn't some deep, complex electrical issue, but the physical switch itself.

The Diagnostic Journey

I soon discovered that if I started the bike and then gently turned the switch as far clockwise as it would go, the bike would effectively be turned off and the engine would die. This, of course, shouldn't happen, but it did. I'd found the culprit. My initial short-term fix was a classy piece of engineering: a bit of duct tape to stop the switch rattling past the 'on' position.

I started the warranty claim, but the garage was swamped. It was also August in Spain, so the Piaggio factory was on a go-slow. A week went by with no news, and the problem got progressively worse. The switch now had one tiny "sweet spot" where it worked, and even the slightest bump could cause the engine to cut out.

The Bodge: A Proper Fix

With no sign of the warranty part, I bit the bullet and decided to strip the bike down to see if I could fix it myself. Getting to the back of the ignition switch was a complete nightmare. I had to strip every single bit of plastic trim off, from the footrests right up to the front fairing.

First, the footrests and the panels above them have to come off.

With the footrests removed from both sides, you can then remove the side and front panels.

With the front panel removed, this is what you see!

These are all the panels you have to remove. From memory, it's 13 in total!

Once inside, I could clearly see the issue. The keyless ignition switch "floats" in its housing so you can push it in to operate the glove box lock. The mechanism that allows it to float had become incredibly loose, with no obvious way to tighten it.

My theory was this: the floating mechanism was failing, allowing the switch to rattle around from road vibrations. This rattling was causing the switch's internal contacts to momentarily break, killing the engine.

A Design Flaw?

It then occurred to me that this was, if not a design flaw, then certainly a very questionable design choice. A vital part of the bike, the ignition switch, was being compromised to enable a lock on a flimsy glove box. Who keeps anything of value in there anyway?

I decided I could live without the glove box lock.

I isolated the locking mechanism and, using a few strategically placed zip ties, I carefully and tightly fastened the main switch assembly to a solid part of the steering column. Voila. Fixed.

The bodge. Three zip ties and we're good to go!

The switch no longer rattled. It felt solid. You could still manually turn it too far and kill the engine, but it would no longer do it on its own. To all intents and purposes, the problem was solved.

That bodge is still holding up perfectly over 1,000kms later, while I continue to wait for the warranty part (three weeks and counting).

The Final Verdict

So, will I get the official warranty fix done? Yes, eventually. But when I do, I'm going to re-apply my own bodge. I'll let the new switch be fitted, but I'll be securing it with zip ties again to isolate the flimsy floating mechanism.

Sure, I'll never be able to lock the glovebox again, but that's no biggie. I'd much rather have a reliable ignition than a lockable compartment for my sunglasses.

One More Thing...

While I had the bike in a million pieces, the eagle-eyed among you might have spotted a redundant electrical connector, carefully stowed away under the front panel.

A spare electrical connector tucked away under the front nose panel.

I was intrigued by this and could find no mention of it online. After asking around, I discovered it's a spare, pre-wired connector for adding heated accessories, like heated grips. It seems you purchase an additional wiring loom which plugs into this spare connector, allowing you to easily add heated devices. I'd assume it's wired to the ignition so it's only live when the bike is on.

Update for Beverly 350 Owners

Following my discovery of the spare connector on the Beverly 400, I have since had the chance to strip down my 2017 Beverly 350 in Northern Ireland and can confirm that this connector is not present on that older model. It seems this useful feature was introduced with the newer Euro 5 compliant bikes.

So, how do you add heated accessories like grips to a Beverly 350? The old-fashioned way. After a bit of research, the two most common methods are:

• Tapping into a Switched Live: Most owners install aftermarket grips (like from Oxford or Daytona) and power them by tapping into a wire that is only active when the ignition is on. A frequently used source is the wire for the small parking light inside the main headlight assembly.

• Using a Relay: The more robust and electrically safer method is to wire the grips directly to the battery through a fuse and a relay. The relay then uses a tap from a switched live wire to act as a trigger, ensuring the grips get full power without overloading an existing circuit and can't be left on by accident.

this is how i plan to do it, using the rather brilliant Oxford Junction Box (Google it!)