FOREST RIVER Complaints

My 2021 Chevy 4500 is an RV, anyway last September 2023. I was on a 2 1/2-week vacation driving on [XXX] near Lacy Washington and was in the middle lane moving over to the slow lane when the vehicle just stalled. I had just made it off the freeway by a few feet, I seriously thought we were going to get rear ended, especially by a truck because a majority were not moving over. They were rocking our RV as they passed us. The RV ended up starting and running good not stalling again, but it was at times difficult to start. We ended up taking it home to Mount Vernon, Washington to get it repaired. It was still under warranty, although the battery wasn't. I thought at first it was a fuel problem, but after getting it scanned it was a fuel pump problem then after the fuel pump was replaced, they said it was also the fuel Modulator. I had to wait for 4 and 1/2 months to get this replaced. meanwhile my 2-year battery went dead while it was sitting there at Blade Chevrolet in Mount Vernon, Washington and there was no pro-rate on it so I was stuck for the full price of the battery. At the time of this repair, I had about 11,878 miles. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

In November 2019 Technical Service Bulletin: 51-1058, was issued because medicine cabinets were falling off the walls in multiple Forest River 2019 and 2020 units including amongst others the RPOD 195. "WHAT IS THE ISSUE? The medicine cabinet may detach from the bathroom wall during transit." Apparently Forest River did not fix the problem in their manufacturing process as our medicine cabinet in our 2022 RPod 195 started banging against the wall. The left side was loose, the screws would not tighten. We caught it early and to prevent further damage, we removed the cabinet from the wall for the rest of the trip. All the left side screws are screwed into nothing but the interior wall board, grabbing and being supported by nothing. The vibrating screws were starting to cause damage and enlarge the holes in the wallboard. The right side screws seemed more secure. I learned from the Facebook 195/196 group that this has happened to multiple other people with years outside the original Technical Bulletin. I contacted Forest River, who referred me to a dealer. The dealer said that they will not fix it under warranty or the Technical Bulletin.

I smelled gases coming from the RV and after days of troubleshooting I found that one of the batteries was boiling and putting out hazardous gases that were leaking in to the living space. Further troubleshooting revealed a boiling battery and the battery disconnect was incorrectly wired and would not disconnect the battery but provided constant power to the battery, this also caused constant charging causing catastrophic failure of the battery. This event caused dangerous health conditions due to Sulfuric acid gases leaking in to the vehicle and put the occupants at risk.

While towing the trailer I found that it kept pulling to the right several times pulling off the roadway onto the emergency lane. The trailer was vissably showing in the mirrors as not pulling straight. This was also verified by my wife as she followed. I hand measured the frame and axle position verifying the frane was square but the axles were install 3 inches off. Speaking with the mgf. Spokesperson he said this happens all the time. He suggested the axels to be cut off and reinstalled. I dont feel this is a safe fix to apply excessive heat to the metal frame. Not knowig how the steel may become soft or brittle.i have expressed my opinion and requested a new unit without defective installed axles. I feel this created a hazard to myself and others traveling our roadways. Especially since I was told this is not an isolated deffect

Rv fiberglass is cracking and delaminating because of frame is given to much think they call it frame flexing the fifthwheel hitch Has a lot of frame flexing in it now where before had very little I feel like something is come unwelded and is loose with the hitch contacted Forest River about it they basically told me I was on my own my warranty went out in 2020 this was a $65,000 fifthwheel and have structure failure with and they don’t want to help you or talk to you about it I thought well ok maybe I am one in a million but after researching this somebody should have made lippert frames do a recall on these there all over the internet with the same problems different manufacturers but same frame I contacted them a year when all of this started and they did the same thing then try to brush it off as owners fault please I need some help on this issue

UNKNOWN Reading Facebook message boards for FR3 and Georgetown motorhomes became aware of possible propane mount cracking and possibility of propane tank falling out while driving. Upon looking at propane tank mounts, rear mount is cracked. Failure could result in propane tank falling out while driving and cause fire.

While driving down [XXX] in Denver the front welds holding the propane tank broke. This left the propane tank at an angle only supported by the rear welds. Was fortunate that another RVer flagged us over and we were able to get off the highway and used a ratchet strap to support it so we were able to drive to get the bracket welded back into place. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The contact owed a 2003 Forest River Wildcat equipped with a Dometic refrigerator model 2652/2682 gas absorption,. The contact stated that while the RV was parked under a barn, the vehicle spontaneously caught fire. The RV burned to the frame. The barn structure, an unknown Chevrolet truck, a tractor, equipment, and other structures were also destroyed during the fire. The fire department extinguished the fire within a week. There was no police report. The female occupant in the RV detected smoke from the refrigerator but was not injured. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted. A third-party investigator company reported that the fire was due to the refrigerator. The mileage was unknown. The VIN was not available.

The driver side rear leaf spring mounting bracket broke leaving the spring against the frame and allowing the 2 tires on that side to rub together. If it hadn’t been noticed almost immediately failure of the 2 tires would have resulted potentially causing loss of control of the vehicle and RV. When I spoke to a local suspension shop they stated that the problem was very common and that they made that type of repair on Lippert frames often. The RV has not been inspected. When I discovered the failure I made the repair before I contacted the manufacturer. I was unaware there were multiple instances of the issue. I was informed by multiple people that Lippert was either sending someone out to make repairs or they were making partial reimbursement for having repairs done. I only contacted the manufacturer after I discovered it was a common occurrence. There are no warning lights or displays for the RV tires or suspension. I do a walk around inspection prior to towing, checking tires and lights, making sure stairs, awnings and electrical connections are secure. I never noticed cracks in the brackets but once the entire thing broke loose it was evident that the inside portion had been broken for some time. There is an engineering defect in these mounting brackets in that there is nothing to stabilize them from lateral torsion when cornering with a heavy load. Lippert uses the same mounting brackets on their 8,000 pound RV’s as they do on their 16,000 pound RV’s. With as many failures that are occurring it’s obvious there needs to be some upgrades.

Front glass shattered with NO IMPACT: High Temps (104) outside & cooling inside. The entire glass shattered-Not laminated glass- Safety Glass: The result was shards of glass in the cabin sleeping area. We were outside at the time so no injury.