FOREST RIVER Complaints

The contact owned a 2021 Forest River Rockwood. The contact stated while driving approximately 60 mph and hauling the attached RV, the driver was alerted that there were flames and smoke coming from the RV. After stopping to inspect the RV it was discovered that flames and smoke were coming from the stove and oven area of the RV. The fire department was called to the scene and extinguished the flames. The RV was destroyed. A fire report was filed. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer was contacted. The manufacturer was not yet notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 3,500.

I was traveling ~65 mph towing my camper when one of the tires on the camper threw it's treads off, damaging my camper. I had my wife and two young children in my car coming home from a weekend camping trip. I have diligently tracked the mileage I've put on the camper tires and there are ~6810 miles on the tires which recently passed as part of my annual camper inspection. I also put RV tire covers on the tires when it is parked in my driveway for more than a week to keep the sun off of them and the camper gets stored in an underground mine over the winter. Resulting damage was not bad enough to keep me from driving it home, but I did have to call a tow company to help remove the tire and get the spare on. I will be taking the camper in to the dealer to get the damage fixed and will have to submit it to my insurance company. There were no warning signs that there were issues with the tire.

Driving down the road and tire exploded. Cruise was set on 70 miles an hour and no debris was hit. Camper was empty, 14,000lbs. We were 80 miles from the dealership who preformed a full inspection of camper and tires.

The trailer has a broken front center axle, cut rubber, the trailer flexes when driving, side door flies open when turning corners, door liner is not sealed, and doors not aligned properly. Wheel flew off while driving on interstate. Problems started February of 2020 and continue to present day. I have take trailer back twice for repair to still have continued problems. June 5th 2021 I was riding home with trailer and tire broke off. I brought this trailer to travel with but have had issue after issue doing so, this trailer is completely unsafe. I cannot travel across the country with a trailer that may flip over, door flapping open, tires braking off etc. these issues could cause a possible accident, or maybe even death.

in the course of our first camping trips we weighted the camper multiple times, and the numbers did not add up as they should have. We requested that service look at that as well during the repair process. They discovered though the spec calls out a hitch weight of 700lbs, ours was weighing 1100lbs. That is a 57% INCREASE in hitch weight. Enough that it exceed the 1000lb limit of the hitch system (which we purchased at the time with the camper), and the limit of our trucks gross vehicle weight rating. This added weight also limited our rear axle rating

We picked up this camper on May 19, 2021 and returned it to the dealer May 28, 2021 because the leaf springs supporting the camper a completely flat.

The contact owns a 2018 Forest River Surveyor. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the headlights became inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

This has been the second tire to blow out at 55 mph . When they blow its the middle of the tread that does its very unsafe for me and my family. very scary .. yes available for inspection i have pictures it has not been inspected by anyone but me i changed the tire on the side of the highway both times which put me in danger..no warnings just a loud bang ..

Two Incidents: 1) June 4th: Going down a ~8% grade at approximately 25-30 MPH, towing an aluminum boat with working electric trailer brakes (~3000 lbs on trailer). The road was paved, dry and in good condition, no gravel. I was coasting in 2nd gear (manually selected) and vehicle was maintaining speed with no additional brake applications. I was not accelerating or decelerating. On it's own, the vehicle then downshifted into 1st gear taking the engine above redline, at the same time, the rear axle began hopping (actually skidding / chirping tires quickly), the engine began stalling / starting (Bucking), then the vehicle applied the throttle (again - no input from me) accelerating downhill. I pressed the brake pedal, but the pedal went to the floor and you could feel the ABS system was active, trying to prevent a ficticious skid. I shifted the transmission to neutral, and manually applied the parking brake to control the vehicle. Then the service engine soon, traction control, ESP and ABS lights illuminated on the dash. The vehicle then drove ok with lights illuminated. 2) After 2 days of driving in the campground, the lights (all of them) turned off. 3) On June 6th, pulling out of a gas station onto a road, the vehicle began bucking at approximately 15 mph, it then accelerated to ~45mph completely on its own. Once again - it completely ignored my brake command. We caught this incident partly on a cell phone video as it lasted for a 30 second or so. In both cases, cruise control was not active. This vehicles control system has a significant fault mode that puts the operator and passengers at HIGH RISK. Never should an ABS/Stability/Traction Control system fail that you lose brakes and it apply the throttle. The vehicle was checked in both March & April by Mercedes of Willoughby for bad ABS sensors as the lights have been illuminating on and off for over 1 year. 19,288 miles on the vehicle.

The contact owns a 2018 Forest River Freedom Express RV. The contact stated while the RV was parked, her husband inspected underneath the vehicle and noticed that there were no brake line connections for the front driver’s or passenger’s side. The contact notified the local dealer however, the vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The contact was concerned about an accident in the event the RV was driven. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 1,000.