NEWMAR Complaints

I was driving home this weekend in my motorhome and noticed smoke coming out of rear of vehicle. I thought we were on fire. Fortunately I was able to get off the road and no injuries occurred. However, there will be many injuries if this problem is not recalled. The vehicle has a Cummins ISL Diesel motor. Vehicle has 33K miles. The #1 fuel injector line fails. If you look online this has happened many of times. Cummins also has a TSB for failure. Also, the "revised" part comes with a new bracket to prevent future failure. So Cummins is aware of problem. The fuel is spraying all over the engine compartment and straight on the exhaust. This is dangerous and people will die, or at the very least cause extensive damage. I tried to reach out to Cummins and received no response. Thanks for your time.

RV was purchased March 2021, 700 miles on it when purchased. First time using it not 100 miles from home Service Advance Trac warning comes on, we lose cruise control when it comes on. Call Ford Service they tell us it is ok to drive that way, but should have it checked. Then ABS warning and check engine light comes on. Have had them worked many times and they still come on. (Not fixed) Brake handle comes off in three pieces (fixed), Hood latch does not work (took three months to fix), Recall on rear bearings (took a month to fix) Leveling jack leaking fluid (fixed), wheel seal leaking (fixed) water heater leaking, ruined cabinets, (fixed), awning does not work (waiting to get fixed) Every trip we have taking something has gone wrong. This is a 3 ring circus trying to get things fixed. there are more receipts but do not have copies.

On this 2021 Bay Star Sport 2702 motorhome from August 3 through September 15, the "Brake Applied - Power Reduced" light on the unit's console came on 42 times. This is a sporadic occurrence which is a very safety hazard and an accident is going to happen causing death to others. When slowing down or stopping completely and ready to accelerate, the Brake Applied - Power Reduced comes on locking all wheels and you are only able to go a maximum of 5 mph. You need to hit the brakes hard to release the locked wheels and continue. This does not help the person behind you when you are suddenly hitting the brakes to release this Brake Applied - Power Reduced". This may happen numerous times regardless if you are slowing down, stopping, turning right or left. There was a recall NHTSA #21V202/Manufacturers Recall #21S17 which was corrected due to not enough grease in rear end. Shortly after that the Brake Applied - Power Reduced light occurred of which an entire new rear end was installed into the unit. At Wallwork Ford Truck Center they hooked up the IDS and scanned all modules for codes; all modules passed. They also removed, reset and reinstalled a brake lamp switch after contacting the Ford hotline contact ID #118372635, but the test drive showed the Brake Applied - Power Reduced light came back on. They hooked the IDS computer back on the unit which came back as 'all modules passed'. We are stumped and frustrated as this unit in brand new and cannot be driven anywhere without this "Brake Applied-Power Reduced" light coming on. There is only 2616 miles on the unit.

The SCR/DPF/DEF emissions control system is faulty and results in the vehicle becoming undrivable at unpredictable instances when no actual fault or deficiency exists. This may result in the driver becoming stranded in area with no cell phone signal and during times of harsh weather. It may also leave motorists stranded in unsafe locations with insufficient room to park safely and no capability to move to a safe location. This is a result of the system “de-rating” due to faulty sensors or DEF delivery systems or a variety of other causes. Because the system will derate the engine when the sensors indicate a low DEF condition when the DEF tank is sufficiently full, it is impossible for the motorists to predict these failures and subsequent strandings. It is also worthy of note that in the case of diesel motorhomes, these are not professional drivers, they are often older, and their vehicles serve as a conveyance of both their personal possessions and valuables.Further the operative word is in many cases “homes” and these motorists often have no other place to go to seek shelter. It is therefore both unsafe and unethical to force such severe restrictions on the owners of diesel motorhomes. This segment of the diesel vehicle driving population is entirely different from the light truck, SUV, bus, and big rig driving populations for the reasons stated above and as such the derating function of the emission control system must be disabled in motorhomes until the engineering and programming of these systems evolves to the point of reasonable reliability and predictability -conditions which currently clearly do not exist. In my case I have had four instances in less than two months disabling the vehicle when no actual fault exists, after the DEF header has been replaced twice and the vehicle is still unreliable. This is an ongoing unsafe condition.

Driver side and Passenger side windows have faulty seals and in temperature conditions below 40 degrees and rainy conditions, these side windows fog up heavily. This is not covered on any warranty or recall. On most of the social media pages for Newmar and RV owners, this is a known issue with the windows on these vehicles and hundreds of owners are having to replace these windows spending thousands of dollars to ensure they are able to see out of these important windows to view their side mirrors. We are from Florida, purchased the RV used and on the first trip north, had this happen to us as we traveled north on the East Coast toward the NY area in November & January.

The contact owns a 2007 Newmar Kountry Star. The contact stated that three of the four mounting bolts on the satellite dish were fractured. The contact decided to remove the satellite dish to prevent a potential failure. The contact initially notified the vehicle manufacturer of the failure and referred him to the maker of the satellite dish. The satellite dish manufacturer stated that the installation of the satellite was the responsibility of the vehicle manufacturer. Neither of the manufacturers had taken responsibility for the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.

The contact owns a 2015 Newmar Essex RV. The contact stated the RV trailer was parked plugged in an RV local dealer, in which the dealer had notified the contact that the trailer caught on fire due to the inverter system melting down in the trailer which caused a lot of black smoke installation damage in the interior of the trailer and fire damage to the undercarriage of the trailer. No one was injured. The contact was unaware of how the fire was extinguished. The contact was unaware of the fire department came out or a fire report was filed. The local dealer diagnosed the inverter system melted while the trailer was plugged in and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximate 40,000.

Three week ago today we were 500 miles into a road trip when the check engine light and alarm went off - we exited interstate at the next exit, called Spartan, and read off the codes. We were told that it was a DEF sensor that would be derating our engine and we need to get somewhere soon.. We were too far from home and made it another 130 miles with notice of some power loss. These sensors are back ordered until late August - mid September. After discussion with a Cummins service center in Chattanooga, TN it is deemed unsafe to drive the 90 miles to there location. We are told that the engine will derate down to only 5 miles per hour which will lead to a very unsafe driving condition for ourselves and anyone on the road with us. My understanding is that it's just a sensor messing up - the regent was performed as normal while the engine light was lit - indicating all was working with that system.

DEF sensors failed and we had no assurance that we could drive safely to a repair center before the engine computer shut us down in the middle of nowhere. This DEF issue has resulted in untold waste of time and money. Also personal safety is of NO concern to the EPA. Please resolve this Safety issue now!

RV was included in 20V-404. DTNA tested my vehicle on 7/29/2019 and said it did not need a PDM. Received additional info last year saying a new campaign will be replacing all PDM's in the original group regardless of test results. I have inquired several times with the local Freightliner center and the service telephone line and am told no recall is listed. My 2018 Newaire currently has no brake lights, turn signals or parking lights in the rear. In addition the AC compressor clutch does not engage. I have recently returned from a cross country trip and had intermittent AC issues and now realize that my rear lights were also out during those incidents. There was no indication of all rear signal lights being defective in the cockpit other than the AC not working. Vehicle is parked until I get some resolution from Freightliner. I spoke with them today and they said I should take the vehicle to the service center and I explained that I did not feel it was safe to drive the Motorhome in that condition.