WINNEBAGO Complaints

WINNEBAGO TRAVATO 59GL CAREFREE AWNING WAS REPAIRED BUT IS STILL DEPLOYING WHEN DRIVING. I HAVE PULLED THE AWNING FUSE TO KEEP IT FROM DEPLOYING WHILE DRIVING . I WOULD LIKE TO BEABLE TO USE IT. CAN THIS ITEM BE LOOKED AT TO MAKE SURE THAT IT WAS PROPERLY REPAIRD AND TO CHECK IF ANYTHING HAVE BEEN DAMAGED? THE ANWING ONLY WORKED FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. IVE BEEN ON THE ROAD BECASUE I LIVE IN IT AND HAVENT HAD TIME TO RETURN TO THE GENERAL RV IN WEST CHESTER, PA FOR THEM TO FIX IT PROPERTLY.

The 2024 Winnebago Ekko Ford Transit base includes standard a second alternator in the engine bay manufactured by Balmer and installed by Winnebago to charge the house batteries, in this case two 320amp batteries manufactured by Lithionics. A service recall was completed by Winnebago Authorized Dealer in 6/2025 to reduce the charge capacity based on prior failures and fires in the alternator. Our vehicle has 26,000 miles and have had no indication of failure. After an 80 mile drive, we smelled burning electrics and smoke came from under the hood. I applied a fire extinguisher from underneath on the alternator to stop the burning and disconnected the alternator from the electrical system. I am aware of this happening to many additional owners via a group forum. Ultimately, it appears Winnebago has change suppliers of this alternator, but those with the original are subject to this risk. Also, many have replaced on their own or outside of the dealer network due to the lengthy time to replace so they need to have a mechanism to reimburse for those expenses. Thank you.

The contact owns a 2022 Winnebago Adventurer built on a 2021 Ford F53 chassis. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V826000 (Latches/Locks/Linkages); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the passenger's side hood mounting bracket detached. The contact re-glued the hood mounting bracket. The dealer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but confirmed that parts were not yet available. The failure mileage was approximately 25,000.

The contact owns a 2018 Winnebago Minnie Trailer. The contact stated that upon further inspection at the local dealer, it was noticed that both sides of the frame were fractured above the axles. In addition, the contact was sent a repair kit from the frame manufacturer. The trailer was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,600.

Reference NHTSA Safety Recall 23V-234 Just experience failure of second Balmar alternator at about 26,000 miles. Replacement of first failure was done in conjunction of above referenced safefy recall. Work was performed in March of 2024. Subsequent to the above referenced recall Winnebago issued a Service Campaign (75-09) to derate (adjust/lower alternator output settings)in order to reduce the risk of overloading the alternator. The service campaign work was completed in June 2025. Numerous other Ekko owners have experience multiple Balmar alternator failures including some that have caught on fire. I was aware of the early warning signs of problems (high pitched whine that varies with RPM's and alternator output that drops to near zero) and proactively unplugged/disconnected the alternator before potentially serious consequences arose. My situation, and those of other Ekko owners clearly shows there is a design and/or quality issue that requires corrective action.

A panel on the roof of the vehicle detached while driving at highway speed (60MPH). The panel is held on by bolts and affixed to the roof with glue. The glue failed and the bolts do not attach directly to the roof. The panel is fairly heavy and large and would present a major hazard to a following vehicle. This has been confirmed by the dealer and the detached panel is available for inspection. There was no warning prior to the detachment of the panel. The Winnebago name for the panel is "Panel Trim Front Cap, LH #329370-01-CHT".

The contact owns a 2018 Winnebago Forza RV. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, the cargo door and the door enclosing the propane tank on the driver's side unexpectedly opened. The contact stated that the failures had occurred several times. The contact stated there was no warning light illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to a dealer who was unable to repair the doors properly. The failure had become a recurring failure. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V512000 (Structure). The contact had received the recall letter however, the failings with the door reoccurred. The failure mileage was approximately 22,000.

Interior lights can be operated (in theory) by 1) a main digital screen or 2) by a set of redundant switches (one for each light) situated throughout the rv. The problem is sometimes the redundant switches work and sometimes they don’t. For example twice this month I got up at 2 am to use the bathroom and clicked the switch several times with no lights illuminating. I get back in bed after guessing where the toilet was and five minutes later the lights go on. Happened two nights in a row. Third night no problem. This is not a one off occurrence. The redundant manual light switches, all over the coach, either work or don’t work depending on the day, the time, the full moon. There’s no knowing. Sometimes after pressing several switches on/off at different locations nothing happens until five minutes later you get a light show with this light on, then off, another on, then off. It’s like the form a queue remembering which one was pressed first, second, third etc. Anyway this has to be fixed as I might need lights in an emergency. Winnebago are aware of this and have a team investigating it. My contact was … [XXX] [XXX] >. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

There is a Balmar alternator installed on my Winnebago EKKOs that failed by smoking and burning. Winnebago replaced it with the same piece of equipment and it too has failed. They will again replace with another Balmar putting me at risk of fire and failure. This is totally unacceptable! Please help all us EKKO owners force Winnebago to solve this with a safe solution. Some owners have had 6 Balmars replaced! This is a known problem that is not being resolved.

The Balmar alternator installed on our RV, which provides electrical power to charge the coach battery started a noticeable whine at idle, it stopped providing a charge to the coach battery, and upon further inspection, after opening the hood, we noticed a faint burning electrical smell. To confirm that the Balmar alternator was failing, I checked its electrical output to the battery, and it was not charging. I then proceeded to unplug the regulator for the alternator to see if the whine and smell were still present. They were not. Since the whine was not present with the Balmar alternator unplugged, the burning smell had dissipated, and no charge coming from the alternator when plugged in, I determined it was starting or already failed. Knowing that there have been multiple reports from other owners that their EKKO's caught fire or had severe smoke coming from the engine compartment, that was later found to be the Balmar alternator, I made the decision to leave it unplugged. I was concerned about our safety and the real possibility of a fire if we continued with it plugged in and running. This just happened to us so we have not had it looked at by a dealer or independent service center yet, but we could make it available for inspection upon request. Please note, this is the second Balmar that has failed on us in our four year ownership of this RV, and we have a friend that has had five Balmar's fail on him! Winnebago needs to be held accountable and should be required to remove and replace the Balmar alternator from all owners RV's and replace it with a more suitable and capable alternator that will provide the secondary power they advertise when they sell this model to consumers.