Eye Opening Quality Report on RV Manufactures

[Zodd]

I know people have talked about this a lot on this forum, but this reporting is really eye opening. 

Untold stories behind Indiana's RV boom: A punishing pace, safety issues and broken bodies: A look at the grueling conditions RV workers endured as companies saw record sales and profits during the RV boom of the pandemic.

It is really stunning some of the stories from this investigation. 

Since this 3 own a huge chunk of all the brands out there this is concerning. It is a long read but covers issues from labor environment to quality of end products. 

 

Quote

Jenny Doman and her family stood beside a highway exit ramp watching helplessly as bright orange flames engulfed their brand-new RV.

The fire quickly transformed their dreams of a carefree life in their new home-away-from-home to a nightmare.

The Oregon family had purchased the 40-foot-long Heartland Road Warrior, a fifth-wheel trailer and "toy hauler" made by a subsidiary of Indiana-based Thor Industries, just one day earlier. The price tag was more than $100,000.  

Quote

Others, like John Kucharski, face a steady stream of issues that are not as devastating but add up to far more than just inconveniences.

Kucharski, a longtime camper, had spent years saving enough money to buy a brand-new RV. His plan was to spend his retirement years traveling the country with his fiancée.

So in December, he bought a brand new Keystone Cougar, a 40-foot trailer, and paid the full price of $80,000. But problems became apparent as soon as he brought the RV home to Mesa, Arizona.
All these things are fixable and, at some point in the trailer’s life, will go wrong. But when you buy brand new – and we’re talking about a lot of money … And to get home and see all this shoddy work.
Among a long list of more than a dozen problems: The slide outs — portions of the RV that expand to create more living space — aren’t sliding out properly. There’s a rip on the kitchen floor. The frame of the back window is bent. The bolts that hold one of the couches together are stripped, so the back of the couch falls off. Drawers aren’t opening properly.

I know it is often said "everything has issues" but this stuff is crazy! Thor with almost 400k recalls in 2021! 

Really sad to see these companies report record profits the last few years while doing this! 

 

[Ollie-Haus]

We owned a 34' Jayco Eagle with a single super slide and were somewhat pleased with the quality. I was about a 1996 model and we had very few issues with factory defects. I know things have changed tremendously in the industry over the years, and especially the last 2 years. Finding quality employees is extremely hard these days in all segments of manufacturing and quality control has taken a big hit in most manufactured products. The RV industry apparently has take a very big hit and there't probably going to be fallout for a while. Another reason we were convinced that an Oliver was the best choice we could make with our recent order. 

[ScubaRx]

5 hours ago, Zodd said:

I know people have talked about this a lot on this forum, but this reporting is really eye opening. 

Untold stories behind Indiana's RV boom: A punishing pace, safety issues and broken bodies: A look at the grueling conditions RV workers endured as companies saw record sales and profits during the RV boom of the pandemic.

It is really stunning some of the stories from this investigation. 

Since this 3 own a huge chunk of all the brands out there this is concerning. It is a long read but covers issues from labor environment to quality of end products. 

 

I know it is often said "everything has issues" but this stuff is crazy! Thor with almost 400k recalls in 2021! 

Really sad to see these companies report record profits the last few years while doing this! 

 

So now you understand why all of us bought Oliver’s. 

[Katjo]

32 minutes ago, ScubaRx said:

So now you understand why all of us bought Oliver’s. 

Exactly!👍🏼