Trilogy Fire

[WestWardHo]

So in the last 24 hours we had a fire on our Trilogy, caused by the LED light components on the front of the rig. Since we read about a couple of people having these catch fire last year, we called John Armstrong last fall to inquire about it. Since our rig was 7 [months] old at the time he assured us that if it hadn't happened by then we were safe! WRONG!

Ours is a 2013 Trilogy 3650RL! This is the final issue for me. I'm so over Trilogy!!

Sherry

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by WestWardHo

So in the last 24 hours we had a fire on our Trilogy, caused by the LED light components on the front of the rig. Since we read about a couple of people having these catch fire last year, we called John Armstrong last fall to inquire about it. Since our rig was 7 years old at the time he assured us that if it hadn't happened by then we were safe! WRONG!

Ours is a 2013 Trilogy 3650RL! This is the final issue for me. I'm so over Trilogy!!

Sherry

Sorry to hear this. 7 yr old 2013? How is this possible?

[lgray]

Originally Posted by WestWardHo

So in the last 24 hours we had a fire on our Trilogy, caused by the LED light components on the front of the rig. Since we read about a couple of people having these catch fire last year, we called John Armstrong last fall to inquire about it. Since our rig was 7 years old at the time he assured us that if it hadn't happened by then we were safe! WRONG!

Ours is a 2013 Trilogy 3650RL! This is the final issue for me. I'm so over Trilogy!!

Sherry

Sherry,
Please share the details on the fire. Where on the LED strip did it start, or was it underneath? Damage to the rig?
Have there been more of this type of issue posted? I can't find any posted on the Forum.
More importantly, what is the factory planning to do about this and/or damage? If caused by faulty or improper wiring during construction, are they going to make is right or force you to your insurance company?

[WestWardHo]

Sorry, I meant 7 MONTHS old at the time we called and asked about getting replacement LED strips for the front of the rig on either side of the pinbox. We had asked because someone on this forum had had and issue and they were told Forest River had changed suppliers and this was no longer an issue.
The factory is taking care of our issue, going to have the front replaced or repaired by a fiberglass expert in Knoxville.
But my concern is that there should be an immediate factory recall on this as it is potentially very dangerous. As I said we're not the first ones.
I'll do my best to post a picture.

[Tomngayle]

We also had a fire on the front right side of our trilogy 3650 RL lest year, from the digital light strip. Our Trilogy was only 3 months old at the time. Luckily my son was standing right next to the lights when I turned them on. No damage was done. We traveled to the Dynamax factory to have them replaced. John Armstrong said water intrusion on the strip caused the strip to short out. They supposedly replaced the strips with a newer version. But actually they looked the same..We got to talking to a few other Trilogy owners that were in for service and when they approached John about the problem he replaced their lights also. John indicated then that they would probably end up replacing a lot of lights. So far we haven't had any more problems but I am Leary every time I turn them on. I check them often when they are on..John did indicate that we were not the first to have that problem. I assumed they were going to recall the lights.

[WestWardHo]

Per the factory today, the CSM was going to talk to engineering and the recall department to find out what the status was on a recall!

[Chewie]

Wow, glad it wasn't more damage than that. I'd also file a complaint with the NHTSA about this. There should be a recall to address this. Glad no one was hurt.

[lgray]

Sorry for all your troubles, but thankful the entire rig did not go up in flames, with you in it. This is very timely for us. I requested and received new light strips, to replace the sun compromised/cracked strips on my 2013 3650RL. I was not planning on replacing them right away, but obviously will do so ASAP.
Anyone had any experience in replacing these? It appears that there is a 3M adhesive strip on the back, just pull out the connection from one end? Is so, which end?

[WestWardHo]

Originally Posted by Tomngayle

We also had a fire on the front right side of our trilogy 3650 RL lest year, from the digital light strip. Our Trilogy was only 3 months old at the time. Luckily my son was standing right next to the lights when I turned them on. No damage was done. We traveled to the Dynamax factory to have them replaced. John Armstrong said water intrusion on the strip caused the strip to short out. They supposedly replaced the strips with a newer version. But actually they looked the same..We got to talking to a few other Trilogy owners that were in for service and when they approached John about the problem he replaced their lights also. John indicated then that they would probably end up replacing a lot of lights. So far we haven't had any more problems but I am Leary every time I turn them on. I check them often when they are on..John did indicate that we were not the first to have that problem. I assumed they were going to recall the lights.

Tonngayle, thanks for reposting. It was your post on this subject last year that alerted us to this issue but after talking to John Armstrong last year we relaxed about it.

With the design engineers and recall department knowing about this last year, it's inexcusable that Forest River took no action.

Seriously, we have loved our 5er in spite of its issues and everywhere we go techs or other RVers comment on it's beauty but I'm so over it now. Giving serious thought to activating the lemon law.

Last week it was completely shot springs on our 1 year old rig. Thank goodness we caught it before we hit the Louisiana highways as they are washboards and that huge storm was following us. Can't help but wonder what would have happened if we had not installed new, bigger tires and it was the tire mounter who caught that issue.

Sherry

[Tomngayle]

Igray,

The wires to the light strips are on the inboard side. You can just peel the strip back from the outboard side. You should be able to pull excess wire out of the hole on the opposite end to splice the wires.. Mine were spliced with crimp type connectors covered with shrink tube..

Tomngayle

[Tomngayle]

Sherry,

I am sad to hear you are giving up on Trilogy.. I know the feeling. We had a number of problems with ours also..We are working with a few more issues now. We had ours in 3 times now for air conditioners dripping water.. After much reading of forums, I think I fixed the problem myself..I blocked off about 3/4 of the area under the steps that let's conditioned air going to the under belly
Which caused a large volume of air transfer which caused the air conditioners to freeze up in this hot humid air in Florida. I. Know I will have to reverse the process when I need to use the gas heat..

We are also fighting a leak in the side wall of the bedroom adjacent to the Thermostat. We had in to Lazy days in Fl, the dealer from which we purchased a few weeks back and they thought it was caused by the awning bracket bolts needing sealed..we'll this week in the heavy rains in the Fl panhandle it leaked worse than ever. On our way back to Ohio next week we have an appointment in Al to have it looked at again. If we doesn't get it fixed there we are heading straight to Dynamax in Indiana

After all the problems I still feel the Trilogy is a quality constructed unit. We also get a lot of good comments on the beauty of our rig. It is sad that they built a quality unit but used a lot of sub standard components in the process. The lippert under carriage and axle assembly was probably one of the biggest blunder..With all of the problems with Lippert axles I am praying that there will be a recall on that some day. Unfortunately it will probably take someone to get hurt before that happens. We had our weighed recently just to be sure we were running within the weight limits of the unit. I would recommend every Trilogy owner to do that. After burning up an axle on our way down this fall. I keep a close eye on the whole running gear..

As for now we are going to stick with the Trilogy and continue to work with the Dynamax / Forest river CSM to get all of the problems resolved..

We wish you the best of luck and please keep us advised on your progress.

Tomngayle

[WestWardHo]

TomnGayle,

Totally agree with you about the Lippert issues. Two weeks ago when we were having new tires installed the tech said, "you better take a look at this your springs are shot!" That was another two week delay and I have a paper trail with Lippert that is extensive. The techs who replaced the springs said in their opinion the springs were way to light for the size of our rigs and when Lippert sent new ones the also sent new back plates, wrong size of course.
We were scheduled at MorRyde to start work on 5/12 but I seriously doubt that we'll make that because of this fire issue repair. I will say that Matt at Forest River Warranty took immediate action and arranged for priority rig repair in nearby Knoxville. We'll be towed there Monday.
At the Rally we attended this week we were able to talk to lots of experts and see a ton of different types of RV's. We learned a lot. Fortunately for them there was a great couple that also attended who had our same rig. We were able to share a lot with them and the wife taped off the exterior light switch so it isn't even accidentally turned on. ��

Sherry

[John Hagen]

I contacted Matt at Trilogy and asked about my 2014. He indicated the 2014 has the newest solution to the fire hazard. Good to hear they did take action, but agree they need a recall.

So sorry to see the damage on your Trilogy.

John

[John Hagen]

Originally Posted by WestWardHo

Last week it was completely shot springs on our 1 year old rig. Thank goodness we caught it before we hit the Louisiana highways as they are washboards and that huge storm was following us. Can't help but wonder what would have happened if we had not installed new, bigger tires and it was the tire mounter who caught that issue.

Sherry

We ordered our Trilogy with the MOR/ryde suspension and disc brakes. I had a 2008 Cedar Creek that had suspension issues like you are describing. I took the Creek to MOR/ryde and had the suspension and disc brakes put on. The difference was night and day.

Wanted to make sure I had it done right this time, that's why I ordered it before it was delivered. If you get it on yours, you will love it. Honest...

John

[Defiant530]

John we also have a 2014 , we are still being wary on the front LED issue at this point , I would prefer there would be a recall and replacement and I plan to trace back to the fuse block and the switch to see what size fuse is installed (Jessie "WestWardHo" ) and I talked while we were at the rally about the fire and wondered why the fuse didn't pop when the LED shorted

[John Hagen]

Originally Posted by Defiant530

John we also have a 2014 , we are still being wary on the front LED issue at this point , I would prefer there would be a recall and replacement and I plan to trace back to the fuse block and the switch to see what size fuse is installed (Jessie "WestWardHo" ) and I talked while we were at the rally about the fire and wondered why the fuse didn't pop when the LED shorted

As someone who has worked in electronics for the last 40+ years, this is not an uncommon sight. Seems too common that the fuse or circuit breaker is the last to go. Using wiring of the wrong size (too thin) allows wires to self destruct before the fuse. Also, many times you find a wrong size fuse protecting a circuit.

Good idea on tracing it back. I may do that on mine as well to see what all is operational on that circuit. My guess is it includes all of the outside LEDs for the nose, awnings, scare lights, and porch light.

John

[lgray]

Originally Posted by Defiant530

John we also have a 2014 , we are still being wary on the front LED issue at this point , I would prefer there would be a recall and replacement and I plan to trace back to the fuse block and the switch to see what size fuse is installed (Jessie "WestWardHo" ) and I talked while we were at the rally about the fire and wondered why the fuse didn't pop when the LED shorted

I am also concerned about wiring. If the whole issue I that water was in the lights, at the wiring end, what happens when the outside coating deteriorates and water gets in that way? More fires?
I just received new lights because after 2 years, mine had dry rot and would anticipate that condition will happen again over time…what then?

[WestWardHo]

We looked at 2014's and 2015's on the dealer's lot here in Knoxville while we're in for repair. There is a definite difference between the original lights on ours and the newer ones.
Matt Swihart has seen that we're well taken care of.
Please just pass on info to other Trilogy owners that you see on the road. We met a guy in New Mexico who had an original one and he doesn't use the Internet.

Sherry

[trilogy]

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[WestWardHo]

Originally Posted by trilogy

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Huh?