Forest River Lead in Recalls

[NoviBill]

You have to do the math. Forest River almost 40% of the market and 27% of recalls. That puts it above average in quality (they still have lots of room for improvement).

Warren Buffett Was Right About the RV Business - Bloomberg

[Buffalo Bill]

Originally Posted by KellyT330

Forest River has the following RVs
Coachman
Dynamax
Forest River
Palamino
Prime Time
Shasta

No wonder it has more than others

Also Cedar Creek

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Buffalo Bill

Also Cedar Creek

Cedar Creek is under Forest River.

[Buffalo Bill]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Cedar Creek is under Forest River.

Yes, that is what I meant. I own a 2015 Forest River Cedar Creek Silverback. So far we love it.

[Telstar]

Number of recalls is meaningless. FR makes more RV's than any other manufacture. I would like to see recalls as a percent of total made. That would tell us something.

[Ree]

Originally Posted by KellyT330

Forest River has the following RVs
Coachman
Dynamax
Forest River
Palamino
Prime Time
Shasta

No wonder it has more than others

Add:
Flagstaff and Rockwood

As the list continues to grow

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by Ree

Add:
Flagstaff and Rockwood

As the list continues to grow

Flagstaff and Rockwood are already under the original FR RV brand.

I think there is some confusion here. Forest River RV has several names/models of RV... The company (Inc) has also acquired other brands of RV's and although they are under what is a total Forest River Inc. umbrella, they kinda keep a separateness to them, as explained by F.R.O.G. in another thread:

Originally Posted by F.R.O.G.

Dan is correct that Palomino was acquired later, as were Coachmen, Shasta, Dynamax, and Prime Time. Those divisions all operate as somewhat stand-alone groups with their own websites, but are still part of Forest River and of Berkshire Hathaway.

Forest River RV is one division of Forest River, Inc.

Flagstaff, Cedar Creek, Rockwood, and many others are part of Forest River RV........ which is part of Forest River, Inc.

Forest River Inc. is the main, while Forest River RV is a part of it. I know we kinda use the term Forest River a lot, but it can mean different things...depending on if your talking about the RV division or the entire company (inc)

It's better explained on their website:

http://www.forestriverinc.com/AboutUs.aspx

Forest River RV is a division of Forest River, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company, which produces recreational vehicles, pontoons, park models, buses, cargo trailers and commercial trucks. The diversity of Forest River, Inc., enables us to approach the RV industry with a unique perspective, incorporating lessons learned at each one of our divisions. Operating with openness across a wide range of products is what makes us stand apart from the competition. At Forest River, Inc., quality and dependability are a necessity in everything we make. Learn more at www.forestriverinc.com.

This wikipedia article has the different RV divisions of Forest River Inc (including Forest River RV) explained in better detail:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_River_(company)

[CaptnJohn]

CC and others are seperate ~ those small unmentioned colors.

[DDC]

I don't want to defend any company for their lack of quality, but, these figures have to be accompanied by market share to have any meaning to a consumer.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by CaptnJohn

CC and others are seperate ~ those small unmentioned colors.

???

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by bikendan

???

Dan, I believe CaptnJohn may be inferring that on the pie chart in the OP, that Cedar Creek is one of the small colored sections of the pie that isn't specifically named.

However, CC should be grouped in with Forest River and I believe they are. If you go to the website where the original article is posted, it does list ALL the brands on the pie chart, as below. There are 26 brands listed, and 26 pieces of the pie.


Forest River — 40 recalls (27.03 percent of the total)

• Newmar — 18 recalls (12.16 percent)
• Jayco — 16 recalls (10.81 percent)
• Winnebago — 14 recalls (9.46 percent)
• Thor Motor Coach — 9 recalls (6.08 percent)
• Keystone — 7 recalls (4.73 percent)
• Starcraft — 7 recalls (4.73 percent)
• Tiffin — 5 recalls (3.38 percent)
• Heartland – 4 recalls (2.70 percent)

There was a four-way tie for 10th place with Entegra, Highland Ridge, Open Range and Triple E each having three recalls accounting for 2.03 percent of the pie.


Others who issued recalls this year included Cruiser, Grand Design and Motorcoach Industries with two each or 1.35 percent of the total.

CrossRoads, Evergreen, Foretravel, Freightliner, Haulmark, Outdoors RV, REV, Riverside, Spartan and Vintage each issued one recall or 0.68 percent of the total.

It all matches the pie chart below:

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by wmtire

Dan, I believe CaptnJohn may be inferring that on the pie chart in the OP, that Cedar Creek is one of the small colored sections of the pie that isn't specifically named.

However, CC should be grouped in with Forest River and I believe they are. If you go to the website where the original article is posted, it does list ALL the brands on the pie chart, as below. There are 26 brands listed, and 26 pieces of the pie.

If that's what he meant, you're right that he's incorrect.
Last time I counted, there around 40 different brands in Forest River branch of the FR Corporation, including Cedar Creek.

[Mr Havercamp]

Originally Posted by Telstar

FR makes more RV's than any other manufacture.

Not really. Forest River typically ran a few percentage points above Thor in sales of "travel trailers" but not by much, and Thor always was and is ahead by a longshot in 5th wheels and Motorhomes.

Here are the market share numbers by category for Sept 2016 which have Jayco included with Thor, because they have been part of Thor since July 1. Soon Grand Design will be included in Winnebago's numbers.

Travel Trailers.
Thor 48%
Forest River 39%
Grand Design 9%
Others 4%

5th Wheels
Thor 55.2%
Forest River 29.5%
Grand Design 9%
Others 6.3%

Class A MH
Thor 34.6%
Forest River 15.4%
Winnebago 14.6%
REV 14%
Tiffen 13.1%
Others 8.3%

Class C MH
Thor 40.3%
Forest River 34.2%
Winnebago 20.1%
Others 5.4%

Folding Camping Trailers
Forest River 67.2%
Thor 14.9%
Columbia NW 11.3%
Others 6.6%

[ColoradoRick]

Are we supposed to be checking for recalls on our RVs or is it reasonable to expect them to contact me? (Like automotive folks do...I know Toyota is outstanding to notify me whenever I need to bring my car or truck into the dealer.)

One piece of paper I got with my FR Rockwood is an "Appliance Information Sheet" that has every major item, who made it, model # and someone even filled in all the serial numbers. (I think that was pretty cool of Forest River to do that for customers.)

[Mainframe]

OK, in my opinion coming from 25 years as an Auto Tech I think we all have it backwards when it comes to recallitiss (I know I just made that word up) Look, here it is in a nutshell, Recalls are a GOOD thing! It is a manufacturer stepping up and fixing a problem for you for free! These recalls cost manufacturers BIG bucks and are a parts and service nightmare! They have to pay a dealer 70 bucks an hour + parts mark up (which can be hefty) to do a job they could have had a 20 buck an hour guy do which they already paid for!

Think about it they paid someone to install this part already once and now they gotta pay to have it removed and replaced for free! This hurts any business.

Here is the big kicker, ready for it? Mainstream media announces a "recall" as if it were some kind of conspiricy against the consumer, well news flash, it's just the opposite BECAUSE
YOU HAD A TICKING TIME BOMB, UNDER YOUR SEAT, OR UNDER YOUR FOOT PEDAL OR INSIDE YOU GAS TANK OR WORSE YET YOU AIRBAG OR SEAT BELT! And you need to get it fixed!

It's a GOOD thing to have these fixed, it's always difficult to admit a part has failed but truth be told you can't road test 10,000 units before manufacturing, and trust me there are a TON of variables in manufacturing venders can ad to this scenario, so when a vendor drops the ball for the end maker, they take the heat????

Manufacturer recalls should make shareholders cringe and consumers smile but for some reason people like to treat it as quite the opposite.

My advice to anyone out there on this matter, if you get a recall notice on your car, stove fridge, washer or motorhome, don't ignore it, treat it like a stress call from the doctor, get it in there and get it taken care of and back away slowly, it is usually very serious stuff. I suggest it be treated as such.

Now, here is the REAL problem we have with our toys, ready again?

IT'S THE STUFF THAT NEEDS RECALLED THAT IS NOT GETTING RECALLED!
(Like maybe water tank straps) among many others....

Oops did I say that out loud? Well I am saying this again, we should not hold a manufacturers feet to the fire over recalls no matter how inconvenient they are for the consumer they are a good thing, maybe they would do MORE recalls and our lives would be better for it.

Keep in mind this reply has nothing to do with my opinion on build quality of any certain maker,
that is an entirely different matter, and I know I know it does cross over into recall territory when it comes to just plain "making something with good common sense" so it works correctly, but I really think making a mini house with all these amenities to be able to bounce down the road and work from set up to re set up is quite a logistics nightmare, other than some luny build issues I think they do a fair job, I said fair, although it is a great job when I return from a successful outing LOL

And just for the record I/we are still madly in love with our 23ws but will be redoing the water tank straps first thing in the spring.

[ChipBruce]

Originally Posted by Mainframe

OK, in my opinion coming from 25 years as an Auto Tech I think we all have it backwards when it comes to recallitiss (I know I just made that word up) Look, here it is in a nutshell, Recalls are a GOOD thing! It is a manufacturer stepping up and fixing a problem for you for free! These recalls cost manufacturers BIG bucks and are a parts and service nightmare! They have to pay a dealer 70 bucks an hour + parts mark up (which can be hefty) to do a job they could have had a 20 buck an hour guy do which they already paid for!

Think about it they paid someone to install this part already once and now they gotta pay to have it removed and replaced for free! This hurts any business.

Here is the big kicker, ready for it? Mainstream media announces a "recall" as if it were some kind of conspiricy against the consumer, well news flash, it's just the opposite BECAUSE
YOU HAD A TICKING TIME BOMB, UNDER YOUR SEAT, OR UNDER YOUR FOOT PEDAL OR INSIDE YOU GAS TANK OR WORSE YET YOU AIRBAG OR SEAT BELT! And you need to get it fixed!

It's a GOOD thing to have these fixed, it's always difficult to admit a part has failed but truth be told you can't road test 10,000 units before manufacturing, and trust me there are a TON of variables in manufacturing venders can ad to this scenario, so when a vendor drops the ball for the end maker, they take the heat????

Manufacturer recalls should make shareholders cringe and consumers smile but for some reason people like to treat it as quite the opposite.

My advice to anyone out there on this matter, if you get a recall notice on your car, stove fridge, washer or motorhome, don't ignore it, treat it like a stress call from the doctor, get it in there and get it taken care of and back away slowly, it is usually very serious stuff. I suggest it be treated as such.

Now, here is the REAL problem we have with our toys, ready again?

IT'S THE STUFF THAT NEEDS RECALLED THAT IS NOT GETTING RECALLED!
(Like maybe water tank straps) among many others....

Oops did I say that out loud? Well I am saying this again, we should not hold a manufacturers feet to the fire over recalls no matter how inconvenient they are for the consumer they are a good thing, maybe they would do MORE recalls and our lives would be better for it.

Keep in mind this reply has nothing to do with my opinion on build quality of any certain maker,
that is an entirely different matter, and I know I know it does cross over into recall territory when it comes to just plain "making something with good common sense" so it works correctly, but I really think making a mini house with all these amenities to be able to bounce down the road and work from set up to re set up is quite a logistics nightmare, other than some luny build issues I think they do a fair job, I said fair, although it is a great job when I return from a successful outing LOL

And just for the record I/we are still madly in love with our 23ws but will be redoing the water tank straps first thing in the spring.

Yes that's all true, but ...
All the manufacturers buy the same parts from the same distributors. Whoever is buying for FR....well let's just say they are having a string of bad luck the others are not having. That just does not make sense as all the recalls should be fairly even across the board. There is something else in play here and that very well could be the quality control issue.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by ChipBruce

Yes that's all true, but ...
All the manufacturers buy the same parts from the same distributors. Whoever is buying for FR....well let's just say they are having a string of bad luck the others are not having. That just does not make sense as all the recalls should be fairly even across the board. There is something else in play here and that very well could be the quality control issue.

Or the other manufacturers AREN'T doing recalls... and waiting for the end consumer to find it and complain about it.

Aaron

[Bill Poe]

I just obtained a 2012 FR Lexington 283ts. I'm a handy guy that can fix about anything. Not to blow my own skirt up! However, I'm finding all kinds of things that could've been taken care of at the factory if they had a good quality control department! One thing, my gray water tank valve wouldn't close all the way. So I pulled the valve apart and found half of the floor drain hole sawed piece of wood stuck in it. When they drilled the floor for the shower drain it fell in the drain pipe. I haven't found the other half yet😂. Poor workmanship to say the least!!!
I understand from reading on this forum that they only inspect one out of 15. That's not a very good representative sample. Especially if they're at the top of the list for recalls.
I understand that people are human and we all make mistakes, but come on people some of this stuff is absolutely unacceptable!!!! Like wheels falling off, side walls separating from chassis, lug nuts that won't come off(I've experienced that one),faux leather failing, holding tanks brackets coming loose from chassis. I could go on and on.
It all boils down to MONEY! Someone mentioned that one CEO s only interested in the bottom line. What most people don't realize is that when spending they're hard earned money is they want something that will last. It doesn't appear that this industry is interested in longevity. Only interested in present time. Answer this question, why are we finding so many RV manufactures selling out to other company's?
I'm like a lot of other people, I don't have a million plus$ to to purchase a handcrafted unit to move around the country.
I've vented now and hope everyone can find happiness in camping this next year.

[ilmor]

Numbers like this don't have meaning. Needs to be based on % of units sold to have meaning.

[ilmor]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

Or the other manufacturers AREN'T doing recalls... and waiting for the end consumer to find it and complain about it.

Aaron

Very true as well.