Quality Control issues...

[Oystercopy]

We bought a brand new trailer from Puma/Forest River. The trailer has been fraught with problems/issues, mostly mechanical. The training we received was less than adequate, so we're playing catch-up with all of that, trying to learn what we can so we can be as self-supportive as possible. I've heard the horror stories of people buying brand new trailers, and them being in the shop more than on the road. Just wanted to open up some discussion and thank you for whatever input anyone can provide!

 

[Onyrlef]

Quality control in an RV plant is mostly a joke. Not sure what kind of mechanical issues you’re having but keep records and don’t be intimidated, make them honor the warranty. They’re going to try and run out the clock, so get everything documented and turned in before the warranty expires.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

As you've no doubt figured out, there is no quality control. The quality of individual units varies, sometimes widely, and they try to catch the defects with inspections at the end of the line. Thus there are inevitably some "lemons". And few dealers are equipped to respond to major warranty claims, either technically or in a timely manner. Nor do many dealers invest in new owner training - that's purely an extra expense for them, directly impacting their profit in a market where price competition is severe.

It's sad that manufacturers don't provide much in the way of detailed digital video either. That would be a inexpensive way to show/explain what all the switches and valves are for and how to use them.

 

[Kirk]

While I agree that quality control is poor to nonexistent in the RV industry, I also know some manufacturers have much better reputations than others, with good reason. However, I don't see where our views on quality control is helpful to you at this point. Many of us here do have extensive experience both using RVs and making repairs to them. If you were to point us in the right direction on where and what you have questions about, I'm sure that we could be much more helpful.
Welcome to the forums! Helping others is what we enjoy doing so do not hesitate.

 

[Domo]

Keep written copies of all service orders and record how much lost time you have when it is out of service due to these issues or lack of parts at the dealer, etc. - Check with your state and see if they have Lemon Laws for RV's.

You will learn a lot about the RV pretty quickly. Most stuff is easy once you find out how/where/when all the stuff is interconnected.

Remember, the goal is to enjoy the experience and even if you were using a tent you'd have wet feet, have to go to the bathroom behind a tree in the rain, etc. So, in the RV, there can also be issues - hopefully they won't be show stoppers.

Always ask questions if you want a million opinions while wading through the forum you'll learn the dialog and how things break and how they can work again.

 

[Ray-IN]

I agree with previous replies, document every conversation, meeting in writing, With the selling dealership and the RV mfgr. and follow-up when a deadline is missed.
Years ago a woman on escapees.com did exactly that with a new 5er she bought. She had to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the mfgr., which to me indicated she was successful in getting her new 5er replaced due to the many defects.
(there was nothing in writing saying she couldn't disclose signing the non-disclosure agreement.)

 

[Excalibur]

I consider the phrase "quality control" to be an oxymoron.

 

[Ohiosnowbird]

We bought a brand new trailer from Puma/Forest River. The trailer has been fraught with problems/issues, mostly mechanical. The training we received was less than adequate, so we're playing catch-up with all of that, trying to learn what we can so we can be as self-supportive as possible. I've heard the horror stories of people buying brand new trailers, and them being in the shop more than on the road. Just wanted to open up some discussion and thank you for whatever input anyone can provide!

We’ve had many, many major issues with our brand new 2023 camper. We camped in our front yard for several months before hitting the road to learn how all the systems work. It’s how we found the major issues, ie. our blackwater tank fell off (search on this forum, you’ll find that saga). We’re grateful (so far 30 major ones) all of our issues occurred while camping in the front yard. We have repaired, at great expense to us, (most) everything ourselves (some are still in the queue - dead generator). Dumb? Maybe, but both the manufacturer and dealer let this rig with all of it’s shortcomings out the door, we just don’t trust either to do the right thing.

When we have contacted the manufacturer for support, they know very little about how to correct an issue that has stopped you dead in the water. We’ve learned a whole lot about repairing things ourselves operating this way. Also, we know the issue has been fixed the right way, so there’s that. Our last big issue, the leveling system failed, prevented us from leaving on a trip, but it was resolved, by us, and we left 3 days late. This and the rest of the issues, had we trusted the dealer or the manufacturer, we feel sure, we’d still be waiting to go.

There’s no quality control IMHO. I worked in MCAE (Mechanical computer aided engineering) for many years and understand what QA/QC is. From my perspective, there wasn’t any when it came to our rig.

 

[Onyrlef]

Having worked in the plants and anyone else that’s worked in most any kind of production environment knows QC is largely lip service, slogans and banners. There are exceptions ( Toyota, for one), but they’re few and far between. The minute QC starts effecting the bottom line or what someone in the chain of command perceives to be effecting productivity and their immediate performance QC takes a backseat. The parents of the Boeing whistleblower who took his own life said he told them he was ridiculed and harassed for bringing up QC issues at meetings, which is typical.

 

[Ohiosnowbird]

Having worked in the plants and anyone else that’s worked in most any kind of production environment knows QC is largely lip service, slogans and banners. There are exceptions ( Toyota, for one), but they’re few and far between. The minute QC starts effecting the bottom line or what someone in the chain of command perceives to be effecting productivity and their immediate performance QC takes a backseat. The parents of the Boeing whistleblower who took his own life said he told them he was ridiculed and harassed for bringing up QC issues at meetings, which is typical.

Our industry was pretty thorough with QA/QC. We were producing software for other industries to design car parts, space shuttle parts, some medical devices, plastics. If our software failed, so did the brake Toyota designed, or the shock BMW designed. Our development cycle was lengthy, but so was the quality assurance cycle(80’s-90’s). I would bet that isn’t true today seeing some of the bugs that come with contemporary software…

 

[RRR]

It is becoming evident that even the RV manufacturing OC is only slightly poorer than Boeing's.

 

[John From Detroit]

I have told a few QC stories over time myself. On My class A the dash radio (A standard automotive type) kept not putting out sound.. Turns out a couple of plugs in a relay unit under the dash were not fully plugged in. And that's just one issue. The one that saved me the most on haircuts (Took me a while to figure it out in short)

But even dealers are problem causers. When they installed the lube pump on my second towed they ran the power and sense wires where bad things could easily happen... I re-routed once I figured that out.