Forest River RV owners beware. The company joins other RV manufacturers in having to recall rigs because of a potential risk of air conditioner fires. 2,783 rigs are being recalled for a faulty soft start device.
Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2024 Ahara, Entrada, 2022-2025 FR3, Georgetown, 2021-2023 Dynamax Isata, 2021-2025 Encore, Mirada, Pursuit, 2025 Sportscoach, V-Cruise, V-Sport, V-Tour, 2023 Sunseeker, and 2024-2025 V-RV motorhomes, equipped with General Electric air conditioners with a soft start device with part number ICM870-16A-BH5400. The air conditioner soft start device may fail and overheat. An air conditioner soft start device that overheats increases the risk of a fire.
Forest River air conditioner recall: Remedy still unknown
The remedy is currently under development. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed November 26, 2024. Owners may contact Encore, Mirada, Pursuit and Sportscoach customer service at 1-574-825-8212, Isata customer service at 574-262-3474, Georgetown, FR3, and Sunseeker customer service at 574-206-7600, Ahara and Entrada customer service at 574-264-6664, and V-Cruise, V-RV, V-Sport, and V-Tour customer service at 574-617-6408. Forest River’s number for this recall is 51-1839.
Notes
Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) or go to nhtsa.gov.
What to watch out for
According to GE campaign 24E071: “In the event that an ICM870-16ABH5400 unit undergoes and/or initiates a thermal event, the unit may emit smoke containing the byproducts of plastic or other component material combustion and/or experience a thermal breach of the soft start’s enclosure, leading to the destruction of the soft start and/or localized thermal damage to the area of the air conditioning where the soft start is located.
“Although unconfirmed at this time, the thermal event may, in very limited instances, have the potential to spread beyond the recreational vehicle’s air conditioning into the recreational vehicle’s construction.”
According to GE campaign 24E071: “GE is still investigating the root cause”.
What to watch out for? “Based on currently available information, it appears that potentially affected recreational vehicle air conditioning units may cycle excessively or cease cooling if the ICM870-16A-BH5400 soft start fails, resulting in the inoperability of the installed air conditioning’s compressor. Units may emit smoke and/or a burning odor, either into into the RV cabin or through the external (roof mounted) housing of the unit.
##RVT1180b
So it doesn’t sound like the soft start device is the official Soft Start product, but something Forest River came up with or contracted someone to ‘build’.
Tommy, the term “Soft Start” describes a product designed to reduce the Start-up current in an electric motor. There are many manufacturers of Soft Start units. The industrial Soft Starts have been around much longer than the RV units. There really isn’t an Official (so to speak) Soft Start company.
I just had a soft start installed on my Coleman ac. Haven’t really had a chance tio see how it works.
I only know of ONE manufacturer who shows their units are UL Listed. I would be willing to bet money the ones that catch fire are NOT the ones that are UL Listed. Buy an AC without a soft start then have the UL Listed one installed. My free advice comes with a FULL MONEY BACK GUARANTEE.
This is the part that intrigues me.
“leading to the destruction of the soft start and/or localized thermal damage to the area of the air conditioning where the soft start is located”.
The air conditioner is mounted on the roof of the RV. So the localized “thermal damage” means destruction of the roof.
BTW, “thermal damage” means fire.
One more thing. I realize Forest River products are probably the most sold ones in the industry, but they report recalls almost weekly.
I had a Forest River Gray Wolf 22RR for just over a year. It was in the shop 5 times and only one problem was actually repaired. The biggest and most dangerous was the rear ramp cracking when I loaded my motorcycle.
While not a motorhome our Coachmen Catalina Destination came with two GE AC units. The front throws out very cold air but the central ducted GE AC came Dead on Arrival – something we didn’t discover until the destination trailer was fully set up >100 miles from the nearest warranty service center. Coachmen “Customer Service” informed us we’d need to tow the destination in and have it sit until the DOA GE AC could be looked at. Mind you we were living in it at the time – way out in the Adirondack Park. Their alternative was a Mobile RV tech 60 miles away who quoted use $2500 to replace the defective unit. Hmmmm? Option #3. Install a mini split heat pump. Yep #3 and trash the GE AC.
I think my earlier comment was lost but bear in mind that these a/c’s and soft start devices were made in China. Maybe some day we can sever our trade ties with them and bring our jobs and companies back home where we can control quality and production again.
You wouldn’t pay the price.
People don’t want to pay $12 for a Big Mac so that the unskilled fast food worker can raise a family of four earning a “livable wage” doing an entry level high school job.
Only a liar or a fool would say they’d pay $2,200 for a roof unit that goes for $800 today.
Vince, My a/c units were about 2k in ’08 (built here). Big Macs are about $12 out here already.
Drew, good point.
Your A/C units cost $2K sixteen years ago because they were made here. Look up current (outsourced) units and you’ll see the price is half of that.
Unlike durable goods, it’s hard to outsource a Big Mac so if ya like McDonald’s, a $12 burger will be considered cheap in a few years!
Safe travels 🙂
Thank you, Russ and Tina, for the recall notice! Hmm, … a thermal event sounds bad, but I guess that’s better than a … fire …. Oh, nevermind, it is a fire. I guess “thermal event” sounds more innocuous than “fire.” Have a great week and safe travels!