In yesterday’s newsletter, our cover story was about a major article last week in which The Wall Street Journal criticized Forest River for a history of defective manufacturing practices.
The major mainstream media (what remains of it) has historically ignored the RV industry. Now, finally, a major national newspaper has stepped up with an article that should have then resulted in headlines raising alarm in RV industry publications and in newspapers all over Indiana, where 85 percent of all RVs are made.
But guess what? None that I can find has written a single thing! None. Zero. At the very least, I think, they might have written an editorial that presented another side of the story about the second largest RV manufacturer in the state (actually, in the world). If, in fact, there is another side of the alarming story.
Three years ago, the Indianapolis Star ran a damning four-part series of articles on the same subject—focusing on the Big Three manufacturers: Thor, Forest River and Winnebago. The RV industry media stonewalled it. We told you about this when it happened. The Star article never went anywhere.
Do you know why I care? Because I know the pain that those shoddy products have cost the people who bought them. Granted, most of the company’s RVs are fine. But way too many are riddled with defects that sometimes can never be fixed or cost a bundle to do so.
You better believe that if this Wall Street Journal article reflected positively on Forest River, the RV industry media would have gloated and run banner headlines. They would have asked their own reporters to follow up. As is, they’d prefer to bury it.
I know most of the major RV industry writers, editors and publishers, and I’m friends with many even though I’m a pain in their sides sometimes. But it’s sort of like right after the end of an NFL game where the players from both sides, fighting only moments before on the field, hug each other like best buddies.
The RV industry publications have an inherent problem that we at RVtravel.com do not have. They are funded almost entirely by advertising. Without it, they’re out of business. How much might it cost them if they published something that acknowledged the Wall Street Journal article? They’d risk losing advertisers and their dollars. Maybe lots of dollars.
What would you do if you were them? Keep your mouth shut and watch the ad dollars continue to roll in, or post a news item or editorial about a problem that you know to be true, but then face losing a whole bunch of money as punishment from angry industry leaders?
And, yes, RVtravel.com runs advertising, too much of it (for reasons I plan to write about ASAP). But it’s sold by an agency based on demographics, not our editorial policy.
Thankfully, a (way too) small number of our readers realize we have bills to pay and support us with voluntary subscriptions, which provides a lifeline should our advertising disappear.
Please leave a comment.
RELATED
Note: These were not listed in yesterday’s article about this issue.
- Why is there no industry-wide RV quality control?
- Forest River recalls trailers for wiring protection danger
- Forest River recalls some trailers: wiring could melt, cause fire
- Forest River towables recalled for breakaway switch miswiring
- Forest River fifth wheels recalled for potential carbon monoxide poisoning
- Same problem, different cause: Forest River recall – LP cylinder could detach
- 7,000 Forest River motorhomes recalled for turn signal reflector safety violation
- Forest River travel trailers recalled: Fresh water tank may fall off
- For more Forest River recalls (we’re reported on almost 300 of them), click here.
- Here’s the article from The Wall Street Journal dated June 24, 2025.
RVT1215
I had a conversation with an individual who moves new RVs to their new owners. Asked him what was the worst RV after their move. He very quickly said Thor products. Stated after the move, you would have a floor full of screws and other debris.
The entire industry has become “Thorized”. Even decent manufacturers are following suit to this “industry business model”. A race to the bottom. Our 2006 40QSH Tiffin is going nowhere.
Tifin is a prime example of the Thorizeation of the Industry!
Truth to power Chuck…. Thank u
I know a slide manager for forest river, he has been there for years… quality is still crap he says.. when they have a slowdown and close the plants for weeks, nothing is done.. no training. to insure better quality, as it would cost money . Piece work, that is all they want to pay. Most of the Amish workers left the industry several years ago. I wonder, if ICE showed up, how many workers would be lost?
Regarding online advertising… 1st, I am a contributor to this publication. 2nd, I don’t block ads, but I DO block most of the mechanisms that advertisers use to track where I travel and what I may have clicked on elsewhere. Lately, I hit a LOT of popups telling me I am using an ad-blocker and would I please turn it off. Nope. I am NOT blocking ads anymore than I block ads in printed magazines or billboards along the highway. The data collected by these metrics tools is for sale, THEY say it is anonymous and benign, but frankly, put enough together and it can be used by not so benign parties with high probability of getting to me. Not a conspiracy theory, I worked in high tech.
Nothing wrong with piecework paid labor – provided there are realistic quality guards also tied to the worker who did the work. Maybe if there were, RV manufacturers would have warranties that were worth more than campfire kindling. Lower warranty claims, higher piecework rates; higher warranty claims, lower piecework rates. There are data systems that can handle this – those of course cost money.
Easy fix…new RV 3 year bumper to bumper warranty
But if the filthy industry just delays and delays owners trying to use that warranty, like several of the mfgs do now, what good is it?
But the dealers are not doing quality repairs on a timely basis, so really there is not much of a warranty on rvs.
Thank you for bringing this to everybody’s attention. I am a subscriber and really appreciate you as we help my sister and her husband look for travel trailers. Talk about slick salesman…
The same silence is true in regular print media. I worked a number of years at a newspaper, and they are owned by car dealership advertising dollars. You’ll never see a negative article about a car dealership – or even the practice of dealerships. How much money would consumers save if they could bypass dealerships and buy directly from manufacturers? The question will never be asked in media that relies on those dollars.
That’s right.
State law in many states require in state dealers and prohibit sales directly to the consumer.
Tesla has been fighting that.
I think Tesla started this week being able to have the car deliver itself right to your house. Can you imagine? I’m just a couple months from retirement and once we sell our house we’ll be full-time RVing. I’ve been watching hours and hours of RV info YouTube – and we’ve been to over 10 RV dealerships looking at various models. In all but ONE of those dealerships I knew far more than the salesperson there. And I’ve never even owned one – a complete newb. So… what use is a dealership?
We purchased a new Forest River and the 1st night we slept in it, it rained and the ceiling collapsed, flooding our bed. We fought with Forest River and the dealer to make it right for a very long time. Finally, after we posted a bad review, the dealer tried to make it right by trading us for a new Forest River. I feel they screwed us on the financing and the quality is not much better. Now we’re paying way too much for an RV that is crap.
We want cheap, and we want features. And of course high returns on our mutual funds and stocks.
The result is low cost and high margins, equals profits.
We’re getting what we pay for.
Meanwhile the workers are getting destroyed by the work and the drugs, as RV Travel has documented in the past.
Consumerism and capitalism, the adventure continues.
BINGO
Morals…ethics…and respect went out the window long ago in America. While there are still a few good working folks left who care about their work…there are not enough. You can’t have a hot dog without the mustard
Well said Chuck. The problems have reached a point where it is not only the owner of one of these RV’s who has a problem (or a dozen), but it is starting to feel unsafe following another RV because of what may fall off and damage our rig. Hope we cross paths again sometime soon.
I have followed Mark and Emily Fagan on their blog, Road Less Travelled, for years. They have chronicled ownership of at least 3 RV’s that I recall, and the latest and most recent is witness to the poor RV industry particularly the Forest River folks. It is quite long with the many issues they have had, and I would urge all to find it and read it. While both Emily and Mark also had a long relationship with various RV publications. the troubles mentioned are, in my mind, grossly glossed over because Mark can and has fixed many of the issues they have experienced over the years. It is a good read and follow up to this piece on FR as well.
I agree the shoddy workmanship on all RVs needs to be addressed. Also on another subject that you have come out against as well as other RV dealers and campers, the sale of government land to private sector. We need to understand and work together with government agencies on this. There is $150 trillion in much needed minerals under the areas that is being sold, most of it BLM land. This Country is broke and deeply in debt. And we need to have access to these minerals. We must work together to solve this problem. The national news service will not report this, so dig down and find the truth. Thank you. Don Waggoner
Wholy Cow! Thank you for this article! Both the article and reading comments, have been elightening. We own a 2006 (since 2007) Coachman class C that we have been toying with the idea of replacing with a towable. I know to avoid RVs built in the 2020-2023 “covid era” because of poor quality. This article sounds like we should avoid buying new, even currently. For now we’re making repairs and upgrades to our Coachman. We’ll continue to do thorough research, watch videos, and read your stories before we decide to buy anything. Thank you for all that you do! Keep doing you!
There are things you-RV Travel- can do. Stop publishing the rv reviews about how great each and every rv reviewed is beautiful, without publishing all the defects that exist in that rv. And don’t say they are unbiased. I don’t remember any articles that mentioned a defect. You once told me in uncertain terms that you were the only honest reviewer. Almost every single rv I’ve looked at for the last several years has had glaring defects, including those prepared especially for shows. Maybe you should take a look at these reviewed units yourself.
I point out things that I think are flaws or design flaws or examples of bad quality in the reviews and that’s reflected both in the text of the review and in the charts I prepare. If you’ll notice one of my closing statements on this week’s review praised Grand Design for this example but offered that they should use this same type of thinking on their towable line.
I really wish I could get these RVs for a week to thoroughly test them as I used to do with cars when I reviewed those, but there are lots of times I can’t even get photographs of these things from the manufacturers.
I have been pretty positive recently as I’ve happened to find a number of RVs that I think really are making a difference. While I know they all are being built in a big hurry and mostly by hand, I like to call them when I see issues and praise them when I see them doing a great job. In the case of this week’s Grand Design Lineage, I really think it’s an example of a company doing a great job.
Tony, if you can’t get enough content and materiel, such as personal inspection, or even photographs, from the manufacturers, then why, in the name of Heavenly Glory, would you ever agree to review that manufacturer’s product. It smacks of the very same “Paid to Play” with the Mfgr’s that Chuck is talking about in his article.
I call foul!
Valid question indeed. I do my best to make it clear that I am providing information that readers can use to make their own determination based on my years of experience in the RV industry.
Since RVs are all hand-built in a big hurry even if I got an example and tested it for a month it might be a totally different set of results than with one built an hour closer to closing time.
So my reviews provide the tools that readers can use to evaluate RVs in their own shopping process. Some things don’t change like cheap suspensions, GVWs that leave almost no reserve cargo capacity, poor materials, design flaws and the like.
Plus the reviews are popular and, I hope, entertaining.
Having been to a lot of RV plants and seen a lot of RVs I can safely say that the big companies – Forest River and Thor – have offerings that are price-focused and those that are quality-focused.
Okay, they’re all hand-built in a big hurry but some have a better workforce or management style. Some earn quality awards, others don’t.
But I notice, also, in my reviews that when something is of higher quality people complain about price. If we all keep buying Coleman at Camping World all you’re doing is telling the RV industry that that’s what you want. And that’s what you’ll get.
Businesses aren’t stupid – if we demanded better quality the RV industry would deliver.
It seems obvious that a large majority of purchasers–young families–are concerned with one thing…the monthly payment. Most of them are blind to the fact that that dreamy RV they lust for, will sit, aging in their driveway for all but 2 (maybe 4) weeks out of the year. They don’t look at the rapidly declining value compared to the total outlay over the life of the loan…and how quickly these units are upside down in value to debt. Now top that with the poor (and getting poorer) quality that’s hidden by the glitz and gimmicky stuff they put in them. You might as well be investing in costume jewelry. Be an informed consumer!
Thank you for your comments, Chuck, that are well-informed and informative, as always. Have a great day and safe travels!
Since Forest River is the world’s largest manufacturer of RVs having the largest number of recalls follows. A more useful statistic would show the number of recalls per unit sold.
Thor is the largest manufacturer of RVs.
Thor quality is about the same, dismal.
As an RV consumer advocate who runs the “Grand Design RV Major Issues”, Facebook site and http://www.rvadvocacy.com I found this article interesting but not nearly as big as what is going on with Grand Design/Winnebago right now. Between their massive NHTSA investigation and the class action lawsuit, let alone that all this is going on throughout the RV industry right now, I think that is even more important. Maybe because I am neck deep in it myself. You guys know, you are on my site and see all the postings. I am trying to get the WSJ reporter to cover this bigger story but they seem clueless about the bigger picture within the RV industry.
It comes as no surprise to me, as the RV industry as a whole, have perpetrated one of the Biggest Scams, on the American Public, that has ever been contrived.
Not only are the Craftsmanship, of a large majority of RV manufactured questionable, but the materials used in said manufacture, just as or more so suspect.
My Wife and I purchased our dream RV a 2017 Thor Challenger 37TB , we worked through a normal progression, from Pull Behind , then after a couple of years traded up to a 5th wheel. We ended up with the Challenger, with 4,042 miles on the Odometer. The issues started day 2 of owning, we are now at well over $10,000 in repairs, $8K+ out of pocket. With more repairs pending!
When I filed a report with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at http://www.safecar.gov the agent that followed up on my report of the Cargo Bay doors debonding, and separating while traveling down the road, which happed on our second day of owning our 2017 Thor Challenger 37TB, stated that it is imperative to report all issues with the Safety,and Drivablity of RV to the NHTSA, regardless of whether or not they are repaired by the manufacturer, or dealership so that they are made aware of issues so they can many times, apply changes in the manufacturing process before it becomes a hazzard on the Highway, and to its owners.
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