RV Defects Are Normal

Or so it seems from the perspective of the manufacturer and selling dealerships. If not, then why is it so common for a new owner to spend the first few months "working out the bugs?" Or in many instances, the owners themselves perform the repairs to avoid long waiting times at the service repair shop and to ensure the job is done right the first time.

Almost every high-ticket product we purchase today touts their quality, craftsmanship or product longevity except recreational vehicles. Just take a look at any automobile commercial which is chock full of references to how well they are built, detailing the over-the-top comfort level and quality of materials. You also see pretty much the same gloating for typical household appliances like refrigerators and washing machines. 

How do I know all this? In addition to owning RVs for almost 20 years I recently conducted Internet polling to learn how RV Owners felt about the quality of their RV. The results were no surprise, or at least not to me a retired process and quality engineer. But understand there are many owners across the country that are very happy with their unit which isn't quite enough because we all should be Happy Campers. 

First some numbers to study to understand the focus and target group involved witho the polling next we will look at the specific Grades owners have assigned to their RV. 

Poll Categories with Assigned Grade

I conducted two polls, one for Airstream owners and the second for all other RV brand owners. Asking these same questions, you see in the graphic to both groups. There is more information in the video below titled RV Quality Report.

Participants were asked to select the statement that best describes their feelings about the quality of their 2018 to 2021 year model RV. There were 238 Airstream respondents, 313 for all other RV brands totaling 551 responses. 

For fairness two caveats should be considered. 1) The poll was made available to over 200K RV owners as members of Facebook Groups and 2) Negative remarks are more freely shared on the Internet than positive experiences, just a fact of human nature. 

As a sign of what was to come, the first two comments were owners asking why I had not included a "No Issues to Report" category? I immediately added the category and was surprised at how many respondents actually fell in to this category.

Owner's Response Graded from A+ to F

From this set of graphics nothing really jumps out and gives quality a thumbs up or down. One indicator may be the D and F grades for All RV Brands or the 92 (37%) Airstream Owners selecting Grade A and 98 (31%) All RV Brand Owners feeling Grade A+ is their best fit.

Not convinced one way or the other yet? I'm not either so let's do a deeper dive and ask the numbers to present a different picture.

In these next charts I combined the top two grades (A+ and A) and the bottom two grades (D and F) which should represent the most satisfied and most dissatisfied customers for each group.

Top Two and Bottom Two Grades Combined

The picture comes in much better focus from this perspective, at least for me. Over 60 percent of Airstream Owners assigned Grade A or A+ showing their satisfaction quality however 2.3 percent of Airstream Owners had to "cancel trips because of major issues" or "experiencing one issues after the other and it is still broke."  

The All Brands group is reporting quite a different situation. Only 39 percent of these owners are reporting Grade A or A+ and the owners living with the lower grades is 7.3 percent of the All Brands group. 

Where do all of these defects come from and why? The price of anything is a factor of materials and the cost of doing business, simplified of course. Manufacturers as a way to control expenses, have chosen production practices based on a timeline consistent with getting products to customers as quickly as possible. Dealerships gladly accept products with known defects which provide a steady flow of warranty repair work keeping their service departments fully engaged although usually not fully staffed. The maintenance waiting game begins here.

The cost of quality has to fall on someone's plate, the question becomes who and when? The reality is that if there is any quality at all to be had it is the buyer who absorbs the expense of quality knowingly or not and will be better off for it. We don't see Quality as a line item on the invoice nor can we tell the manufacturer "Hold the Quality" on this one to reduce the price. It is what it is. 

If recreational vehicles were delivery in perfect condition with the best materials possible and a guarantee of zero failures for the life of the warranty, we would not be able to afford that RV. I’m not saying to go quietly into the night and just accept what you get, but I am saying try to be satisfied with this whole complex system of the RV Industry but hold everyone accountable.

Seeing the big picture from both the manufacture's and buyer's perspectives I think we can see that the process although troublesome is working. The manufacture ship products and the buyer finds an affordable deal. The long and short of the RV Industry is that RV defects are normal.

I hope you enjoyed this article and maybe learned something along the way. Please Follow my Blog and join the conversation on my Facebook Group "My RV Mentor,."

Thank you.