Reports submitted to NHTSA by owners and drivers, shown in full
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Our database holds 11 NHTSA owner-reported complaints for the 2020 Forest River Flagstaff. Each one is a report filed by an owner or driver and published by NHTSA without most of them being verified. A complaint is not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. Narratives are shown exactly as filed.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
Showing 1–11 of 11
When forced to drive over a canvas tent bag, Due to traffic and road conditions. The tent bag wrapped around the drive shaft, ripped out the brake lines and the emergency brake lines damaged the master cylinder and damage the emergency brake mechanism in the cab of the RV. There should be protection under the vehicle so that does not happen! The loss of both types of brake systems could be catastrophic.
3500# axles added to a trailer with a gross weight of 3920#. Tires are severely worn on the inside from an undersized axel. Possible tire blow out if not corrected.
The structure supporting the fresh water tank is insufficient to carry the weight when full of water. The 36 inch long support bars sag ~2 inches when the tank is full, and the tank itself sags another 1.5 inches between the bars. There have been numerous accounts of these tanks detaching and falling out while travelling on the highway, posing a risk to other drivers.
The fabric side wall failed to keep my daughter safe as she slept in the camper. She fell out of the camper onto the hard, cold ground while she was sound asleep. She could have been seriously injured. The Velcro on the fabric was secured to the camper frame.
Subject Castle Rock Radial ST 205/75/R14 tire was running 10 degrees F. hotter (around 110 F) than the three sibling tires after about 30 minutes of travel. This had been the case for an earlier trip of approximately 275 interstate miles. All of these tires are original equipment and similarly used and maintained. The tire eventually exploded (see uploaded pics). Subsequent inspection shows a bubble had formed between layers of the tread portion of the tire. The failed tire is available for inspection. Tire pressure before traveling in the morning was 65 p.s.i. (this is consistently maintained when in use). The load/speed ratings of these tires are D105/101L or 2039 lbs/75 m.p.h. Our running speed is typically 65 m.p.h. or less. The trailer weighs approximately 5600 pounds as loaded. Likely due to a combination of this safety margin in both weight and speed along with a weight distributing hitch with a stabilizer bar, we did not lose control of the vehicle when the tire failed. We were able to pull onto the emergency apron of the interstate immediately and replace the failed tire with a spare tire (not the original spare). The original matching spare with zero miles of use on the road suffered a similar fate (bubble/tire layer separation) in 2022 (NHTSA Reference No. 11490675). The failed tire was taken to a nearby tire center where it was inspected and replaced with a new tire. Subsequent to this trip, the remaining three (3) OEM Castle Rock tires have been replaced due to their high failure rate (40% to date for us).
The RV came with a heated mattress which I would often used to pre-heat the mattress before going to bed. On 11/23/2022, I turned the mattress heater on level 4 & went out of the camper. After about an hour, the smoke alarm went off & I came into the camper to find a very strong toxic odor. I found the smell was coming from the mattress & immediately turned off the heater. Upon further investigation, I saw a burn hole in the bedding & discovered the mattress smoldering. I feel fortunate that I was not sleeping with the mattress heater on when this occurred & fear the various alternative situations this may have caused. I have notified the RV dealer, as well as the RV, mattress & heating control manufacturers. They have responded but have not notified me as to a resolution or further investigation. The mattress, bedding & the heater control unit are available for inspection. I have made no contact with the fire or police department or my insurance company as I discovered the smoldering mattress before it actually caught fire.
The contact owns a 2020 Forest River Flagstaff. The contact stated that when he had inspected the RV spare tire prior to a trip, he noticed that the spare had a blister on the tread. The contact stated that the blister extends from the inner side of the tread to the outer and is approximately five inches wide. The Tire DOT number: JUJTYMT 2819. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer where it was not diagnosed the tire had been replaced. The vehicle had been repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 0, the tire had never been used and was original equipment.
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request -Tire. -I will keep the tire until 11/1/22. I will also have the undamaged spare available of the same make and model if needed. This will accompany a separate report with nearly identical language for the other trailer tire that failed about 60 miles earlier. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? -Tire failed on the interstate at Highway speed at 70MPH with a load pop sound, on an 86-degree, sunny, and dry day. The tire immediately delaminated all center tread between cap ply and center fabric belts. This sent debris, including wheel well components of the trailer, across multiple lanes of traffic. Thanks to high visibility and light traffic conditions surrounding vehicles slowed to avoid debris, tow vehicle, and trailer. An educated driver and a weight-distributing hitch recovered the trailer from the fishing condition in the adjacent lane. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? -No. However, many trailer owners have complained on various forums dubbing this tire a "china bomb" Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? -Since the original travel trailer purchase from the dealer in 2020. All tires including the spare did not hold air as well as a typical car tire. We would typically we would need to add air 10-20 PSI before embarking on a trip, and needed about 40 psi at the start of the camping season. No active monitoring systems are present on the trailer. No leak locations were found on tread using the soap and water method, and no handling issues existed prior to failure. Tires inflated to Manufacture recommended pressure 65PSI before all departures.
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request -Tire. -I will keep the tire until 11/1/22. I will also have the undamaged spare available of the same make and model if needed. This will accompany a separate report with nearly identical language for the other trailer tire that failed about 60 miles later. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? -Tire failed on the interstate at Highway speed at 70MPH with a load pop sound, on an 86-degree, sunny, and dry day. The tire immediately delaminated all center tread between cap ply and center fabric belts. This sent debris, including wheel well components of the trailer, across multiple lanes of traffic. Thanks to high visibility and light traffic conditions surrounding vehicles slowed to avoid debris, tow vehicle, and trailer. An educated driver and a weight-distributing hitch recovered the trailer from the fishing condition in the adjacent lane. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? -No. However, many trailer owners have complained on various forums dubbing this tire a "china bomb" Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? -Since the original travel trailer purchase from the dealer in 2020. All tires including the spare did not hold air as well as a typical car tire. We would typically we would need to add air 10-20 PSI before embarking on a trip, and needed about 40 psi at the start of the camping season. No active monitoring systems are present on the trailer. No leak locations were found on tread using the soap and water method, and no handling issues existed prior to failure. Tires inflated to Manufacture recommended pressure 65PSI before all departures.
ST225/75R15 - had blowout on front driver side of RV that has dual axles. After putting spare tire on, I had gone less than 30 minutes down I-75 and had a second blowout on rear passenger tire as I pulled into a Camping World to get new spare. After 3rd tire was determined to be bad, ended up replacing all tires with Goodyear Endurance tires. Fortunately they had 4 in stock. I initially bought the RV brand new in July 2019 and tires only had about 3,000 miles on them. I am part of several Facebook RV groups and heard of this happening all the times re: “China bomb” tires. Never felt it would happen to me. I feel that with these castle rock tires having such a bad history, then RV manufacturers should be putting better tires on. And/or RV dealers should replace upon arrival to their sales lot.
TIRES ARE PREMATURELY CRACKING AND POSE A SAFETY ISSUE BECAUSE THEY MAY FAIL AND BLOWOUT AT HIGH SPEED. CONDITIONS EXIST ON ALL FOUR TIRES. ALL TIRES SHOW SIDEWALL CRACKS AND SEPARATION CRACKS WHERE TREAD MEETS THE SIDEWALL.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
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