2021 Forest River Georgetown

The contact owns a 2021 Forest River Georgetown RV built on a 2020 Ford Motorhome Chassis. While on a road trip, the contact, his wife, and two children became ill from the PolyHyde vinyl seats that were factory installed and bolted down in the RV. The contact stated that the seats were deteriorating and released a powdery substance, causing his eyes to water, coughing, and respiratory issues. The contact's son was diagnosed with bronchitis and had a rash on the chest. The contact’s daughter had a cough and runny nose. The contact's wife had high blood pressure. Medical attention was received by each occupant inside the RV. The RV was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 21,000.

NHTSA ID

11755189

Incident

Jul 20, 2026

Mileage

21,000 mi

Factory weight measurements show rear axle at 14,310 lbs (GAWR: 15,500 lbs). Adding required fluids (80 US gal fuel @ 480 lbs, 24.5 US gal LPG @ 103 lbs, 85 US gal fresh water @ 705 lbs, 10 US gal hot water @ 84 lbs) increases rear axle weight to 15,579 lbs, exceeding GAWR by 79 lbs before any cargo loading. This creates significant safety risks through axle overload during normal operation. Forest River now builds this model on 26000# chassis, validating the original chassis as inadequate. Suspension upgrade costs approximately $28,000 USD. Request investigation for safety recall of all 2021 GT7 36K7 units on 24000# chassis. Issue previously raised with Chad Defrees (factory) and service center management.

NHTSA ID

11636210

Incident

Jan 16, 2025

I pulled to the side of the road, with my foot on the brake, i placed the Motorhome in park, and set the emergency brake. When i went to start to turn back on the road, the gear shift lever, would move freely, but not change from park to drive, or any other gear. I limped to my destination by shifting the transmission manually at the transmission linkage lever. Found out that the linkage cable had melted on the exhaust. It was not properly tied up away from the exhaust.

NHTSA ID

11605246

Incident

Jul 27, 2024

The contact owns a 2021 Forest River Georgetown RV built on a 2020 Ford F59 chassis. The contact stated that while operating the RV, the suspension was extremely unstable making it extremely difficult to control the vehicle. Additionally, while driving over bumps in the roadway, the RV would sway from side to side. The contact indicated that the GVW of the RV exceeded the weight limit for the chassis, causing the driver’s side of the RV to sag approximately 3 inches. The contact stated that all four wheels were sitting on the bump stops of the suspension. The RV was taken to the Forest River Service Center where suspension air bags were installed, but the failure persisted. The contact stated that the RV and chassis manufacturers confirmed the safety defect, but neither agreed to resolve the issue. The failure mileage was 500.

NHTSA ID

11504998

Incident

Jul 21, 2021

Mileage

500 mi

The rear suspension. sway bar brackets are loose from factory or work their way loose. i lost my bracket and bolts as i entered the campground in the motorhome discovered this and discovered the other side was loose as well. this piece could have came off while at highway speed and caused injury to others as well as caused myself to have a tire failure , not to mention the danger of the swaybar not working correctly when driving the motorhome.

NHTSA ID

11431854

Incident

Aug 7, 2021

According to Ford's Final Notice of Recall 22V731: "In some of the affected vehicles, the rear stabilizer bar attachment bracket(s) weld-nuts may not be capable of supporting the required joint torque for this application and may have been damaged during the assembly process. During vehicle usage, the weld nuts attaching the rear stabilizer bracket may loosen, and the attachment bracket may break and/or the attachment bolts and the bracket may separate from the vehicle. It is possible that this may result in a road debris hazard."

According to the notice from Ford 22S62: In some of the affected vehicles, the rear stabilizer bar attachment bracket(s) weld-nuts may not be capable of supporting the required joint torque for this application and may have been damaged during the assembly process. During vehicle usage, the weld nuts attaching the rear stabilizer bracket may loosen, and the attachment bracket may break and/or the attachment bolts and the bracket may separate from the vehicle. It is possible that this may result in a road debris hazard.

The rear axle may contain an inadequate volume of lubricating oil. An inadequate volume of rear axle lubricant may result in rear wheel bearing damage potentially leading to bearing seizure. Bearing seizure may lead to rear axle or driveshaft failure. A rear axle or driveshaft failure may result in loss of vehicle motive power, loss of transmission park function, and loss of parking brake function, increasing the risk of a crash.

It was discovered that the manufacturing plant did not cut a stress relief line in the upper deck Driver Side and in on certain models, Passenger Side under the slide room(s). The upper deck in the Impression Fifth-Wheel needs to flex, without the "stress relief cut" the sidewall filon may crack under the slide room(s).