NHTSA Investigation RQ14004

Trailer tire may contact floor

ODI opened RQ14-004 based on 3 Vehicle Owner Questionnaires (VOQs) which reported a condition similar to recall 13V-554.This recall addressed insufficient clearance between the tire and trailer floor.The condition was due to a frame supplier change which resulted in reduced clearance between the top of the tire and the bottom of the wheel wellOf the three VOQs reported in the opening resume two were not included in recall 13V-554 and one was.Both of the vehicles not included used a different frame than the recalled trailers.Upon thorough examination of the condition experienced by the owners it was found that neither unit exhibited insufficient tire clearance between the bottom of the floor and top of the tire.Forest River's initial Information Request Response (IRR) submission did not adequately address all the questions asked by ODI.Following a meetingwith Forest River personnel on March 20, 2015 an IRR was submitted on May 22, 2015, which satisfied ODI.This submission is included in the public repository.When asked how Forest River identified the recall population they used a production change to determine the start and end dates.On February 3, 2012 Forest River introduced a new frame.The engineering drawings used to launch this new frame failed to identify the frame rail height.Furthermore, Forest River failed to verify that the new frame rail height was the same as the one it replaced.This created a half inch reduction in clearance.This issue was not identified and remedied untilFebruary 4, 2013 which is the end of the recall population. A thorough review of the complaint and warranty informationreceived during this investigation was preformed.After removing claims that could be associated with recall 13V-554 a defect trend was not identified on the remaining population.The only crash which also included an injurycould not be positively associated with the alleged defect. This investigation is closed.The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that no safety-related defect exists.The agency reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances.The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed at: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchNHTSAID under the following complaint identification numbers: 10598458, 10598344, 10538519.

An investigation is a separate record from a recall and from a manufacturer communication. A manufacturer campaign to repair a safety defect or a failure to meet a federal safety standard.