This 2016 Lance model 1995 travel trailer which I purchased new developed frame sag, which appears to have been fairly common in the 2016 model based upon a query of the Lance Owner's Association. The sag progressed to the point where the occupancy door of the trailer was very difficult to open unless a scissor jack (not part of the trailer equipment) was placed under the rear frame to temporarily correct this each time the trailer was parked. My concern is that anyone cooking inside the trailer with a resultant fire may not be able to leave the trailer in time to save their lives. I have contacted the Lance Corp. and they will not admit that this problem exists in the 2016 model year, nor offer any solutions to the problem. At the same time, the trailer frame was changed during the 2017 year after only being utilized for a year. It seems unlikely that they went to the trouble of picking a trailer frame and then jettisoning it in only a year. I believe that frame failure to this degree after gentle use of a trailer only 8 years old constitutes a grave product defect that requires recall and repair. I have known that this problem exists since 2017 when I talked to another owner of the same year and model trailer. At that time this other owner was able to get the factory to repair his trailer since it was clearly under warranty. My trailer started exhibiting the first symptoms of this around 2018, but I didn't know that was what was causing the slight door opening impingement. I contacted Lance Corporation the first time 3 years ago an got nowhere with advice or recommendations for this problem. This year I again contacted them and emailed back and forth for over two months, even offering to drive my trailer from Alaska to their factory to get it fixed. Again, after slow walking the conversation, they ultimately had no recommendation to repair the problem and would not take me up on me paying my own way to their factory to get the trailer repaired.
- NHTSA ID
- 11610348
- Incident
- May 1, 2024