My expectation of product quality has risen over the years.
You might say it has mutated from “OK, that is the way it is”
to “I expect better”.
I remember back in the 1950’s – 60’s that when you bought a new car, you could expect to do one of three things when you reached 50,000 miles. 1- Trade it off… 2- rebuild the motor and transmission…3- sent it to the junkyard. The car had reached the end of it life cycle. I even saw a news report on a car that had reached 100,000 miles on the original motor!
Then because of competition for mainly Toyota and consumer complaints, American autos became more reliable and now 100,000 are normal. Lucas Electrical even had to improve the electronics on British cars!
Home appliances became more reliable and now no one would think of accepting a leaking dishwasher or washing machine.
What still amazes me is the number of people that accept poor quality control and workmanship on a RV as normal. Brand loyalty is good and is expected. Everyone wants to feel good about what they bought. Blind loyalty will make sure that status quo remains and there will be no improvements. I see a lot of blind loyalty, with people defending the makers and automatically accusing the owner of being ignorant, dumb or stupid. The hubris attitudes are amazing.
The RV industry is back where the auto industry was in the 1950’s - 60’s in respect to Quality Control. If you doubt it, just look at the problems with the new RVs, regardless of price. Being so called “Top of the Line” seems to have little to do with it. “Top of the Line” apparently means cosmetic value and not Quality Control.
Say “leaks” and people will chime in that it is normal. Not with my money being spent. I expect better. It does not take a Mechanical Engineer to properly install and tighten a plumbing fixture. Proper Quality Control would insure that these hidden connections are properly connected.
Same with electrical problems and known problems with the body panels. We would not accept this as normal in our stick built homes or autos so why would we accept this as normal in a RV regardless of cost?
I do not expect my icemaker or my washing machine at home to leak. So why is it OK for them to leak in a RV? I expect even the cheapest of auto to have properly aligned doors, hood and trunk plus the fenders should not crack or pop off.
Until consumers bring up their expectations of a quality product and began to make their voiced heard, quality control will remain low.
