RVs made in China??

China certainly has a totalitarian government but it would be a mistake to still call them communist. They have more of a managed quasi-capitalistic economic system. For many years, now, they have invested their resources in developing their industrial capacity and improving their infrastructure. That is how they became a major player in world markets.

mlts22 wrote:
If the government would do smart regulation, great. However, the regulation I've been seeing these past few years does little to nothing for safety. For example, on diesels, the DPF/DEF stuff which has done little except add more headaches for the consumer, and cash for the diesel makers when someone's DPF gets plugged. If the government steps in, we might see some brain-damaged attempt at something (like how the EPA put too many pollution regs in too fast and killed the US's steel industry), but the problem will not be addressed in a way that means we see better quality RVs in upcoming model years.

It would be far better if RVIA took the lead, as they are the only body that RV makers are accountable to these days.

RVIA works (for the lack of a better word) with both federal and state government agencies to protect the interests of its members…

It supposedly has an inspection program to monitor compliance of the plumbing, heating, fire and life safety, and the electrical systems of the RVs manufactured by its members… they are supposed to be in conformance to the ANSI/NFPA 1192 standard for RVs, and also maintain an on-going Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) education program for its members…

They are primarily an advocate for the industry and it members…

But make no mistake about it they work for their dues paying members, and no one else… I doubt they have any enforcement muscle or care to have it, and are not liable for a members non-compliance…

Safety standards for RV’s are woefully inadequate and in badly need of updated… a great starting point would be with the tires and running gear on towables, MH are especially dangerous from flying debris (missiles) from just quick stops…

If the government would do smart regulation, great. However, the regulation I've been seeing these past few years does little to nothing for safety. For example, on diesels, the DPF/DEF stuff which has done little except add more headaches for the consumer, and cash for the diesel makers when someone's DPF gets plugged. If the government steps in, we might see some brain-damaged attempt at something (like how the EPA put too many pollution regs in too fast and killed the US's steel industry), but the problem will not be addressed in a way that means we see better quality RVs in upcoming model years.

It would be far better if RVIA took the lead, as they are the only body that RV makers are accountable to these days.

A lot of mechanical things made in Ch*na are terrible as exampled above. Their metallurgy is substandard or the parts are made too thin or fragile. I bought a Chinese made ball joint removal tool recently and the "C" part of the clamp snapped. Could have caused a serious injury but fortunately it went flying off away from me when it broke.

We just bought a new trailer that has Trailair (Lippert) equalizers. I was at a frame shop and they showed me Dexter equalizers in comparison. The Dexter ones are waaay better built and are made in the US as far as I can tell. I am guessing that the Trailair must be made offshore because the plastic bushings are worn out already and we've only put around 100 miles on them (plus at least 2K miles from the factory) and the shackles are pretty thin compared to the Dexter ones. Going to upgrade to Dexter regardless and which has wet bolts and brass bushings along with top quality.

With things like electrical products, they have to have a CSA or equivalent label on them or they aren't legal for sale here. When it comes to many RV components such as frames, suspension and brakes, there aren't government mandated safety and design standards so they can flog whatever they want. No FVMSS, no SAE, no nothing. Very sad really. No wonder so many people have problems with suspensions and frames. We have made in China AxleTek brakes on our TT when we were supposed to get AlKo brakes. I wouldn't expect the AxleTek brakes to last very long, plus are they made to any gov't mandated standards??? I doubt it. If they cause serious injury, who would you point your finger at? RVIA may have some of their own standards but they aren't gov't mandated safety standards and they aren't available to the public.

Who knows what rickety, thin, substandard, poorly made, under-designed parts we are presently already towing down the road that are made offshore, and usually in China. At this point, if Chinese made RVs came to North America, I hate to think of what questionable quality they would be made of and to what standards they would comply with.

The industry here needs a wake up call here regardless which should include the gov't. stepping in and creating mandatory design and safety standards.

YnotTurbo wrote:
I own a RV made in the USA,,, but I have noticed that a lot of the electronics are made in,,,,wait for it,,, CHINA.. Had a recall for my light dimmer switches and one actually burned up while camping. It was made in China. The new parts shipped to me from DRV where made in the USA. No problems with the switches. They might save money using slave labor parts made in China, but it always seems to be less than good.

it’s not just electronics, it’s the crappy and cracking running gear parts to…
like this cracked made in China equalizer and the other made in china suspension parts (hangers, bolts and bushings) that wear out in 3000 miles or less…

tatest wrote:
When I was in China, 2001-2004, I could rent an Australian-made motorhome from an agency across the road from Worker's Stadium

Yes Swagman was making them for the Australian market but Swagman has since gone into receivership.

I think china has WMD's (or is that crappy rv's),,, give GWB a call he'll fixem up,

I own a RV made in the USA,,, but I have noticed that a lot of the electronics are made in,,,,wait for it,,, CHINA.. Had a recall for my light dimmer switches and one actually burned up while camping. It was made in China. The new parts shipped to me from DRV where made in the USA. No problems with the switches. They might save money using slave labor parts made in China, but it always seems to be less than good.

I had to replace my original equipment Coleman roof mounted A/C last year. Went to a Dometic unit. Cools better than the old Coleman, and quieter, too.

Did I mention that it was made in China, along with both of the flat screen TVs I have installed in the fiver?

CKNSLS wrote:

JJBIRISH wrote:
Tom

While that is true no matter how you slice it, it would be far better for us as Americans if we manufactured and assembled our own vehicles for domestic use and for export…

Forgiving the many complexities, A American based and headquartered company would likewise do more for our economy built from even both foreign and domestic parts in this country than would a foreign company doing exactly the same would… to deny that at face value would be silly…

But it seems there are plenty of people in the neighborhood that love imports be they cheap low quality items or expensive items of varying qualities… these same people seen to have a real distain for the American worker and are unwilling to give any credit to them…

It’s the I did everything right but why can’t everyone else syndrome…
myself I have more faith in the American worker and have had plenty of good employees over the years…

this past week the DW became very ill and spent a week in the hospital… I had the fortune or misfortune depending on how you look at it of dealing with many deferent people, from parking, cafeteria, and janitorial staff, to helicopter pilots and EMT’s, nurses, doctors and specialist… I can say with all honesty it was the people, YES THE AMERICAN WORKFORCE that made this ordeal both tolerable and successful…

now that wouldn’t mean all in the health care industry or the organizations they work for would be equal to my experience… but what it does mean to me, is this is a well-organized and very well managed team of diverse American workers at all levels of the pay scale…

I fully suspect the same would be true in almost any well organized and managed business… the key to success and quality is organization and good management… the latter it seems to be in woeful short supply to often… you want to talk about trickle down, this is it…

The American Auto Industry is getting everything they deserve for making junk back in the 70s and 80s. And this includes those workers who put them together during that time period. As we all know (with the exception of trucks) they have lost a generation of buyers. We are the ones who watched our dads working on the family car nearly every weekend just to keep it running. Then Toyota, Nissan, and Honda came along and stumbled by exporting cars made for the Japanese market in to the USA. Then they started adapting to American needs and people found out they made cars you didn't have to work on every weekend.

Hence, Toyota is the King of the Automobile Industry (hard to hear-isn't it?) and Honda can sell just about every car it produces. Now it's the Koreans that can produce a car as good as the Americans.

American cars improved over the years to even though they have had their problems… but the early imports weren’t utopia either… my friends Honda 600 was no prize to write home about and my Honda Civic while fun to drive I could hear the rust forming and it needed new brake pads every 10k miles or sometimes less…

IMHO, the real advantage for the imports was understandably being able to adapt quicker than that of the titanic sized domestics while serving the fickle buying American public… who when the fuel prices and shortages happen wanted fuel efficient vehicles and just as quickly returned to their old gas guzzling favorites when the price dropped even a little… all things that handicap the big three, as well as their own often poor decision making skills… their poorest decision was they thought due to their size they wouldn’t have to be the ones to adapt anyway… that would have been true if you could rule out the public’s opinion…
RV mfg. started to adapt by building lighter weight trailers to market to those with smaller TV’s…
nothing doing here… we just got bigger and longer trailers to pull with the trucks we already had often going to even bigger TV’s than before…

to be perfectly honest, I have spent my life behind the steering wheel for work and fun, and with only 1 or 2 exceptions always drove domestics and I never had one that required weekly repairs or even many repairs at all, and as you can tell by my TV I keep them a long time and have almost always considered 100,000 as low mileage…