Who's Looking Out for Our Interests?

4X4Dodger wrote:

rv_russ wrote:
"It is a Call to the RV PRESS to step forward and become more like the Automotive press and Criticize bad quality, design and questionable products when they see them...ie Take More responsibility."

Having freelanced in the RV media for years, and written for Motorhome, Trailer Life, FMCA, and plenty of regionals, I can say, sure, there's plenty of financial incentive not to "bad mouth," the advertiser. But as others have commented, it's difficult to get a handle on poor quality -- other than really obvious poor quality -- until some time of bouncing down the road with your unit. Yes, I hear complaints about this rig or that, but oftentimes, the problem is again, subjective, not objective.

If you pick up a copy of Consumer Reports that goes back and evaluates autos from a historical perspective, they base their ratings on a wealth of (hopefully) quantified data, something you can sink your teeth into. If the press had that intestinal fortitude to report on the no-goodnicks, they'd still need to have solid facts to work from.

The poster who suggested a genuine, ongoing survey, may be on to something. But then, there'd need to be an independent, non-advertiser-driven medium to put out the information. Consumer Reports appeals to a wide audience, is the niche market of RVers enough to really financially support something like it? Since I'm on the editorial side, rather than the dollars and cents, I couldn't comment. Wish there really was a clear-cut answer to this ages old, and frustrating issue.

You make some good points.

But bad quality is not hard to spot. For instance if the magazine took an editorial stand that every trailer should be equipped with a minimum of Shock Absorbers, an enclosed underbody,and a battery of sufficient size,(these are just examples) Then everytime they did a test on a new product that didnt come up to those simple standards they would call them on it and ask the factory for a comment to be included in the test...Watch how fast then these items would make it into the next production run.

And of course there are many other issues of quality but IMO they are pretty easy to spot.

And how about a series of articles on the build quality of some of the major brands? With factory tours and photos? It would give the quality builders a boost and would encourage the others to step up.

What about some real world testing of stopping distances, real weight vs factory weight, etc etc. These are all things the RV press could start doing immediately in their product tests and accompanying articles. But I believe they live in fear. And they need a push from the RV'ing public to get them to step up and do some real testing and real reviews.

. These are very good points. Maybe a way to accomplish this is a section of this fourm called RV Reviews would be needed where owners could post this data along with problems they are having with their units. Mpg, 40-60mph times, wts, handling,etc are not easily found on the mfg web sites. This info is even harder to find on used units.