What has happened to Winnebago Quality?

[Jim_Stehn]

I am a dedicated and loyal Winnebago motor home owner. I purchased my third new Adventurer several months ago. My first a 2000 35U, my second a 2005 38R, and my latest a 2015 38Q. I purchase Winnebago products because of the superior workmanship, design, and engineering. But I am very disappointed in my 2015 38Q. It does not measure up to the high standards I have come to expect from Winnebago. In terms of workmanship, cabinet doors are warped and misaligned, latches improperly installed, switches miss wired, screws in the bathroom light fixture not seated & heads stripped, window casing damaged, the main door holder was not installed, and in one bathroom, the gas heat duct was not even connected. . Where was Quality in all this? And most distressing of all, in nearly every case, the installer knew the job was not done right and let it go. In terms of design and engineering, the thermostat remote temperature sensors are located above the gas heat floor vents, ignoring the most basic principle of HVAC design. In one bathroom, the light switches are mounted above the fan and pump switches. In the opposing bathroom, the light switches are mounted below the fan and pump switches. How unnecessarily confusing is that? The Ideal Rest bed is a poor substitute for the Sleep Number bed in terms of ease of use. The controls are hard to use and the corded control is an unnecessary nuisance. The galley faucet runs slow and I called Customer Relations to inquire about it. Not only did Winnebago not know the specification for flowrate but gave me the name of the manufacture which turned out to be the supplier not the manufacturer and a part number that no one recognized. A major disappointment in your Configuration Management system which I have so often lauded. This whole experience has severely eroded my loyalty.

[J-Rooster]

Jim, I bought my Winnebago Adventurer new in 2004 my third one. And, I have had very little trouble the last 11 years. I've alway's wanted a new Winnebago every year but, I have been fearful of purchasing one that might not be as good as mine and regretting it! So I have made a conscience decision to keep mine and run it into the ground. In fact a gentleman knocked on my stick built door a few weeks ago and offered to buy my coach. I told him it wasn't for sale. I have had good fortune with that coach and don't want to give it up. You just reinforced my decision, sorry to hear about your problems and thanks for the heads up on 2015 Winnebago.

[Semi_Retired_Gr]

Kayteg1 wrote:
It is common trend to make things "more affordable" to customer, meaning cheap, cheap, cheap.
You see it on house construction, appliances and we have the same problems with Mercedes quality. Having few of them in family (and me being their mechanic) I can tell that 30 years old Mercedes is holding pretty firmly, while on 10 years old things start falling apart.

Nothing to do with this post, of course, but i do take exception to automobile quality comments. Having owned numerous cars over my 70+ years, I have no doubt quality today is far better than those of 30 years ago - including Mercedes of which we've owned several over the past 30 years. Currently have one sports model we bought new in 2002 and it's like new - has never had more than routine maintenance. Our newest we took delivery of last summer in Germany and its had absolutely zero issues. Much better than the 80's models we owned - including one that used a quart of oil approximately every 1,000 miles. Various 70's and 80's GM models I've owned were substantially junk - think they generally do a much better job today (except perhaps for ignition switches :)).

As to MH quality - I do somewhat agree. Our current Tiffin has had a number of issues, including a failed slide resulting from poor design. A friend purchased a new Phaeton and has far too many serious issues - finally visited the factory. Wish they were as reliable and trouble free as most automobiles are today.

[lostscout]

I am sorry you just now noticed. They also advertise equipment as being standard and are not there. My 2014 Vista was advertised as having both battery shut offs, but that was not the case and they will not pay for the correction. Watch out all of you future Winnebago buyers.

[deandec]

13 years ago, I was reading similar conversations to this thread on RV forums before buying our rig.

There seems to be no significant improvement in Quality Control.

The concept of buying a lightly used MH that has been debugged by the PO is still the most valid method of purchase IMHO.

Seeking out high end rigs with a deserved reputation for QC is primo on my list.

Many of the manufacturing problems will be more evident or fixed in a used MH.

[Two_Jayhawks]

Well there are still some happy Winnie owners out there.

[Effy]

2gypsies wrote:

Effy wrote:

Until a few manufacturers come along with a viable product and are happier with good profits and a good product instead of "it's all about the money" and a cheap product, that won't change. As consumers we have very few choices in a manufacturer. And they all play the same numbers game with relatively the same build process using the same cheap components. We need new players in the game. But as long as consumer pay top dollar for crap, why on earth would they change? That would be idiotic from a financial perspective. Apparently negative news doesn't seem to curb consumer spending. So why should they change?

Newmar has been around a long time and builds quality units. They are highly recommended.

I'm not shopping for an argument but I've been in some newer Newmars recently, specifically the Bay Star line and frankly the famed Newmar quality escaped me. I could cite a list of what I saw but in short it was just like any other entry level from any other brand. Cheap and slapped together.

[mike_brez]

Just saw this on irv2. Fiberglass roof separation from side wall

[2gypsies1]

Effy wrote:

Until a few manufacturers come along with a viable product and are happier with good profits and a good product instead of "it's all about the money" and a cheap product, that won't change. As consumers we have very few choices in a manufacturer. And they all play the same numbers game with relatively the same build process using the same cheap components. We need new players in the game. But as long as consumer pay top dollar for crap, why on earth would they change? That would be idiotic from a financial perspective. Apparently negative news doesn't seem to curb consumer spending. So why should they change?

Newmar has been around a long time and builds quality units. They are highly recommended.

[3oaks]

katoomer wrote:
The cost of real quality has just become too expensive for most people to afford. I build custom homes that cost from $300 to $1000 per sq ft to build. We just completed a nice home with a building cost of $1.7 mil. The home next door is the same size and it was built for $800K. The level of quality in the house next door is atrocious......................................

That's odd. We built a quality constructed stick built custom home three years ago for $315K. Absolutely love it and have had no issues. Sometimes quality verses luxurious are confused and misinterpreted.

As in most industries today, greed for higher profits and satisfying share holders has a lot to do with poor quality products being produced and sold, including RVs.

[gswcgi]

We had one and called it ä Winnegriefo"!!!

[catkins]

We purchased a new RV last year and after having two wonderful Winnebagos, we sadly crossed a new Winnie off our list. The OBVIOUS lack of quality and the downgrading of materials was very revealing.

I do not expect a new RV with thousands of components to be perfect. I do expect better fit and finish than the units we were looking at with every intention of buying. When you walk in and can start listing the items that are wrong it is a sad commentary on quality control.

I have been a loyal and ardent Winnebago fan and owner for over ten years. I simply could not spend money on such obvious current quality issues. Who knows what items were unseen? I hope they get back on track for the future. We loved our Winnies. Wish we could have loved another one.

[two-niner]

Our 2012 Tour QD has been relatively maintenance free. One water pump (vendor item) and that's it. Replaced Kingdome with an RF Mogul only modification.

The group we travel with on extended trips (3 - 6 months) have not experienced any major or minor problems either.

Our 08 Tour was good also, in fact it was sold before we arrived at LazyDays,FL

[egh33]

Yes, I too feel Winnebago sure has lost the quality along the way. My first coach was a 1995 Itasca Suncruiser no slides. Bought it used in 1997. It was a great MH, no rattles, very little money did I put into it. No major problems the entire time I Had it. Traded it for a brand new Winnebago in 2006. This coach has given us all types of trouble, Spark plug wires kept burning off, slides quit working, leak up on right hand corner, dash air needed repair, basement air just got repaired, had to repair shower leak, refrigerator had to be repaired, repaired drawer guide, Onan generator needs repaired. That's all I can think of right now. But only twice have we been on a trip that some thing didn't go wrong.

[Effy]

As with most manufacturers of any modern product, the choice is quantity over quality. rarely - despite engineering you won't get both. The onus really falls on 2 places. Consumers - because we keep paying for crap, and the lack of any real competition. As someone else said - it's very similar to the auto industry several decades ago. Until a few companies enter the market place and attack the segment of quality at the same price, this will not change. It can be done, but as long as workers continue to demand higher wages for the same or less work, consumers still pay for cheap quality, and foreign trade not really in place in the RV market, And RV manufacturers more concerned with stock price and market position, nothing will change. And lets not forget oversight. The RV industry is almost completely immune to any quality oversight and regulation. It sort of falls under the radar with the exception of emissions and a few - very few- safety standards.

I was told once by a friend of mine that most RV manufacturers are quantity based and incorporate a $10k warranty allowance on new MH pricing. Apparently bean counters found that the allowance post sale is more cost effective than putting that money into better quality production. Why? Because sales accounting is different than warranty accounting and stock prices favor higher profit margin with post sale warranty, than a slimmer profit margin and less warranty work. It's all numbers. If 25% of you units require warranty work post sale, it does not affect your sales performance. Sales numbers and profit is already counted and warranty does not net from your sales. Until a few manufacturers come along with a viable product and are happier with good profits and a good product instead of "it's all about the money" and a cheap product, that won't change. As consumers we have very few choices in a manufacturer. And they all play the same numbers game with relatively the same build process using the same cheap components. We need new players in the game. But as long as consumer pay top dollar for crap, why on earth would they change? That would be idiotic from a financial perspective. Apparently negative news doesn't seem to curb consumer spending. So why should they change?

[427435]

The sad part of this is that quality does not add that much to cost. As an engineer that ended up managing both the engineering dept and manufacturing operation of a company building machinery, it was cheaper to design a product so it could be easily manufactured in a quality way and then building it with some attention to the people building it. The reduction in warranty costs and increased sales more than made up for any extra cost in manufacturing. Indeed, thoughtful engineering often resulted in both lower costs and better quality.

I think Winnebago needs some new management.