2018 Forest River Surveyor problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Tires:tread/Belt (1) · Tires (1) · Exterior Lighting (1)
Safety recalls (5)
Equipment:other:labels 2019-03-08 · campaign 19V191000 · 53 vehicles
Defect: Forest River, Inc (Forest River) is recalling certain 2018-2019 Forest River Surveyor recreational trailers, models SVT201RBLE, SVT201RBLE-47 and SVT201RBS-47. The Federal Placard indicates that the vehicles have 3,500 lb. capacity axles, whereas the vehicles actually have 2,500 lb. capacity axles.
Risk: The incorrect label may cause the trailer to be overloaded, possibly resulting in a loss of control and increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Forest River has notified owners and provided replacement placards that contain the accurate axle weight capacity information, free of charge. The recall began on March 18, 2019. Owners may contact Forest River's customer service at 1-574-642-3119. Forest River's numbers for this recall are 37-0979 and 47-0979.
Equipment:recreational Vehicle/Trailer 2018-05-04 · campaign 18V296000 · 29 vehicles
Defect: Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2018 Forest River Surveyor recreational trailers, model SVT241RBLE. The refrigerator in the slide room may not have an air cycling fan to cool the refrigerator parts, which can cause the refrigerator to overheat.
Risk: If the refrigerator overheats, the cooling tubes may fail, increasing the risk of a fire.
Fix: Forest River has notified owners, and dealers will install a cooling fan assembly, free of charge. The recall began on May 9, 2018. Owners may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-642-3119. Forest River's number for this recall is 37-0719.
Equipment:other:labels 2018-04-06 · campaign 18V222000 · 5 vehicles
Defect: Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2018 Forest River Surveyor recreational trailers, model ORSVT247BHDS. The Federal Placard on these vehicles incorrectly indicate a tire size of ST225/75R15D needing 65 PSI and a rim designation of 15X6.0JJ, however, the vehicle is actually equipped with ST205/75R14C tires needing 50 PSI and a rim designation of 14X5.5JJ. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 110
Risk: If the operator goes by the incorrect information on the Federal Placard they can over inflate the tires and cause premature tire wear, increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Forest River has notified owners and provided a corrected Federal Placard, free of charge. The recall began on April 11, 2018. Owners may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-642-3119 extension 205. Forest River's number for this recall is 47-0698.
Equipment:recreational Vehicle/Trailer 2018-03-21 · campaign 18V185000 · 80 vehicles
Defect: Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2018 Surveyor recreational trailers, models SVT248BHLE and SVT248BHLE-OR. The refrigerator in the slideroom may have been installed without an air cycling fan to cool the refrigerator parts, which can cause the refrigerator cooling tubes to fail.
Risk: If the refrigerator overheats, the cooling tubes may fail, increasing the risk of a fire.
Fix: Forest River will notify owners, and dealers will install a fan assembly, free of charge. The recall began on April 9, 2018. Owners may contact Forest River customer service at 1-573-642-3119. Forest River's number for this recall is 3747-0667.
Electrical System:wiring:fuses And Circuit Breakers 2018-01-02 · campaign 18V002000 · 152 vehicles
Defect: Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2018 Surveyor recreational trailers, models SVT266RLDS, SVT285IKDS, SVT285IKLE, SVT323BHLE, SVT33KRETS, SVT33KRLOK and SVT33KRLTS. These vehicles were built with a circuit breaker that allows more current that the wiring can handle.
Risk: The incorrect circuit breaker can cause the wiring to melt, increasing the risk of a fire.
Fix: Forest River will notify owners, and dealers will install a circuit breaker with the correct load rating, free of charge. The recall began on January 24, 2018. Owners may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-642-3119, extension 205. Forest River's number for this recall is 37-0604.
Service bulletins (2)
Technical service bulletins are repair instructions manufacturers send dealers for known issues. Unlike recalls, the fix is not automatically free — but naming the bulletin at the service desk can save diagnosis time and support goodwill repairs.
Equipment 2020-05-15 · 511086 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
the p-trap swivel fitting may crack during normal use, potentially allowing water to leak, which may lead to premature degradation of any non-water resistant components.
Equipment:recreational Vehicle/Trailer 2018-09-28 · 510780 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
per the service bulletin from dometic ?dometic corporation has identified a visual cosmetic defect that has occurred on our dometic dm2652 refrigerators up in the freezer compartment. this does not occur on all units, but may be present on units with serial numbers starting with mb between 805xxxxx
What owners report
2023-01-09 · Tires:tread/Belt“we purchased four new national brand road max e trailer tires (st225/75 r1s) on 08/26/22. since purchase, we have driven less than 750 miles. on 01/06/23, while driving on a county road at approximately 45 miles per hour, the front passenger side tire on the trailer blew out. the entire tread came off in one piece causing superficial damage to t…”
2021-06-16 · Exterior Lighting“the contact owns a 2018 forest river surveyor. the contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the headlights became inoperable. there were no warning lights illuminated. the local dealer was not contacted. the vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the failure mileage was unknown.…”
2021-06-02 · Tires · 4,500 mi“the contact owns a 2018 forest river surveyor rv equipped with castle rock tires, tire line: radial st22, tires size: 205/75/r14, dot jujtymt2017. the contact stated while driving approximately 65 mph, the passenger’s side front tire had experienced a blowout. less than two years later, the other three tires and the spare tire experienced the same …”
2019-01-03 · Electrical System · 4,000 mi“vehicle was stationary & hooked to shore power when discovered. vehicle has been in motion multiple times on city streets & highways since purchase in aug. 2018. the electrical panel in the front bedroom of the trailer has an issue where the white wires feeding into the neutral bus bar are loose at the connection leading to melted insulation and po…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.