What Are Some of the ‘Necessities’ RVs are Lacking?

On The Road

By Bruce Hampson

f there’s one thing I’ve learned during the past few years as social media has grown into a juggernaut, it’s not to believe everything you read online. In fact, much of it should be taken with the proverbial “grain of salt” — because things tend to be, well, exaggerated, by keyboard warriors. Without verification, a lot of the more dubious claims ought to be looked upon with the same disdain given those unending robo-calls telling you that your car’s warranty has expired.

When you read the same type of complaints from various sources, though, they tend to take on more significance — and there are a lot of complaints floating around in “the cloud” about RVs. Again, they need to be taken in context — they represent a miniscule percentage of the hundreds of thousands of RVs sold every year. But they are there. And they’re often accompanied by a question: Don’t the people who build these things (meaning the designers, engineers and executives responsible for what rolls down the assembly lines) actually use them?

Now that is a good question.

The short answer is, “yes,” many of them do. During my decade spent as Editor of RVBusiness, the nation’s premier RV trade magazine, I had many conversations with designers, product managers and C-suite executives about where they vacationed and what product they personally owned. So that query can be put to rest. That said, questions about “how they buy their RVs” and “how long they use them” are a bit harder to answer.

Suffice to say, no RV executive has to visit a local dealership and haggle over a certain model that caught their eye. But, they are built by the same technicians on the same assembly lines as the RV you may own.

RV-DE-FENDER markets an aftermarket tire blowout protection system for towables.

That’s important. I remember back during my days as editor of various automotive magazines when staffers would pick up test vehicles from vehicle manufacturers and spend a week or so driving and evaluating them. We had a saying back then that such vehicles seemed to be built with a “magic screwdriver.” By that, we meant that they usually (but not always) met the manufacturers’ claims. They were, for the most part, immaculately constructed and performed admirably, presumably because the manufacturers weren’t going to place anything in their press fleets that would reflect poorly on them. And, of course, it helps immeasurably when vehicles can be built by robots — programmed to perform the same task to the same standard over and over — and not people.

Flipside, when I ran MotorHome magazine for Affinity Group (now Good Sam Enterprises) we would often receive test vehicles right off dealership lots, as did the editors of our sister magazine Trailer Life. So, rest assured there are no “magic screwdrivers” (or, for the most part, robots) in the RV industry — for anyone.

But — and it’s a big “but” — these executives rarely spend the amount of time in an RV that many owners do. A long weekend vacationing in an RV is fun; a month-long excursion can add a bit of frustration to the recreation as perceived shortcomings make themselves known.

So, we — RV Enthusiast Publisher Bob Livingston and I — thought it might be fun to put together a list of things that RVs may be lacking. Among them:

Tire Pressure Monitoring System — In 2000, the TREAD (Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation) Act was signed into United States federal law. It required all vehicles manufactured on or after Sept. 1, 2007, to be equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). That was more than 15 years ago — and yet, there have literally been millions of RVs manufactured and sold since then that are not equipped with a TPMS. This should be a given.

In a related vein, would it be possible for OEMs to devise a stamped metal insert that could be installed beneath the wheel wells and around the bottom of the “house” of a travel trailer or fifth wheel? A TPMS will highlight potential tire problems, but it can’t prevent a blowout — and the amount of damage done by those heavy tire cords to an exposed wood structure can be staggering.
Better Bunk Mattresses. Even the lighter weight of children will quickly highlight the shortcomings of these woefully inadequate “mattresses.” I once owned a late-’70s Winnebago Brave “eyebrow” motorhome — and mattresses used in certain places in a contemporary RV don’t seem to have evolved all that much.
Cell Phone/Wi-Fi Boosters. There’s probably nothing more aggravating while on the road than to not be able to stay in touch.
Automatic Awning Retraction Device — Wind gusts can happen anywhere, at any time — and have destroyed innumerable RV awnings, which act like sails in the wind and are suspended by surprisingly fragile arms.

Admittedly, such ideas may push the “price point” of certain RV segments (though not by much, given the economies of scale that manufacturers wield for purchases) — but that also begs the question: Are there too many RVs being built today, anyway? One good thing that came out of the Great Recession of a dozen or so years ago was RV manufacturers refocusing on what consumers wanted. Brands and product lines were reduced in order for OEMs to meet the requirements of more demanding customers. With the current runup of RVing’s popularity, this has gone by the wayside; manufacturers are back to pushing everything and anything to claim more market share in every price segment imaginable.

This isn’t just a mental exercise, by the way: We want to hear from you, our readers. Do you have any other ideas of things you’ve discovered while camping with your RV that could use a bit more fine-tuning? Send me an email at bhampson@rvemediagroup.com. I’ll put your ideas together and forward them to executives at every major manufacturer (yes, I do have their contact information — another one of the benefits of having run RVBusiness). Granted, we’ll have no way of knowing whether they are able to implement any of your ideas — but at least you will have made your opinions known.

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