dadd45
northeast NEBR USA
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Joined: 06/21/2004
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Okay, okay!!! Old news, I know!!! Some say "let sleeping dogs lie", HOWEVER, the problem with "sleeping dogs" is you never hear anything from them. Following is copy of "complaint" I just registered with the Consumer Product Safety Commission offices this AM:
"I recently replaced a 3.5 year-old Dometic brand refrigerator in a 2004 Coachmen motor home at my own expense. The cooling unit failed. I had received a "recall" from Dometic to install a 'safety plate' in the burner area to prevent a fire during such a failure. The recall statement leads many of us consumers to believe Dometic was aware the units would fail and was merely placing a 'bandaid' recall to prevent a catastrophic accident. Many RV owners have registered complaints and failures on the 'open roads' forum of RV.net in the past 2 years leading me to believe that Dometic should be held responsible for selling an inferior product to consumers. Would your office consider this an issue to be taken into investigation?"
Maybe if ENOUGH affected owners would contact the CPSC at their website it may encourage that office to examine this situation more fully......IMHO, of course
After posting I was contacted by CPSC to please send concerns to NHTSA since it involves an appliance in a moving vehicle soooooo sent them a copy also....
* This post was
edited 08/11/08 01:15pm by dadd45 *
DadD45
2004 Cross Country Coachmen
2001 Wrangler behind
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buldaawg
Dallas,Georgia
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Joined: 01/10/2005
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RV Dealer here, said that out of 60 or 70 he's performed the recall work on, 1 so far was actually bad and that failure was not in the burner area. From what I understand, over 900,000.00 units were included in the recall. I’m not sure what you would want the company to do besides what they've already done. Dont think they can afford to give everyone a new and improved version.. In my short time of being an RVer these Dometic Fridges are pretty darn good, when you really think about the environment and what many of them are being subjected too. Maybe giving me another free year of warranty would be nice.
I will be extending my warranty next year, and I will run this thing day in and day out whether I’m camping or not.
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dadd45
northeast NEBR USA
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Joined: 06/21/2004
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buldaawg wrote: From what I understand, over 900,000.00 units were included in the recall. Dont think they can afford to give everyone a new and improved version.. In my short time of being an RVer these Dometic Fridges are pretty darn good,.
As usual the gov agency (CPSC) contacted forwarded to another, NHTSA since it's on the roads, sooooooo I forwarded there...
concerning your statements, it's difficult for me to give Dometic a "pretty darn good" rating when in your own comment the recall affects 900K units. As for giving everyone a new replacement, perhaps if they had sold "good" units in the first place they wouldn't have needed the recall......IMHO, of course
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teb1272
Memphis
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Joined: 12/14/2006
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You can equally well say that if all the RV manufacturers had put appropriate fireproofing around the units (a simple approach required on most homes in the country) this problem would not have occurred.
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Chris Bryant
DeLand, Florida, USA
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Joined: 03/26/2003
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The trouble is- those Federal agencies are interested in safety, and the Dometic recall addresses that issue.
The recall affects about 1.5 million units- ~930,000 built between 1997 and 2003, and then the second one adds about ~750,000 built between 2003 and 2006.
Dometic has pretty deep pockets, but you're talking upwards of a billion dollars to simply replace all of the affected ones. I would like to see a rock bottom price for replacement units that fail that way- cost plus shipping, or some such.
-- Chris Bryant
My RV Service Blog
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jim87vette
Arizona
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I don't think I own a vehicle that hasn't had a re-call in the last 15 years.I understand the problem with these units and they seem to be making every effort to repair the problem.I don't really know what else to say about this but if you are not happy or confident with there product seek another brand.I didnt think it was a bandaid I thought it was an actual repair for the problem or was I misinformed?
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16840138
Plainfield, IL
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Joined: 08/11/2004
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I have had a recall on my desk since Feb. and after reading what the fix was have elected to ignore the recall and carry a larger fire extinguisher. I would not buy another one when it comes time to replace it.
2005 Ford F350 Dually 4x4 2001 Lance 1030 Happijacks, Rancho 9000 airbags
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Lightload
Spring Mills, PA
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Joined: 07/08/2008
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jim87vette wrote:I don't think I own a vehicle that hasn't had a re-call in the last 15 years.I understand the problem with these units and they seem to be making every effort to repair the problem.I don't really know what else to say about this but if you are not happy or confident with there product seek another brand.I didnt think it was a bandaid I thought it was an actual repair for the problem or was I misinformed?
Nope, not a repair. The remedy is simply a metal shield that is installed around problem area so that if the pipe does crack and leak, it's unlikely to catch on fire. It is truly a bandaid and not a repair.
2002 F-250 full size ext. cab Powerstroke
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Mike Schriber
San Diego, CA
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Joined: 10/29/2004
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Lightload is correct. The Dometic recall is a bandaid repair. It simply reduces the chance of fire if the cooling unit fails and leaks. It does not address the root cause (too powerful of a heating element) of the failures.
The government will not do anything if they feel the safety concerns have been addressed by the recall. A lawsuit is the only solution to address the defect itself.
Mike
2005 Chevrolet Suburban K2500 LT (8.1 liter with 4.10 gears)
2004 Starcraft Homestead 29BHS (16,000 pounds combined)
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Ronald M
Troy, MI
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I had the band-aid installed last year.
About a month later the cooling unit started to leak, and it would not cool down.
I took it to a local authorized dometic service center.
They contacted dometic and a new cooling unit was authorized and installed at no charge to me.
The refrigerator works great, and I'm very happy with Dometic.
Ron & Sharon
1999 38ft 3865 Dutch Star DP
Spartan IFS Chassis 300hp Cummins
2006 Grand Cherokee
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