NHTSA Complaint #11132271 — 2016 THOR MOTOR COACH ACE

ON SEPTEMBER 22, 2018 I FOUND MYSELF TRAPPED INSIDE MY 2016 THOR ACE 30.1 MOTORHOME. THE DOOR LEVER THE DOOR, WHICH WAS NOT LOCKED, WOULD NOT OPEN. IT WAS OBVIOUS FROM THE WAY THE DOOR LEVEL PULLED THAT IT WAS NO LONGER CONNECTED TO THE LATCH. FORTUNATELY AT 73 YEARS OF AGE I AM STILL AGILE ENOUGH TO CLIMB OUT THE REAR ESCAPE WINDOW, SOMETHING THAT MY WIFE DUE TO SOME PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS COULD NEVER HAVE DONE. UPON TAKING THE MOTORHOME TO CAMPING WORLD THEIR TECHNICIAN HAD TO LITERALLY DRILL OUT THE MATERIAL AROUND THE DOOR LEVER TO GET TO THE LATCH SO IT COULD BE RETRACTED AND A NEW DOOR LATCH UNIT INSTALLED. THE TECHNICIAN INDICATED THIS WAS A COMMON PROBLEM DUE TO THE POOR QUALITY OF THE 'POT METAL' IN THE MECHANISM. BASED ON A QUICK INTERNET SEARCH I DISCOVERED NUMEROUS CASES OF OWNERS COMPLAINING OF SIMILAR EXPERIENCES. THE MOTORHOME, AT THIS TIME ONLY HAD 5,500 MILES THUS THE PROBLEM OBVIOUSLY WAS NOT RELATED TO AGE OR EXTENSIVE USE. THIS IS AN EXTREME SAFETY HAZARD DUE TO THE POOR QUALITY OF THIS COMPONENT. BASED ON THE TECHNICIANS COMMENT AND MY INTERNET SEARCH I AM SURE THOR KNOWS ABOUT THE SITUATION. SINCE THE REPLACEMENT DOOR LATCH MECHANISM APPEARS TO BE IDENTICAL TO THE ORIGINAL WE EXPERIENCE A HIGH LEVEL OF DISCOMFORT AS WE TRAVEL IN OUR THOR MOTORHOME. HOPEFULLY THIS SUB QUALITY COMPONENT DOES NOT FAIL AGAIN IN AN EMERGENCY SITUATION RESULTING IN A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION. SINCERELY, [XXX] AND [XXX] [XXX] HUNTLEY, IL [XXX] [XXX] *DT UPDATED 10/10/18*JB UPDATE 10/18/18 *DT PARTS OF THIS DOCUMENT HAVE BEEN REDACTED TO PROTECT PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6). *JS