NHTSA Complaint #11486313 — 2021 TAXA CRICKET

In June 2022, I was forwarded a screenshot of a social media post made by Taxa Outdoors regarding defective Lippert axles that were installed on Taxa Crickets manufactured in 2021. The individual who forwarded the screenshot also advised me that she had read numerous reviews online about owners of Crickets whose axles had broken while traveling. I then contacted Taxa Outdoors and was advised that if the distance between the top of the tire and the fender was less than 2”, Taxa considered the axle to be defective. Upon examining my Cricket, I observed that the distance was approximately 1.25” from top of tire to bottom of fender. Taxa advised that they would send me a new axle (at no cost) and that I could have the camper serviced at a dealer affiliated with Taxa, or a dealer of my choice, however only 1.5 hours of labor would be paid for if I chose the latter. Note that my closest Taxa dealer is approx. 3 hrs away via heavily congested highways. Given such, I had the replacement Lippert axle sent to a local RV service center. The owner of the service center advised that the axle that had been installed on the camper (the defective Lippert axle, item # V000611346) was a "piece of junk". Upon further contact with Taxa Outdoors, I was reimbursed the full labor cost (which exceeded 1.5 hrs). When I asked Taxa about why I had received no actual formal notice about the defective axle, Taxa claimed to have sent out notice to all customers on their electronic mailing lists and additionally asked Taxa dealers to notify customers about the defective axles. I never received either and Taxa claims that I did not receive their electronic notice due to me having unsubscribed from their mailing lists previously (which I had unsubscribed - from marketing communications). Accordingly, I am concerned that Taxa is implementing partial measures - short of a voluntary recall - that fail to ensure all customers are notified that they may be towing trailers with defective axles.