NHTSA Complaint #11604905 — 2020 VANLEIGH BEACON

While travelling on an interstate freeway, towing our 40 foot 5th wheel RV at 63 mph, our trailer lost its front drivers' side wheel & tire. Upon realizing something was wrong and stopping to investigate, I recognized the wheel spindle had separated from the axle at the welding point, which allowed the wheel, bearings, disc brake assembly and tire to separate from the axle. The wheel, tire & all other parts were not found. An incident report was filed with the state police, who responded and assisted in attempting to locate the lost wheel & tire with negative results. Pictures of the axle, which remained attached to the leaf springs, were taken. The pictures clearly show evidence of rust approximately half way around the axle where the welding of axle to the spindle failed, as evidenced by brighter, fused, metal that was holding the spindle until the break and separation. Our safety was put at risk due to the immediate loss of the trailer's brakes due to the fluid loss from the brake lines being torn apart as a result of the loss of the left, front brake assembly, wheel & tire. In addition, the loss of the weight-bearing tire placed the trailer in an unstable condition for maneuvering at freeway speeds. The other major safety concern was the other motorists traveling nearby could have hit or been hit by the wheel and tire while traveling at speed on a freeway. We were able to get our trailer to a nearby trailer repair facility that confirmed our damage and the potential safety risk to other motorists. While an incident report was filed with the state police, there was no inspection of our trailer by the police, trailer manufacturer or insurance other than by photos. Prior to our traveling on this trip, I did have our trailer's suspension inspected by an RV repair & service provider, however, they had no reason to inspect the spindle/axle welds. There were no symptoms or warnings of a problem with the spindle/axle welds.