2022 NEWMAR KOUNTRY STAR Steering Problems

The contact owns a 2022 Newmar Kountry Star RV. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds over a bump in the roadway, the comfort drive feature failed to operate as designed. Due to the failure, excessive effort was needed to steer the RV. The contact stated that after restarting the RV, the feature was reset and resumed normal operation. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the feature was reprogrammed; however, the failure returned soon after service. The contact notified the dealer of the failure and was informed that the steering column needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The RV was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 13,000.

The Comfort Drive system on the Kountry Star has failed 12 times in the first year (7500 miles). Eleven of the faults have been while driving and once while sitting still. Vehicle was checked by Freightliner shop who in turn spoke to Newmar. Newmar advice was the system was functioning properly! On a 1200 mile trip earlier this month the system failed 3 separate times. When faults are thrown, an error is displayed on dash staring, “Steering Effort CTRL Disabled”. Suddenly it appears to NOT have power steering. Under a stand an occasional fault however this is excessive and presents a danger.

Four times since taking possession of this 2022 RV, a red warning was displayed on the screen saying “Park Brake Not Set”. This requires the operator to insure the brake is actually set, chock tires and act to prevent movement. This exposes the operator and those nearby to potential injury or death. In addition, the “Steering Effort Control Disabled” yellow warning appears with the previous warning. Freightliner and Newmar states that a red warning requires immediate corrective action. While this problem has not been confirmed by a dealer or independent service center, multiple owners of this model year have stated this occurs. This vehicle has not been inspected as the dealership advised to just “monitor’ the problem and log any reoccurrence. Warnings in red and yellow appeared on Feb 11, 2022, April 34, 2022 and June 30 2022. Photos of both warnings are uploaded.