A message to quality critics

[Paprika]

"Some of the totally unrealistic expectations make us realize some people are never happy and just like to complain."

Perhaps, but I haven't seen many such people in these forums. I can only speak for myself, and I don't think my expectations were unrealistic. A simple comparison shows why.

Last year I bought a 2017 international Serenity 27FB for about $80,000, and a 2017 Ford F-150 Lariat for just under $60,000. The truck had zero problems or manufacturing defects at delivery. A year later, after 26,000 miles, it has still had zero problems.

The trailer, on the other hand, had a long list of problems at delivery. Just to name a few examples: L-brackets so far out of alignment that screws barely penetrated the wood. Sharp-edged aluminum shavings everywhere, including digging into Ultraleather cushions and rubber door gaskets. Sawdust in many places. Crooked outlets. Loose clamps on kitchen sink. No air from bathroom furnace duct. Furnace duct in bedroom falling out of wall because mounting screws missed the wall. Bathroom faucet loose and leaning forward because mounting hole was drilled 1/16" oversize, according to the faucet manufacturer's spec. Loose or crooked screws in many places. Water heater support base (wood) not screwed down; water heater literally hanging from its water pipes. Weatherstripping coming off screen door. Wire bundle smashed between cabinet and wall. Dangling wires. And so on.

That's just a partial list. Note that those are all defects caused by sloppy workmanship. And again, my Ford truck, which is arguably a more complex piece of machinery, had NO workmanship problems.

These are both mass-produced products that came off American assembly lines. The Ford truck shows that perfection is achievable. The Airstream trailer shows that they aren't trying very hard. In an $80,000 product, there's no excuse for that. Maybe other RV brands are even worse, but that's no excuse. (My previous RV, a Lazy Daze motorhome, was head and shoulders above the Airstream in workmanship.)

I don't "just like to complain." I don't want to complain. If Airstream built trailers the way Ford builds trucks, I wouldn't need to complain. There is no reason why they couldn't, if they wanted to.

[J. Morgan]

Originally Posted by gkoche

First of all, all good points.



IMO, even successful vendors don't often strive for true perfection because of diminishing returns from incremental quality pursuits. Higher quality could lead to higher prices which likely means fewer buyers in a segment that needs high unit volume.



I'm very happy with the quality of my AI. I'd give it 8.5/10.0. I compared it to Winnebago and other vendors before choosing to spend six figures. But I wouldn't have been willing to spend an extra dime for higher quality. I don't think the masses demand utopia and they don't want to pay more. SkyGuyScott's Steve Jobs analogy is interesting but I think it is more to illustrate the value of innovation, not quality. Apple didn't become a trillion dollar company because it optimized the quality of the Mac.

That’s true. Mac’s suffered the same wear, tear, and failures as all the rest. It was innovation, and still to this day The fact is, if a person wants a new trailer like an Airstream what are the choices other than Airstream? What’s that worth?

[westernjeep401]

Originally Posted by Paprika

"Some of the totally unrealistic expectations make us realize some people are never happy and just like to complain."

Perhaps, but I haven't seen many such people in these forums. I can only speak for myself, and I don't think my expectations were unrealistic. A simple comparison shows why.

Last year I bought a 2017 international Serenity 27FB for about $80,000, and a 2017 Ford F-150 Lariat for just under $60,000. The truck had zero problems or manufacturing defects at delivery. A year later, after 26,000 miles, it has still had zero problems.

The trailer, on the other hand, had a long list of problems at delivery. Just to name a few examples: L-brackets so far out of alignment that screws barely penetrated the wood. Sharp-edged aluminum shavings everywhere, including digging into Ultraleather cushions and rubber door gaskets. Sawdust in many places. Crooked outlets. Loose clamps on kitchen sink. No air from bathroom furnace duct. Furnace duct in bedroom falling out of wall because mounting screws missed the wall. Bathroom faucet loose and leaning forward because mounting hole was drilled 1/16" oversize, according to the faucet manufacturer's spec. Loose or crooked screws in many places. Water heater support base (wood) not screwed down; water heater literally hanging from its water pipes. Weatherstripping coming off screen door. Wire bundle smashed between cabinet and wall. Dangling wires. And so on.

That's just a partial list. Note that those are all defects caused by sloppy workmanship. And again, my Ford truck, which is arguably a more complex piece of machinery, had NO workmanship problems.

These are both mass-produced products that came off American assembly lines. The Ford truck shows that perfection is achievable. The Airstream trailer shows that they aren't trying very hard. In an $80,000 product, there's no excuse for that. Maybe other RV brands are even worse, but that's no excuse. (My previous RV, a Lazy Daze motorhome, was head and shoulders above the Airstream in workmanship.)

I don't "just like to complain." I don't want to complain. If Airstream built trailers the way Ford builds trucks, I wouldn't need to complain. There is no reason why they couldn't, if they wanted to.

You nailed it; took a week at JC to get the coach to a place where, well, it was acceptable. HOWEVER....after that, it's been pretty well perfect, about 20k miles later, dragged all over the country...rallys, vacations, short trips, dirt roads...4 years later (actually a 5 year old build). Since moving to the desert SW, it does live under cover now when berthed, still with the usual bi-annual inspection, liquid glass, and deep clean.

So far, so good

[craftsman]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

I just made ours PERFECT. ������

Bob
����

Robert,who sells that nice Blue trim. I want my Airstream to be perfect too

[GammaDog]

We've had some issues, sure, but I try to remember that our AS is a hand built item made in limited quantity out of an assortment of specialized components and repurposed materials from other industries. Then we've shaken the living crap out of it driving in god forsaken places like the roads of Louisiana, in every imaginable form of precipitation and in extremes of temperature, dust and humidity. Have we surfaced some flaws? Yes we have. Could some of those have been avoided through more careful manufacturing and inspection? Probably. Am I disappointed? Not at all... in fact the Airstream we own has outperformed our expectations given the torture we've inflicted on it.

A note to Jackson Center: I hope you read our posts and use them to feed field experiences into the design and manufacturing processes... but keep building a product that we can use (and occasionally abuse) that will get us home for some maintenance then let us go out and use it some more for decade after decade.

[Ray Eklund]

We Tent camped and lived out of the back of the pickup, with two lawn chairs.

We upgraded to Airstream trailers. Kept the two lawn chairs. Stored the tent.

It was difficult to play cards in the tent, without a table. The Airstream table works absolutely perfectly. My wife is better at Pinochle, I discovered. Maybe Dominoes on this next trip. Best decision we ever made....

keeping the two lawn chairs.

[OTRA15]

. . . and the wife?



Well said for keeping it simple, Stu.

Peter

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by craftsman

Robert,who sells that nice Blue trim. I want my Airstream to be perfect too

We got 2 150' rolls of 9005 reflective blue 3M Marine Tape. 1" wide & 1/2" wide.
Almost a perfect match. I'll post more when finished.

Bob
🇺🇸

[guskmg]

I've said it before. Airstreams are hand made by humans and humans are less than perfect. Now, although technically not robotic, the new Airstream production cutting and drilling table machine makes all cutout and drilled hole perfectly computer placed. That means the top and sides are not hand made, except for riveting. But, now everything else is put together by humans. The fit is so perfect that if you have a late model trailer, replacement sheet metal is a perfect match by serial number. Now you don't hear much compaint about seam and rivet leaks anymore. That is because of the final assemly process using Adseal on the roof for sealing fixtures and lapseal (a double sided sealing tape) for all joints of sheet metal. However, panels and apliances are still brought through the entry door and assembled, again by humans. Not to make excuses, recently I heard Bob Wheeler, CEO, say that due to increased production with limited space, that unfortunately, safety and QC are suffering. That is the reason for building an additional plant Southwest of the existing factory. Since 2008 the number of company employees went from 400 part time to nearly 1,000 full-time. That's a lot of OJT and QC will suffer some I do believe the company is addressing the QC short falls. However, you can't beat a long trip to Alaska, or trip on our Interstates, especially I-10 to find the QC shotcommings. In the future Airstream will have to design the trailers to accomidate the detiorating interstates. I'm afraid they are going to get worse before they get better.
Note: I remember in the 70's when Beatrice Foods owned Airstream how much cutomers bad mouthed their products. I for one, turned down a purchase because you could see daylight through a wheel well in the closet. You don't see that sort of thing anymore.
guskmg

[Fit]

We just purchased a 2018 International Serenity 25FB and love the trailer but feel that the issue of quality is a mixed bag. After taking it out on three trips and about 1000km we have little to complain about but there were some issues. What I find perplexing is that they were not major and would have been easily avoided during manufacturing, but leave a lingering doubt about the overall build quality on a $100,000 trailer.

For example, after our second trip I noticed that there was a tear in the floor because the latch on the dinette gave out while traveling, driving the leg into floor on an angle. The natural resting spot of the table leg also started to wear on floor.

The stovetop was not properly secured and the hood was so stiff that you would lift the rear up away from the counter when trying to get it in position so it would lower.

The front widow latches were installed backwards so they would close opposite of the openings cut into the the aluminum bezel of the screen making it almost impossible to lock.

Though there is an extension to convert the front sofa into a bed it does not extend far enough so that the cushions over hang on the lip. During a nights sleep, the cushions will fall onto the floor, as my daughter can attest.

The pantry door separated from the slide out because the screws were not drilled in far enough.

The Velcro on the back of the cushions looks like a rushed diy project with out the aid of a ruler.

Since the dealer I purchased it from is about 7 hours drive I have repaired the floor, secured the stove ( this required actual drilling and tapping ) and fixed the front screen by dismantling the latches and reversing them. The pantry door was a little difficult to fix as the existing screws would not thread back into their holes. All in it took me about 5 hours.


My wife and I joke that our trailer must have been made on a Friday. A proper quality control audit on the final product before it shipped would have caught most of these issues. The floor is just ridiculous as it is simply not to spec.

I own a Audi and I assure there are lots of people that will grown about mechanical issues, but the Germans know how to make something feel like quality was a priority, especially when it concerns the tangible aspects. With that being said I wouldn’t want to be driving my Audi 15 years from now.

.

[Julie-Bob]

Someone in an earlier post said something that has struck with me. Yes Airstream has QC problems. However ask your self him many SOB that are 40 years old yet on the road? We have an 2009 25FB Classic that has over 30,000 miles and it looks like the day we pick it up. Also how many time when making a reservation at an RV Park when they ask the age of your rig you just say it’s an Airstream. Then they say ok SOB’s age badly Airstreams age with grace. Love my AS.

[J. Morgan]

Originally Posted by Fit

We just purchased a 2018 International Serenity 25FB and love the trailer but feel that the issue of quality is a mixed bag. After taking it out on three trips and about 1000km we have little to complain about but there were some issues. What I find perplexing is that they were not major and would have been easily avoided during manufacturing, but leave a lingering doubt about the overall build quality on a $100,000 trailer.



For example, after our second trip I noticed that there was a tear in the floor because the latch on the dinette gave out while traveling, driving the leg into floor on an angle. The natural resting spot of the table leg also started to wear on floor.



The stovetop was not properly secured and the hood was so stiff that you would lift the rear up away from the counter when trying to get it in position so it would lower.



The front widow latches were installed backwards so they would close opposite of the openings cut into the the aluminum bezel of the screen making it almost impossible to lock.



Though there is an extension to convert the front sofa into a bed it does not extend far enough so that the cushions over hang on the lip. During a nights sleep, the cushions will fall onto the floor, as my daughter can attest.



The pantry door separated from the slide out because the screws were not drilled in far enough.



The Velcro on the back of the cushions looks like a rushed diy project with out the aid of a ruler.



Since the dealer I purchased it from is about 7 hours drive I have repaired the floor, secured the stove ( this required actual drilling and tapping ) and fixed the front screen by dismantling the latches and reversing them. The pantry door was a little difficult to fix as the existing screws would not thread back into their holes. All in it took me about 5 hours.





My wife and I joke that our trailer must have been made on a Friday. A proper quality control audit on the final product before it shipped would have caught most of these issues. The floor is just ridiculous as it is simply not to spec.



I own a Audi and I assure there are lots of people that will grown about mechanical issues, but the Germans know how to make something feel like quality was a priority, especially when it concerns the tangible aspects. With that being said I wouldn’t want to be driving my Audi 15 years from now.



.

Sorry, but modern German cars don’t have a prayer of lasting thirty or forty years like an Airstream will. That’s just how it is.

[AirstreamInc]

Originally Posted by Fit

We just purchased a 2018 International Serenity 25FB and love the trailer but feel that the issue of quality is a mixed bag. After taking it out on three trips and about 1000km we have little to complain about but there were some issues. What I find perplexing is that they were not major and would have been easily avoided during manufacturing, but leave a lingering doubt about the overall build quality on a $100,000 trailer.

For example, after our second trip I noticed that there was a tear in the floor because the latch on the dinette gave out while traveling, driving the leg into floor on an angle. The natural resting spot of the table leg also started to wear on floor.

The stovetop was not properly secured and the hood was so stiff that you would lift the rear up away from the counter when trying to get it in position so it would lower.

The front widow latches were installed backwards so they would close opposite of the openings cut into the the aluminum bezel of the screen making it almost impossible to lock.

Though there is an extension to convert the front sofa into a bed it does not extend far enough so that the cushions over hang on the lip. During a nights sleep, the cushions will fall onto the floor, as my daughter can attest.

The pantry door separated from the slide out because the screws were not drilled in far enough.

The Velcro on the back of the cushions looks like a rushed diy project with out the aid of a ruler.

Since the dealer I purchased it from is about 7 hours drive I have repaired the floor, secured the stove ( this required actual drilling and tapping ) and fixed the front screen by dismantling the latches and reversing them. The pantry door was a little difficult to fix as the existing screws would not thread back into their holes. All in it took me about 5 hours.


My wife and I joke that our trailer must have been made on a Friday. A proper quality control audit on the final product before it shipped would have caught most of these issues. The floor is just ridiculous as it is simply not to spec.

I own a Audi and I assure there are lots of people that will grown about mechanical issues, but the Germans know how to make something feel like quality was a priority, especially when it concerns the tangible aspects. With that being said I wouldn’t want to be driving my Audi 15 years from now.

.

Hi Fit,

Congratulations on your new Airstream and we're very sorry to learn about these issues. If you need any assistance at this point, please send us a direct message with your contact information and the last 6 digits of your VIN so we can share it with our Customer Service and Technical Support team. We look forward to helping you get this resolved.

You can also reach Airstream Customer Service and Technical Support at customer_support@airstream.com

Thank you.