Airstream Recall on 2005-2009 Classics

[lsinclair]

As an affected AS owner, I applaud AS being proactive rather than reactive concerning this recall. That said, my questions/concerns are
1) how was the problem identified
2) what tests were performed to determine the "cause" of the problem (spending $ on the symptom while the cause lies dormant is not the answer)
3) what is the cause of failure and is it associated to a particular production run etc
When there is no answer as to 'why' a component failed (identifying the root cause), it would leave anyone uncomfortable particulary with any 'safety' item. Hence the uneasiness for those whose inspection passed presently with future uncertainty. I don't mind being told what I need, provided I'm told why I need it!

[TDITD]

I bought my 2008 31' Classic and the first thing my wife and I noticed was the NOISE the Active Technology actuator was making every-time I stepped on the brakes. The salesman and AS both told me that this noise was normal. A few months later and many complaints from neighbors and fellow campers AS told me they would look into it.

So long story short I had to make a HARD emergency stop and I blew out the brake lines on both sides and the actuator stopped working. My dealer was told by Airstream to replace everything with Dexter parts as Active Technology was no longer a supplier. My dealer said Active Technology was out of business.

GET YOUR INSPECTION.....especially if the actuator is noisy!!

Scott

[Secguru]

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

looks like there is/WAS a RELATED recall on some of these trailers

equipped with DEXTER branded calipers...

Well there are only two things on my Airstream that I absolutely will not ever leave to chance... Brakes and Tires.

As I intend to upgrade my 1998 34' Excella 1000 to Disk Brakes next year and now we're hearing that DEXTER brakes may also have problems, is there a brand that is known and trusted? I don't like my electric drums, but at least I know they will work when I press on the brake pedal.

[Steve & Mary]

Our Actibrake unit failed while I was hooking up to the trailer for a trip out of town. Since purchasing the trailer new in Dec. 2008, there had been issues with my batteries being pulled down after only a month or two of non-use. We were hitched up and all of a sudden I heard the pump unit come on. I disconnected from the vehicle (thinking it may be a problem in the controller) but it continued to run. Finally, I had to disconnect the battery. I called the dealer's service department and they directed me to AS. After doing some trouble-shooting over the phone, they sent me a new Dexter unit which I installed myself. We do not have an RV dealer close by. Bled the brakes and haven't had a problem since. Now I suspect the pump was coming on while the trailer was sitting idle. Haven't had a battery problem since. To make you aware. There is a difference in how the ActiBrake unit operated vs. the Dexter. The ActiBrake unit came on as soon as you applied brakes. The Dexter does not. Only activates when needed. Much better than hearing that pump run all of the time. We just received our recall letter. Already fixed :-)

[Taj MaHaul]

Looks like those great bird dogs of the forum have been busy rooting out what's what, way ahead of our dealer. We just received our recall today (the post office delivered it all mangled up) and I called our dealer, Sutton. According to them the recall went out before they were aware of the fix. A/S factory tech happened to be in town visiting them and they are now up to speed (that's Sutton's story). We're going to have to go 200 miles up to the dealer for an inspection as I haven't trusted my mechanical abilities since I was 16 and left a torn down '56 Ford stranded in my folks garage (yes, that's another story). The Service dept told me that they have no replacement parts yet but that A/S is "mailing" them one today. Be prepared, should you have a failing/failed activator, waiting for a part could keep you grounded.

[xonvldz]

just mho,but airstream after speaking with the factory seems to be taking a half assed approach to this problem.either the unit on my trailer is a problem or not a problem.when in doubt with the magnitude of the potential problem losing your brakes,a replacement unit is the only safe correction.obviosly if the actibrake system was so great the company would still be around.once you guys fiqure out the best replacement unit,i will be replacing mine at my own expense since airstreams approach through customer service is to tell me i am not entitled to a replacement.told jackson center that this was my 2nd new airstream in 3 years,and that didnt matter to them at all.with the current mngmt team i have my concern over airstreams future.

[DnS]

Thread #50 has a procedure attached that says to install new unit part # 512378 but the Dexter website part number is K71-651-00 E/H1600 (Disc Brakes). Is the part number in the procedure a AS part number? Anybody know what the Dexter part number is?

[Pappy]

2006 Classic 25ft.
I have version one unit. It has failed once, but after being reset it has worked just fine since. But I guess it heard about the recall because when I checked on it today
it was seeping fluid enough to bubble the paint underneath. It was perfectly dry when
I bled the brakes and serviced it 2 months ago. I haven't even been anywhere due to a health problem. I just thought it was funny no leaks in 5 years but as soon as the
recall came out it leaked. I am going to install the Dexter I already had it bought and was carrying it for a replacement just in case.

Pappy

[vpurdy]

i sent aristream an email yesterday with my VIN #, Axle # and Chasis # and asked them to verify that my unit was in the recall...i got the recall letter. I further stated that i am 200 miles from the closest dealer and it was unacceptable to ask me to drive a possible dangerous situation that far. and i also did not want an inspection i wanted it replaced....they sent a reply that said they don't know if my unit is in the recall, am i the original owner and do i have disc brakes....WHAT???? the trailer is an 07 classic purchased from Bates in Fla....you would think airstream knows every part number they put on the unit...especially if it has to do with safety...like brakes....
they did say they would allow me to take the unit to any trailer dealer and they would "work with them" to fix the problem....
i replied to thei questions and have not heard back yet.

[xonvldz]

sounds to me with all this goodwill airstream is building alot of future buyers.dont manufacturers build expected costs of warranty claims into the purchase price??for an upscale product customer service doesnt seem to be handling customers correctly.if this is comming from thor,i think they are making a huge mistake.hopefully someone at the top will read what customers are saying and get off the corporate b/s trail.chinsy nonsense for the money that was spent on these trailers.

[craftsman]

Not sure about Airstream "creating a lot of good will" and being "pro active" I think if you consider the lawsuit should someone get seriously injured or killed because of these faulty acuators, Airstream is just doing what I'm sure their attorneys advised them would be the least expensive in the long run. Just good business and a mininum of o " good will".

[craftsman]

Oh, and as far as pro active, this problem isn't new. My first actuator went up the day I drove my unit home from the dealer. That was four years ago and when I contacted Actibrake, they were aware that there were problems then.

[vpurdy]

spoke to "dave" at airstream yesterday:
732 units recalled
they will inspect and if no leak...you're on your way.
they will ONLY replace if they find a leak.
when i questioned him about "what if it starts leaking 6 months from now...his reply was it would be my expense to fix...they are only doing this initiasl recall check because that's all the nhtsa requires them to do "check the unit 1 x"
i explained that i found this unacceptable and that i wanted the controller replaced with the dexter unit...he said i would have to pay for that. it was not airstream fault that actibrake built a bad unit...they were out of business and airstream is merely trying to help their customers out because the controllers were out of warranty anyway....and besides the dexter could fail too.
i am now on my LAST Airstream...i'll get the controller replaced at my cost.

[GCinSC2]

Decision made not to trust the its not leaking now so its OK concept.

I ordered and rec'd a new Carslile from Andy, pretty good looking unit, actually looks like it is servicable at the factory, aluminum case, screws etc. One not very publicized feature is a bleed screw on the unit to minimize the air injected into the system during install, that doesn't make it work better it just shows they were thinking about servicing, final bleeding should be less bubbles, more DOT 3 purging.

I'm not real concerned about bleeding the system, confident in fact.

[Pappy]

I installed the Dexter today and I have the prodigy P3 brake controller.

I have a question for those of you who have installed the Dexter.

The Dexter manual says that when the brake pedal is depressed the brake controller should supply 3 volts to activate the pump. If I set the brake controller to 11.4 volts to get that 3 volts when stopped then I will be skidding the tires during the manual 15 mph check. If I adjust the brake controller voltage to 9.3 volts which is just prior to skidding then when stopped I will only get 2.4 volts. It seems to stop just fine with the setting at 9.3 volts but I am worried about long sweeping mountain turns and the Hensley giving me the bump. Plus wouldn't it be a bad thing for the pump to run constantly at stop lights?

Any thoughts from those who have this combination?

Thanks Pappy

[GCinSC2]

I installed my new new Carslile this weekend it is not very mechanically or electrically difficult, if you can use a soldering gun, that is a plus. I crimped, soldered and heat shrinked each connection. The only challange is bleeding and knowing when you are seeing correct results. I got the better 1/2 to work the controller in the cab, bled, added, changed position, bled, added change repeat repeat repeat. So far so good, I feel that I have a syncronized application, but a long trip will tell the tale.

New Carslile, new Dill TPMS, 4 new MAXXIS, it's time to relax my back and c-card.

The TPMS is looking very interesting so far.

[Beauchesne]

I have a defective type 2 on my 2008 30FB being replaced with a dexter unit, this is the first unit this dealer has found defective, so they had no experience.
the dexter unit has a much smaller footprint so it will leave a large opening in the bottom of the chamber where road grime will be allowed to enter the compartment and cause corrosion of the connections and create other issues.
When I picked up the trailer, I decided to take a look at the installation.
First of all, the original unit had a multi pin connector for the terminals to connect to the actibrake unit, this has to be cut off and each wire to the dexter unit needs to be individually connected/spliced. When I inspected the installation, the dealer had used residential type wire nuts, in fact one of them came disconnected when i pulled the rats nest of wiring created out for inspection.

Secondly the dexter manual calls for a minimum wire size of 12 ga capable of 5 amps power. Our rig has a 16 gage, the dealer was going to overlook this and not rewire the proper wire size because there was not enough time allocated for the fix.

Here are suggested items:
1) be sure wiring is replaces back to the terminal block with 12 ga
2) all connectors use a but type connector, and all wires connectors have a heat shrink tubing
3) the bundle of wires after item 2 is complete should have an outer armor protective shield.
4) the compartment needs to be cleaned and undercoated, brake fluid a extremely corrosive and will destroy any finish it comes in contact with.
5) the penetration hole for the wire bundle into the controller compartment must have a grommet to protect the bundle from abrasion
6) the compartment should have a modified sheet metal work to close the large hole created by the smaller unit.

This brake unit is at the top of the list for safety, is a connection fails, its not like a water pump failure, I suggest you watch your dealer, there are some extremely good mechanics out there and then there are some that have no experience.

[kfrere]

A local RV service shop did the inspection of our actuator, following the guidelines from AS with the promise that any replacement could be obtained from AS. Inspection showed the unit to be fine.

Now that the initial inspection has been done is there something that we can inspect ourselves periodically to see if a problem does develop? I don't want to rush into purchasing a new one just to purchase one (after all, no guarantees that a replacement won't have problems). But, I would like to keep on top of this.

[nvestysly]

Originally Posted by kfrere

Now that the initial inspection has been done is there something that we can inspect ourselves periodically to see if a problem does develop?

Ours has not been insected yet as we just learned of the recall through the Blue Beret. Ours is definitely a version 2 and it was installed at the AS factory as an aftermarket unit. Based on posts I've read here I think it will be included in the recall. I'll check on Tuesday when the factory opens after the Labor Day holiday.

I'm surmising the inspection hole can be used to periodically monitor the unit. If fluid ever appears at the hole you know the unit has been compromised. It may stand to reason that the hole will allow fluid to escape and may therefore avoid the failure mechanism mentioned in the recall. I'm not suggesting this is a fix but maybe it gives a little peace of mind to those whose units are found to be "good."

Of course you should always check your fluid level. If the level is found to be unusually low you should check for a leak or other problems.

Lucius

[2Tex4Fun]

Does anyone have an estimate of the cost to replace the brakes? We are at the AS Factory this week for the recall.
Victoria