Exterior Doors Opening -- Question for GD

[gone AWOL]

Please let me know on what page of the owners manual does it tell you how to keep baggage doors from opening while driving?

Today, I had to stop twice on a very busy I5 (dangerous situation) to close my baggage door that randomly opens while driving.

I was told GD has a "3 million" (sarcasm) point check list for quality control.

I must say, I don't think your QA/QC guy shows up for work every day.

When I received my unit from the dealership, (assuming GD did QC as well my dealer did a PDI) my main entry door could not lock. After closer inspection turns out the striker plate was installed backwards/ upside down. The barrel bolt lock could not move at all.

I'm still trying to come up with a hack to ensure my luggage doors stay closed when driving.....( I consider this a huge safety issue)

Amazing to think one pay well in excess of $100k for a 5th wheel, and you still have to deal with the same QC issues one would anticipate on a much cheaper entry level unit.

I'm not new to camping, started in 2004 with Outback, then a Forest River Toyhauler, then a Montana, the a Newmar Ventana DP, then a Highlander Toyhauler, and now a Momentum....the least issues was in the Newmar diesel pusher....the Montana ranks below my Highlander. Sorry GD, the hype is not panning out, at least not for me, yet.
I had fewer initial issues on on my Highland Ridge Highlander Toyhauler. I'm very disappointed.....

[Country Campers]

gone AWOL

Moved to "Ask Grand Design" channel.

GDRV-Emily , GDRV-Megan , Please see above.

Brian

[GDRV-Emily]

Please let me know on what page of the owners manual does it tell you how to keep baggage doors from opening while driving?

Today, I had to stop twice on a very busy I5 (dangerous situation) to close my baggage door that randomly opens while driving.

I was told GD has a "3 million" (sarcasm) point check list for quality control.

I must say, I don't think your QA/QC guy shows up for work every day.

When I received my unit from the dealership, (assuming GD did QC as well my dealer did a PDI) my main entry door could not lock. After closer inspection turns out the striker plate was installed backwards/ upside down. The barrel bolt lock could not move at all.

I'm still trying to come up with a hack to ensure my luggage doors stay closed when driving.....( I consider this a huge safety issue)

Amazing to think one pay well in excess of $100k for a 5th wheel, and you still have to deal with the same QC issues one would anticipate on a much cheaper entry level unit.

I'm not new to camping, started in 2004 with Outback, then a Forest River Toyhauler, then a Montana, the a Newmar Ventana DP, then a Highlander Toyhauler, and now a Momentum....the least issues was in the Newmar diesel pusher....the Montana ranks below my Highlander. Sorry GD, the hype is not panning out, at least not for me, yet.
I had fewer initial issues on on my Highland Ridge Highlander Toyhauler. I'm very disappointed.....

This is interesting as we do not see this very often. Can I ask you if this is happening in certain temperatures? Colder vs warmer? Also, are the doors popping open when stationary? Another question, do you LOCK them while traveling, or only close and latch?

As far as the entry door... we hear this often about it being installed backwards or upside down... BUT we have seen where people think they are installed wrong but they are not. They need to be adjusted.

If you can let me know some of this info above, I would appreciate it.

[Cate&Rob]

gone AWOL

Is this the thread that you think is locked?

Rob (Forum Moderator)

[Country Campers]

gone AWOL

I am just testing to see if I can post and you receive the tag.

Brian

[Country Campers]

HA, see what happens,,,,,,,

Brian

[howson]

gone AWOL -- your post was inadvertently moved to an inactive channel (see https://gdrvowners.com/forum/grand-d...-design-how-to )

Your post is now here (which you probably already found!): https://gdrvowners.com/forum/exterio...uestion-for-gd

Not that you asked...but the original intent of the "Ask Grand Design" channel was exactly as the title suggests. We found over time that a lot of the questions folks have can be answered by other owners or the moderators. So now we "tag" our hosts when the question needs to be elevated to a GD rep (as outlined in the linked "sticky" thread in the first sentence above).

Howard

[gone AWOL]

It's just unfortunate as i saw them reply and ask a question back at me but then i had no way to respond and answer them. Incidentally, they don't accept personal messages, so i was at a loss.
thanks for getting this resolved, much appreciated Howard.

[gone AWOL]

This is interesting as we do not see this very often. Can I ask you if this is happening in certain temperatures? Colder vs warmer? Also, are the doors popping open when stationary? Another question, do you LOCK them while traveling, or only close and latch?

As far as the entry door... we hear this often about it being installed backwards or upside down... BUT we have seen where people think they are installed wrong but they are not. They need to be adjusted.

If you can let me know some of this info above, I would appreciate it.

GDRV-Emily Yes, the door in question is the drivers side baggage door. The one with the wetbay. For some reason it's (lock) different from the one on the other side, lock, latch and striker is different...

Like i mentioned before, just recently driving down the I-5 (btw, this hwy should be a RV proving ground, boy is it hard on anything from truck to false teeth and RV too) the door opened randomly, slow down and it swings wide open. I think the wind sucks it open, once the latch let's go. I think It does not hook in as deep as the other side. Tried moving the handle more towards the door edge but that leaves exposed holes.

I have now installed part number xxX007xls...(a bungy cord ...😆) on the inside.....it's working for now till I can find the final solution....

As for the entry door, I'm in construction, I know what a striker plate looks like, how it works, ....and when it's upside down. This one, was definitely installed at a slight misaligned angle of 180 degrees.
No worries, I fixed it, just sad too a dealer PDI and a manufacturer miss this simple item.

I don't know how your industry fix itself, I'm not even sure the industry is regulated (someone can maybe help me out) but I really think it's time things change.

More and more of us are full-time in our units. Not all can afford a Newell or King Aire. So we're hoping the Grand Design will work. I'm definitely in a unit (Mo 376) that I can see it was designed with a full-time couple in mind. There's some good stuff here...for sure, but the basic quality is just not there yet. And I'm honestly thinking it's the small easy to fix items that bugs me most.

Anyway, enough of a rant, we love the 376... we're gradually making it home, one screw at a time.

Thanks for listening.

[SStrunk]

Did anyone get an answer on this post? I have a 378MBS. The storage bay door is latched and locked and has still managed to pop open 3 times while driving in interstate traffic. It feels like all of the latch components are too short or just barely adequate. If the latch was longer, it would be more secure.

I too have done the pull over on a busy interstate to shut the door again. Pulling over is easy, pulling back out into traffic is the nightmare.

[howson]

Did anyone get an answer on this post? I have a 378MBS. The storage bay door is latched and locked and has still managed to pop open 3 times while driving in interstate traffic. It feels like all of the latch components are too short or just barely adequate. If the latch was longer, it would be more secure.

I too have done the pull over on a busy interstate to shut the door again. Pulling over is easy, pulling back out into traffic is the nightmare.

Unfortunately for this issue your only recourse may be to work with Grand Design Customer Service and your dealer to resolve. In the meantime, a bungy cord (like what gone AWOL did as documented above) may be a good short-term workaround.

[Ray&KatinCR]

When we brought our new fifth wheel home last year I was checking out the storage compartments and the one on the drivers side did not have a positive latch. When I locked it I was able to open it with little effort. I looked and there seemed to be an excessive bit of a gap between the door and the bottom frame. I remember reading a thread on here someplace that addressed this issue. I pulled all the screws on the bottom section of frame an cut a 1/4" thick strip of abs plastic, notching it out for the latch and placing it between the wall section and frame also adding some thin shims to get it right and closing up the gap and providing a very good latch. I also sealed the screws with marine adhesive before replacing them. Bottom line is check the gaps at the bottom of those storage doors, the apparently cut the holes a bit too large on mine when installing them.

[LoveShackRV]

When I received my unit from the dealership, (assuming GD did QC as well my dealer did a PDI) my main entry door could not lock. After closer inspection turns out the striker plate was installed backwards/ upside down. The barrel bolt lock could not move at all.

I'm still trying to come up with a hack to ensure my luggage doors stay closed when driving.....( I consider this a huge safety issue)

This happened to us as well. On the frame next to the lock, I added metal (although wood may also work) spacers to push the frame out flush. I haven't had the issue since and we've traveled over 12,000 miles this way.