October 03, 2008
Is Airstream selling a defective product?
What's this? It's the aluminum skin of my Airstream Travel Trailer, showing signs of a production defect just a few months after I took delivery.
This defect, filiform corrosion, is a process that afflicts aluminum that has suffered a breach in the protective Clear Coat coating applied by Alcoa, the supplier of the lightweight metal used by Airstream to skin its trailers.
It often shows up around rivet heads and the edges of aluminum panels.
Let's see where else my Airstream is starting to look a little rough around the edges.
It doesn't just affect the trailer's skin; this is the grab handle outside the door. Notice how it's covered with creeping crud.
Nice.
Moving around to the back of the trailer, let's take a look at the picture window that frames the dinette area.
In this close-up there appears to be rust -- the conventional, red kind -- around one of the rivets.
This does not make me happy.
In this shot you can see more of the corrosion, as well as a bit of the discoloration of the caulking between the window and the frame -- some of which is already pulling away from the metal.
I am told that Airstream says this isn't covered under its warranty, which is astonishing -- if true -- when you consider that they'd be washing their hands of the distinguishing characteristic that defines the product.
Imagine, if you will, that automakers said that any defect in the paint or body wasn't their problem, but that of the paint supplier, or the mill that made the steel used in the body panels.
There's talk on some of the Airstream forums about a class-action lawsuit, which is a symptom of how widespread the defect is -- and how widespread is the unhappiness of Airstream owners.
Here's the deal: We really like the Airstream; it's well designed, stylish and fun to use. Traveling with Bogie, having a home away from home, is a blast.
But this is more than a little ding or a minor glitch in the manufacturing process.
Quite frankly, the Airstream is starting to look a lot like a fading Hollywood starlet: from a distance, she's the stuff dreams are made of, but when you get too close, the rot, the decay becomes obvious, and the bloom is seriously off the rose.
I am informed that Airstream has taken a hard line when it comes to complaints about the defective aluminum skins of its trailers; we'll see if they're truly as unwilling to stand by their product as the critics say.
This is less than six months since I took possession of the Silver Twinkie, and that's just not acceptable.
I'll let you know what Airstream has to say.
Posted by Mike Lief at October 3, 2008 10:18 PM
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Comments
Take a leave of absence from that government job of yours and make some money by suing the crooks.
Posted by: Randy at October 4, 2008 07:56 AM
Still, it will look right at home on blocks outside your log cabin in Tennessee. You're going to be sorry you turned me down when I offered to buy you a nice piece of Astro-Turf to put down beneath your awning.
Posted by: The Litttle Coach at October 4, 2008 10:40 AM
Uhh, the awning still works, doesn't it?
Posted by: The Litttle Coach at October 4, 2008 10:41 AM
If I were you I'd go down to Pep Boys and get some "Mothers" aluminum polish right away. It will take off the crud and seal the metal. Works great!
Go buy it, I'll come down help you clean it up.
Posted by: The Weekend mechanic at October 4, 2008 08:26 PM
You can buy a $25 tent at Big 5 that won't rust and will give you a good view of the stars while you sleep. Now that's camping.
Posted by: Moby at October 5, 2008 07:56 PM
Thanks, Moby, but I've backpacked at night in the snow, searching for a cabin that was buried to the chimney; lived cheek-by-jowl with a hundred men in a sweltering sewer pipe of a submarine, without freshwater for bathing; endured bone-chilling cold in the Sea of Japan and searing heat in dank foreign lands.
Which means I've paid my roughing-it dues.
Traveling in comfort is more my style now, minor aggravations about quality control aside.
Posted by: Mike Lief at October 5, 2008 08:15 PM