NHTSA Complaint Data
RV complaints by model year
See how many safety complaints owners have filed with the federal government about RVs from each model year since 2016, and how the years compare when each one gets the same amount of time.
Most complaints in a model year’s first 3 years
424
Model year 2022. 2021 is next with 409; 2023 is lowest with 211.
The ranking
In plain terms: Owners have filed more complaints about 2021 RVs than about any other model year since 2016: 666. Counting only each model year's first 3 years, so that every year gets equal time, 2022 leads with 424 and 2021 follows with 409; the lowest is 2023 with 211. The industry built far more RVs in some of these years than in others, and nobody publishes a count by model year. So this shows which years owners reported most. It cannot show which year’s RVs are more likely to have a problem.
Tap a column heading to re-rank the list.
Ranked by every complaint on file for each model year. Older model years have had longer to collect them, so on this count newer RVs look better than they are.
| # | Model year | Part named most | Latest | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021 | 666 | 409 | 31 | 8 | 8 | Structure · 30% | 2026-09 |
| 2 | 2022 | 571 | 424 | 29 | 5 | 9 | Structure · 30% | 2026-09 |
| 3 | 2018 | 476 | 226 | 15 | 6 | 4 | Structure · 26% | 2026-08 |
| 4 | 2017 | 466 | 270 | 20 | 3 | 8 | Structure · 27% | 2026-09 |
| 5 | 2020 | 446 | 258 | 21 | 5 | 4 | Structure · 28% | 2026-09 |
| 6 | 2019 | 421 | 253 | 22 | 7 | 4 | Structure · 29% | 2026-09 |
| 7 | 2016 | 402 | 242 | 22 | 6 | 4 | Structure · 24% | 2026-09 |
| 8 | 2023 | 240 | 211 | 10 | 1 | 2 | Structure · 29% | 2026-09 |
| 9 | 2024 | 150 | — | 16 | 1 | 5 | Equipment · 25% | 2026-08 |
| 10 | 2025 | 83 | — | 9 | 0 | 4 | Electrical system · 29% | 2026-09 |
| 11 | 2026 | 35 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | Structure · 31% | 2026-09 |
Informational only, not professional advice. A complaint count is not a safety rating, and complaints are owners’ reports that NHTSA has not verified.
Methodology
Source and scope. The same 4,994 complaints as the maker ranking, from NHTSA’s consumer complaints flat files: complaints NHTSA received from January 1, 2016 onward about RV makers, each counted once however many parts it names. That page’s methodology covers how RV makers are identified and how non-RV products are removed. The model year is the one the owner entered on the complaint form.
Which model years are ranked. Model years 2016 onward: 3,956 complaints. 1,011 complaints name an older model year and 27 give none; both groups are left out. An older RV's first years of complaints were filed before this data begins, so its total would be missing its front end.
First 3 years. Complaints NHTSA received by December 31 of the model year plus 2. RVs of a given model year go on sale during the calendar year before, so this is roughly the first 3 years on the road. It is the only column that gives every model year the same amount of time. A model year gets a figure only once that date has passed; 2024, 2025, 2026 show a dash. One small gap: 2016 RVs sold in 2015 could be complained about before this data begins, so the 2016 figure may be slightly low.
Fire, crash, injury and part named most. Fire, crash and injury are the owner’s own answers on the complaint form, not NHTSA findings. The part is the top-level NHTSA component named in the most complaints for that model year, with its share; NHTSA’s catch-all “Unknown or other” is never shown.
What this ranking cannot tell you
- Not adjusted for how many RVs were built. Production swings widely. The RV Industry Association reported a record 600,240 RVs shipped in 2021 and 342,220 in 2025. Those are calendar-year shipments for the whole industry, not model-year production for the makers in this data, so we do not divide by them. They are here to show the size of the effect: a year with 1.8 times the RVs will collect more complaints even if every RV is just as well built.
- The all-time count flatters new RVs. A 2016 RV has had about 10 years to collect complaints and a new one has had months. Use the first-3-years column to compare years.
- Every maker and model in one row. A model year lumps together motorhomes and trailers from every maker. It can point to a period, not to an RV.
- Unverified, and self-selected. NHTSA publishes complaints without confirming them, and the model year is as the owner typed it. Few RV owners file at all, so one year’s row can move on a few dozen reports.
- A snapshot, not a live feed. Data pulled September 19, 2026. NHTSA updates the file daily.
Last reviewed: September 2026
Frequently asked questions
Which RV model year has the most complaints?
Model year 2021: NHTSA has 666 owner complaints on file for 2021 RVs as of September 16, 2026. Counting only each model year's first 3 years, so that every year gets equal time, 2022 leads with 424 and 2021 follows with 409; the lowest is 2023 with 211. These are raw counts. They are not adjusted for how many RVs were built each year, and far more were built in some years than others.
Are RVs built during the pandemic worse?
The complaint data cannot settle that, but here is what it shows. On the equal-time measure, 2022 and 2021 have the most complaints of any model year since 2016. The industry also shipped a record 600,240 RVs in 2021, according to the RV Industry Association, against 342,220 in 2025, so there were many more RVs for owners to complain about. More complaints and more RVs arrived together, and this data cannot separate the two.
Why do 2024, 2025, 2026 show a dash in the first-3-years column?
Because those years are not finished. The column counts complaints received through December 31 of the model year plus 2, and for the newest model years that date has not arrived. Showing a partial count next to complete ones would make new RVs look better than they are.
Why does the list start at 2016?
This site's complaint data starts with complaints NHTSA received in 2016. For an older RV, the complaints from its first years on the road were filed before that and are missing, so its row would be short for a reason that has nothing to do with the RV. 1,011 complaints about pre-2016 model years are left out for that reason.
Guides
- Were Pandemic-Era RVs Built Worse? What the Complaint Data Can and Can't SayOwners report 2021 and 2022 RVs far more than other recent model years. Why the fair comparison is each year's first three years, and why more RVs is half of it.
Related tools
The RV models owners have complained about most to NHTSA since 2016, with fire, crash and injury reports and the part owners name most for each.
Open tool →RV Complaints by ManufacturerEvery RV maker ranked by the safety complaints owners have filed with NHTSA since 2016 — with fire, crash and injury reports, and recall counts alongside.
Open tool →RV Recall LookupLook up the NHTSA recalls and owner complaints on file for a specific RV make, model and year — live from the federal database.
Open tool →