2021 Tiffin Wayfarer

Routine

Owners filed 6 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the forward collision avoidance › adaptive cruise control. It has been recalled 2 times.

What fails
ComponentReportsCrashesFiresInjuries
Unknown or Other3
001
Forward Collision Avoidance › Adaptive Cruise Control2
000
Vehicle Speed Control1
000

2 safety recalls

Part 573 reports
Equipment › Recreational Vehicle/Trailer › Plumbing › Sewage/Black › Storage Tank21V753000
Filed Sep 28, 20212,461 vehiclesTiffin Motorhomes, Inc.

Defect. Tiffin Motorhomes, Inc. (Tiffin) is recalling certain 2018-2022 Wayfarer vehicles. The rear-center holding tank water pan bolts may pull through the lip of the pan, allowing the tank to drop down onto the exhaust pipe.

Risk. The tank falling onto the exhaust can affect vehicle stability, and increase the risk of a crash.

Remedy. Dealers will inspect and as necessary, replace any damaged holding pans. In addition, metal straps and a washer plate will be installed. Repairs will be performed free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed November 29, 2021. Owners may contact Tiffin customer services at 1-256-356-8661. Tiffin's number for this recall is WAY-102.

Trailer Hitches21V610000
Filed Aug 5, 20213,170 vehiclesTiffin Motorhomes, Inc.

Defect. Tiffin Motorhomes, Inc. (Tiffin) is recalling certain 2017-2022 Wayfarer motorhomes. Continuous stress on the frame rail hitch extensions may cause them to fail.

Risk. Extension failure can cause the hitch to detach from the motorhome, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy. Dealers will inspect and replace the hitch and reinforce the frame rail extension, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed November 29, 2021. Owners may contact Tiffin customer service at 1-256-356-8661. Tiffin's number for this recall is WAY-101.

What owners reported

Newest filings
Unknown or Other1 injured
Filed Aug 13, 2023AL

The vehicle is a recreation vehicle with a door in the added cabin on a Mercedes chassis. There are automatic extended steps mounted under the door opening. They have failed several times during travel. Sometimes they extend while driving striking curbs and the like. Sometimes they fail to extend and lead to falls while opening the door to exit the vehicle. Tiffin knows of the problem, but it seems to be a design flaw that they cannot fix, and they continue to build units with the same-step problems. The problem seems to be poorly fitting doors that cut through control wires buried in the door jamb. To see similar documented events, visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/182126562363457 and search on "steps." Please help.

Unknown or Other
Filed Mar 9, 2023KS

While driving down the road, the power door steps will spontaneously extend. This extends close to the ground and out to the side, and could catch on a curb, pothole, another vehicle, etc. This could cause an accident many different ways. It has been to the dealer for service multiple times, details below. The issue persists. I have learned from Facebook groups that this issue is quite widespread and they seem to have not yet determined a reliable fix. I c Service history that I have – Vogt RV in Fort Worth - 7/15/2021 WO A565812– issue first reported. says sensor was replaced and door hinges were adjusted 8/31/21 – WO A566136 - issue persists – says sensor was replaced and door hinges were replaced 12/6/21 – WO A566697 – issue persists – says sensor was replaced again. Note that the unit was at the dealer from 12/6/21 through 7/29/22. 2/24/23 – Again serviced at Vogt. I don’t have the WO number but believe Rich was the technician assigned. I don’t know what was done. We picked up the unit on 2/27 and the steps worked for a couple days and then started giving the issue again. 3/2/23 – issue persists ontacted the manufacturer yesterday and they were not helpful.

Forward Collision Avoidance › Adaptive Cruise Control
Filed Jun 13, 2022TX

Vehicle flashed a warning that Active Distance Assistance was not functional, and within a few minutes started to veer left, as if there was a flat tire (which there was not), so I was trying to keep it centered in my lane when the steering wheel suddenly turned counterclockwise in my hands and swerved the vehicle to the hard left into an oncoming lane. I had to hit the brakes hard and yank the steering wheel back to the right to bring the vehicle back into my lane, just barely avoiding on coming cars, who had slowed when they saw me coming at them. This was an extremely narrow miss, if the oncoming vehicles had been next to me, the RV would have collided just like that. I have suffered severe mental duress from this event, and do not know whether the vehicle is safe anymore. My friend was following me and witnessed the incident. When I arrived and my house and backed up in to my driveway, the rear backup camera was acting up and blipping the image in and out rapidly, like it was shorting out. I had recently had the vehicle in to the local dealer for work on the same malfunctioning control system, which failed on us in our April 2022 trip to Utah. Supposedly they had fixed it all.

Unknown or Other
Filed Jun 7, 2022ME

The Tiffin Wayfarer is built on a MB Sprinter 3500 chassis. Tiffin adds rear wheelwell liners made of plastic. These liners are held onto the chassis by 4 screws all on the outside of the liner. There is no inside support of the liner or reinforcement of the screws. My right side liner detached while traveling on I-81 in PA at 65 mph. It went under the wheels which caused the vehicle to bounce and it acted like a blow-out. I pulled over and could see no significant damage and there were no warning lights so we kept traveling. Luckily there were no vehicles behind us as they would have had plastic shooting at them. I removed the left side liner when I got home and found that it was being held on by a single screw as the other 3 points had failed. I have enclosed a PDF showing the left side liner damage. The mounting is totally insufficient. Other owners have stated that they also have had the liners come off and one owner said his rubbed to the point where it melted. I have attempted to contact Tiffin Wayfarer without success. No insurance or police were involved.

Vehicle Speed Control
Filed Jan 4, 2022TX

Cruise control disengagement . Abrupt ceasing interferes with anti collision and speed control causing slowing speeds without warning, could be a risk to those following as well disrupting the flow of traffic. The vehicle has been inspected by 3 MB service technicians. 1 .MB of Selma, TX-09/2021 2. MB of Boerne, TX-09/2021 3. MB of Birmingham, AL @ Casa Grande, AZ-Tiffin Rally-10/2021 All 3 dealers confirmed problem. The RV manufacturers reps as well as MB reps have inspected the issue It was taken today 01/04/2022 to MB of Boerne as the issue persists and is not currently fixed The message "Distance Assist Inoperative" appears when the system becomes inoperative

Forward Collision Avoidance › Adaptive Cruise Control
Filed Nov 24, 2021NV

All driver assist functions randomly shut down and start working again. It may work correctly all day and then the next day it might work for 30 minutes or an hour or not at all. It has been to Mercedes for this problem, I don't think they know how to fix it. Based on the number of people I read having the same problem. It might be related to computer hardware being hard to get, makes it hard to drive much distance when the system is designed to keep you from accidentally running into something and then it just shuts down.

6 of 6 complaints, reproduced as filed.

Across model years

Worst on record: 2021
YearComplaintsRecallsFiresDeathsAssessment
20270300Routine
20261300Routine
20252000Routine
20231000Routine
20220200Routine
2021 — this page6200Routine
20205300Routine
20190300Routine
20182300Routine
20170200Routine

Compare every Wayfarer year →

Reading this record

No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.

Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.

Recall repairs are free for as long as the recall stands. Check whether a specific car still has open work at NHTSA's VIN lookup.

Most recent recall on file: Sep 28, 2021. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.