THE WINNEBAGO 2012 40U COACH CANNOT BE LOADED TO THE STATED LOAD (CCC) CAPACITY (4094#) AS ADVERTISED WITHOUT EXCEEDING THE DRIVE AXLE GAWR RATING. THIS IS LIKELY TRUE ACROSS MODEL YEARS UP TO 2014 WHEN THE SPECIFIED REAR AXLE WAS UPGRADED FROM 20000# TO 23000# RATED CAPACITY. THE REAR AXLE USED IN THE 40U (UP TO 2014) WAS THE MERITOR M19 WHICH IS TYPICALLY RATED BY MERITOR AT 19000#. WINNEBAGO CLAIMS MERITOR GAVE PERMISSION TO RATE THE AXLE AT 20000# ON THE 40U. THE 40U COACH CARRIES A REAR AXLE WEIGHT RATING OF 20000#. THE MANUFACTURER PUBLISHES A CARGO CARRYING CAPACITY OF 4094#. THE 40U HAS AN EMPTY - NO CARGO, FULL FUEL - WEIGHT ON THE REAR AXLE OF APPROXIMATELY 19460#. ADDING A TRAILER (WITH FULL FUEL BUT NO OTHER ON BOARD CARGO) WITH A HITCH WEIGHT OF 500# (THE MAXIMUM ALLOWED HITCH WEIGHT AS PER THE MANUFACTURERS SPEC) WOULD PLACE THE VEHICLE AT OR ABOVE ITS MAXIMUM REAR AXLE WEIGHT. ADDING EVEN MODEST AMOUNTS OF CARGO RESULTS IN AN OVERLOAD OF THE AXLE (ALREADY ABOVE IT'S INTENDED MAX WEIGHT WHEN EMPTY) ABOVE ITS EXTENDED RATING (AND ABOVE IT'S LEGAL LIMIT). EFFECTIVELY GIVEN THE HIGH EMPTY REAR AXLE WEIGHT - THERE IS NO WAY THE 40U CAN BE OPERATED (MODELS PRIOR TO 2014) WITHOUT BEING MODERATELY TO EXTENSIVELY OVERLOADED WITH RESPECT TO REAR AXLE MAXIMUM WEIGHT UNLESS IT IS MOVED OVER THE HIGHWAY COMPLETELY EMPTY. AS MOST MOTOR HOMES (THE 40U BEING NO EXCEPTION) ARE RARELY, IF EVER MOVED OVER THE HIGHWAY COMPLETELY EMPTY IT IS LIKELY THAT ALL 40U MODELS PRODUCED BEFO
2012 Winnebago 40u
Routine
Owners filed 1 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the suspension. No safety recall has been issued.
What fails
| Component | Reports | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What owners reported
Newest filingsSuspension
Filed Apr 21, 2014PA
1 of 1 complaints, reproduced as filed.
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.
Most recent recall on file: none. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.