2020 Grand Design Imagine

I am filing a formal safety complaint against Camping World for structural equipment overloading, unauthorized safety component manipulation, and willful public safety endangerment. On May 29, the dealer hitched a 37' long trailer to my half ton truck frame. This combination violates critical highway stability standards. A 37' trailer requires a minimum 178" tow vehicle wheelbase to counteract lateral wind forces and semi-truck displacement. Operating it with a 157" wheelbase leaves a catastrophic 21" layout deficit, causing uncontrollable highway sway. The tailer's loaded tongue weight (1,223 to 1,529 lbs based on a 10,195 lb GVWR) physically overloads the truck's factory stamped 1,22o lb hitch receiver capacity. Immediately upon exiting the lot on Friday night, may 29, the rig experienced violent highway sway. I notified the sales associate that night, but received no safety instructions. For public safety, I returned the hazardous rig to the lot on Saturday morning, May 30. Instead of resolving the safety hazard, dealership personnel refused to let me speak to the general manager and executed two unauthorized alternations to mask the defects: 1. A technician intentionally over inflated my trucks tires to 57 PSI on the asphalt lot between the propane filling area and the store building. On site personnel explicitly admitted this was done to "stiffen the sidewalls because the trailer was rocking". 2. The dealer installed a Curt 10,000 lb weight distribution hitch (1,000 lb max tongue weight), which is completely overloaded by this trailer rating by up to 500 lbs. Staff took the rig behind a closed gate into Service Bay 2 to make undisclosed tension alterations to force the truck to look level, withholding all mechanical disclosure forms or explanations of services rendered. Staff then abandoned my truck in the drop off lot with the keys inside and ignored us for hours. The dealers blind alterations caused even more violent sway causing emergency grounding.

WHILE DRIVING BACK FROM A FAMILY TRIP IN NEBRASKA ON 6/30/19. I NOTICED THAT THE TRAILER WAS PUSHING THE TOW VEHICLE TO THE RIGHT WHILE BREAKING HARDER THAN NORMAL. THIS HAPPENED MULTIPLE TIMES DURING OUR 4.5 HOUR TRIP HOME AND UPON ARRIVING AT OUR HOUSE IN LONE TREE, CO. I DISCOVERED THAT THE LEAF SPRINGS ON THE PASSENGER SIDE OF THE TRAILER HAD FLATTENED OUT. THE TRAILER IS 2 MONTHS OLD AND THE WEIGHT WAS MINIMAL AS NONE OF THE HOLDING TANKS WERE FILLED AND HALF OF THE CABINETS WERE EMPTY AS WELL AS EMPTY FRIDGE. I CONTACTED THE MANUFACTURER AND THEY AUTHORIZED REPLACEMENT OF SPRINGS. MY CONCERNS IS THAT THE MANUFACTURER IS USING SUB STANDARD PRODUCTS AND THIS CAN LEAD TO A TRAGIC ACCIDENT AT SOME POINT. I ALSO BELONG TO A FB GROUP OF IMAGINE OWNERS THAT HAS 12,500 MEMBERS AND THE TOPIC OF FLATTENED LEAF SPRINGS IS A DAILY OCCURRENCE. SOMEONE SHOULD BE LOOKING IN TO THIS BEFORE A TRAGIC ACCIDENT OCCURS THAT COULD OF BEEN EASILY AVOIDABLE BY MANUFACTURER USING BETTER QUALITY PRODUCTS AND OR HIGHER PRODUCT AS WELL.