2020 Forest River Georgetown: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2020 Forest River Georgetown
On the 2020 Forest River Georgetown, the failure owners report most often is other body or interior problem, with 11 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 5,000 miles. Overall it scores 81 out of 100, severe risk for a 2020.
Severe risk for a 2020 — 24th riskiest of the 235 2020 vehicles we can rate. 19 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork.
The failures owners actually file about
Owners have reported 5 named failure modes on the 2020 Forest River Georgetown, and the three most-reported carry 68% of everything filed, so the trouble here is concentrated rather than scattered.
Other body or interior problem leads with 11 reports and about 19 per 1,000 vehicles.
Brake line, hose or caliper failure follows with 1 report, median 5,000 miles.
Other powertrain problem follows with 1 report.
By system, the reports fall mostly into body (11), brakes (1) and transmission (1).
At what mileage it happens
Too few of the reports on this year carry an odometer reading to describe the timing: 1 of them do. The mileages quoted elsewhere on this page come from the modes that have enough of them.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
How bad it is when it goes
Nothing in the reports on the 2020 Forest River Georgetown mentions a crash, a fire or an injury. That is the ordinary case and it is worth stating: most defect complaints are about a car that stopped working, not one that hurt somebody.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 2.47, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: other body or interior problem at $200–$2,000, brake line, hose or caliper failure at $250–$1,600, other powertrain problem at $400–$4,500 and other fuel system problem at $300–$2,200. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
5% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other body or interior problem | body | 11 | 0 | — | — | — | 19.0 | $200–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Brake line, hose or caliper failure | brakes | 1 | 1 | — | 4k | — | 1.7 | $250–$1,600 | Critical |
| Other powertrain problem | transmission | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 1.7 | $400–$4,500 | High |
| Other fuel system problem | fuel | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 1.7 | $300–$2,200 | High |
| Other suspension problem | suspension | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 1.7 | $350–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Unclassified problem | other | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | 6.9 | — | Moderate |
Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2020 Forest River Georgetown draws about 33 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 97th percentile of complaint rates among 2020 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound.
The working figure is 580 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2020 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
The sway bar on my rv sitting on the ford f53 chassis bolts came out 3 of the 4 and tore the brake line in half (possibly only the ABS line). This vehicle has less than 4,000 miles and I have had to fix a lot of their quality control issues. This could have killed someone though. Consumer has attached additional photos with sway bar is missing bolts on each side of mounting brackets, which caused the sway bar to pinch in half of ABS line.
Recalls on the 2020 model year
NHTSA has issued 6 recall campaigns covering the 2020 Forest River Georgetown, affecting an estimated 1,057 vehicles. A recall is a different kind of evidence from a complaint: it is the regulator and the manufacturer agreeing that something has to be fixed, and the fix is free for as long as the car exists.
The campaigns cover equipment:recreational vehicle/trailer:lpg systems:tank asse, structure, equipment:recreational vehicle/trailer:lpg systems:lines and and trailer hitches. Whether the work was actually done on the car in front of you is a question only the VIN can answer, and the manufacturer or NHTSA will answer it free.
Recalls also distort complaint counts. Publicity about a campaign reminds owners that complaining is possible, so reports for a recalled component often spike after the recall rather than before it.
EQUIPMENT:RECREATIONAL VEHICLE/TRAILER:LPG SYSTEMS:TANK ASSEMBLY
6,966 vehicles 2024-02-12- Defect
- Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2019-2024 Georgetown and FR3 Class A motorhomes. The liquid petroleum gas (LPG) tank mounting brackets may break, which can result in the LPG tank becoming dislodged and damaged.
- Consequence
- A damaged LPG tank increases the risk of a fire.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect and replace the brackets and welds as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 11, 2024. Owners may contact Forest River Customer Service at 1-574-206-7600. Forest River's number for this recall is 68-1736.
STRUCTURE
825 vehicles 2021-07-09- Defect
- Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2015-2017 Coachmen Cross Country, 2015 Coachmen Encore, 2016-2020 Coachmen Mirada, 2018-2021 Coachmen Sportscoach, 2019-2021 Forest River Berkshire, 2011-2016 Forest River Blue Ridge, 2014-2019 Forest River Cardinal, 2014-2020 Forest River Cedar Creek, 2014-2021 Forest River Georgetown, 2019 Forest River Legacy, and 2017-2018 Forest River Riverstone recreational vehicles equipped with Hehr 6400 Series windows. The adhesive that bonds the vented portion of the window may fail.
- Consequence
- Adhesive failure may cause the vent portion of the window to detach, increasing the risk of a crash or injury.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect the windows, and replace the vent if necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed September 2, 2021. Owners may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-825-8600. Forest River's number for this recall is 51-1380.
EQUIPMENT:RECREATIONAL VEHICLE/TRAILER:LPG SYSTEMS:LINES AND FITTINGS
164 vehicles 2020-01-20- Defect
- Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2019-2020 Georgetown GTA34H5F motorhomes. The rubber liquid propane (LP) gas line may have been improperly routed against the metal burner chamber of the refrigerator.
- Consequence
- If the LP line contacts the burner assembly, the hose may melt, causing a gas leak, increasing the risk of a fire.
- Remedy
- Forest River will notify owners, and dealers will reroute the LP line away from the burn chamber, free of charge. The recall began February 19, 2020. Owners may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-206-7600. Forest River's number for this recall is 68-1125.
TRAILER HITCHES
219 vehicles 2019-12-18- Defect
- MORryde International, Inc. (MORryde) is recalling certain 2020 Forest River Georgetown and FR3 motorhomes that they modified. The trailer hitch bolts may have been improperly tightened, which can cause the hitch bolts to loosen.
- Consequence
- If the bolts loosen, a towed trailer or vehicle could detach from the motorhome, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Forest River will notify owners, and Forest River dealers will properly tighten the bolts, free of charge. The recall began December 9, 2019. Owners may contact MORryde customer service at 1-574-293-1581.
TRAILER HITCHES
194 vehicles 2019-12-13- Defect
- Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2020 Georgetown and FR3 motorhomes. The trailer hitch bolts may not have been properly tightened, which can allow cause the hitch to detach from the chassis.
- Consequence
- If the motorhome is towing a trailer or vehicle, the hitch detaching from the motorhome can increase the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Forest River will notify owners, and dealers will properly torque the bolts, free of charge. The recall began January 7, 2020. Owners may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-296-7600. Forest River's number for this recall is 68-1119.
EQUIPMENT
688 vehicles 2019-06-21- Defect
- Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2019-2020 Georgetown and FR3 motorhomes. The slim-rack slide out mechanisms may activate unintentionally, moving the slide room in or out unexpectedly.
- Consequence
- If the slide-room extends or retracts unexpectedly, there is an increased risk of injury.
- Remedy
- Forest River will notify owners, and dealers will provide a new controller and switch for the slideout mechanism, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin July 31, 2019. Owners may contact Forest River at 1-574-206-7600. Forest River's number for this recall is 68-0991.
Recall work is free at a franchised dealer regardless of the car's age. Check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls before assuming it was done.
How it ranks in the 2020 field
The score at the top of the page, placed among its peers. The zones are the same thresholds the scorer applies, read out of the scorer itself, so the picture and the band word cannot disagree.
Scores are ranked within the model year, never across years, because an older car has had longer to accumulate reports.
- Left fewer and less serious reports
- Right more, or worse
- Marker this vehicle
Better and worse years of the same car
Severe risk for a 2020 — 24th riskiest of the 235 2020 vehicles we can rate. Every score on this site is a rank inside its own model year, which is what makes a 2004 and a 2019 comparable at all.
Across the 3 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2001 comes out best at 70 and 2020 worst at 81, with 2020 itself at 81.
If the model year is negotiable, 2001 and 2004 score lower than 2020 by a margin worth acting on. Same body, same engines, different luck — usually a supplier change or a mid-cycle fix, which the complaint data can show but never explain.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
The limits of complaint data
19 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 19 reports, 1 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 5% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
Named failure modes come from matching phrases in the complaint text, so a badly worded complaint can land in the wrong bucket. The effect washes out across hundreds of reports and does not wash out across five.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2020 Forest River Georgetown?
The most-reported failures are other body or interior problem (11 reports), brake line, hose or caliper failure (1 report, median 5,000 miles) and other powertrain problem (1 report). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
Is the 2020 Forest River Georgetown reliable?
It scores 81 out of 100 on our risk index, which is severe — 24th riskiest of the 235 2020 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2020 vehicles, not a prediction about any individual car, and it is built from complaint rates, severity and how early failures appear.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed