2020 Grand Design Imagine: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2020 Grand Design Imagine
On the 2020 Grand Design Imagine, the failure owners report most often is tire blowout or tread separation, with 6 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 2,000 miles. Overall it scores 71 out of 100, high risk for a 2020.
High risk for a 2020 — 194th riskiest of the 235 2020 vehicles we can rate. 18 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork.
What breaks on the 2020 Grand Design Imagine
Owners have reported 7 named failure modes on the 2020 Grand Design Imagine, and the three most-reported carry 72% of everything filed, so the trouble here is concentrated rather than scattered.
Tire blowout or tread separation leads with 6 reports and about 0.6 per 1,000 vehicles.
Other body or interior problem follows with 5 reports.
Other suspension problem follows with 2 reports, median 700 miles.
By system, the reports fall mostly into wheels (8), body (5) and suspension (2).
At what mileage it happens
Too few of the reports on this year carry an odometer reading to describe the timing: 5 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
Severity, and what it costs
Nothing in the reports on the 2020 Grand Design Imagine 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 4.22, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. 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: tire blowout or tread separation at $200–$1,500, other body or interior problem at $200–$2,000, other suspension problem at $350–$2,000 and other wheel or tire problem at $200–$1,500. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
6% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tire blowout or tread separation | wheels | 6 | 1 | — | 4k | — | 0.6 | $200–$1,500 | Critical |
| Other body or interior problem | body | 5 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.5 | $200–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other suspension problem | suspension | 2 | 1 | — | 700 | — | 0.2 | $350–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other wheel or tire problem | wheels | 2 | 1 | — | 2k | — | 0.2 | $200–$1,500 | High |
| Lane keep or steering assist fault | adas | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $200–$1,600 | High |
| Other powertrain problem | transmission | 1 | 1 | — | 118k | — | 0.1 | $400–$4,500 | High |
| Other driver assistance problem | adas | 1 | 1 | — | 1k | — | 0.1 | $250–$1,800 | High |
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 Grand Design Imagine draws about 1.8 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 77th 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 10,072 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.
Recalls on the 2020 model year
NHTSA has issued 2 recall campaigns covering the 2020 Grand Design Imagine, affecting an estimated 13,155 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 structure:interior panels:door and equipment:recreational vehicle/trailer:lpg systems. 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.
STRUCTURE:INTERIOR PANELS:DOOR
20,144 vehicles 2022-01-28- Defect
- Grand Design RV, LLC (Grand Design) is recalling certain 2020-2021 Imagine travel trailers. The cast aluminum pull handles on the cabinet doors and drawers may have sharp edges.
- Consequence
- Sharp handles could scrape or cut an occupant, increasing their risk of injury.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the handles, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 14, 2022. Owners may contact Grand Design customer service at 1-574-825-9679. Grand Design's number for this recall is 910027.
EQUIPMENT:RECREATIONAL VEHICLE/TRAILER:LPG SYSTEMS
55,508 vehicles 2021-05-26- Defect
- Grand Design RV, LLC (Grand Design) is recalling certain 2016-2021 Imagine, Transcend, and Momentum travel trailers. The LP regulator that controls the LP gas pressure may fail, allowing excessive gas pressure that causes the appliance flame to increase.
- Consequence
- Excessive gas pressure and a larger than intended appliance flame can increase the risk of a fire.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the LP regulator, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed June 24, 2021. Owners may contact Grand Design customer service at 1-574-825-9679. Grand Design's number for this recall is 910023.
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
High risk for a 2020 — 194th riskiest of the 235 2020 vehicles we can rate. Because the ranking is against the same model year only, age cancels out of it.
Across the 3 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2021 comes out best at 67 and 2022 worst at 72, with 2020 itself at 71.
If the model year is negotiable, 2021 scores 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.
Within the 2020–2024 generation specifically, 2021 is the strongest year at 67 and 2022 the weakest at 72.
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.
Within the 2020-2024 generation, 2021 Grand Design Imagine scores best at 67 and 2022 Grand Design Imagine worst at 72.
What this page cannot tell you
18 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 18 reports, 5 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 28% 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 Grand Design Imagine?
The most-reported failures are tire blowout or tread separation (6 reports, median 5,000 miles), other body or interior problem (5 reports) and other suspension problem (2 reports, median 700 miles). 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 Grand Design Imagine reliable?
It scores 71 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 194th 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.
Which year of the Grand Design Imagine is best?
Within the 2020–2024 generation, 2021 scores best at 67 out of 100 and 2022 worst at 72. Same body, same engines, different luck.
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