Forest River · NHTSA safety record

2015 Forest River Cardinal

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

Complaints

Crashes

Fires

Injuries

Deaths

Owners of the 2015 Forest River Cardinal have filed 11 safety complaints with NHTSA between May 2015 and September 2017. The most complained-about system is the wheels, named in 6 of them (55%). The typical failure was reported at 6,000 miles, the median across the 9 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

NHTSA has issued 1 recall covering this vehicle.

Recalls (1)

EQUIPMENT:RECREATIONAL VEHICLE/TRAILER

21V523000 · July 9, 2021

The 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.
The risk: Adhesive failure may cause the vent portion of the window to detach, increasing the risk of a crash or injury.
The 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.

Forest River, Inc. · up to 825 vehicles across all model years covered

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 11.

WHEELS 6 55%

STRUCTURE 3 27%

SUSPENSION 3 27%

TIRES 2 18%

UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2 18%

VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 9%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2015 at 7.

2015 to 2017

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER Filed September 29, 2017

8,000 miles

OUR 2015 FOREST RIVER CARDINAL MODEL NO. 3850RL (BOUGHT NEW IN 2015) CAME EQUIPPED WITH GOODYEAR MARATHON TIRES 235/80R16. WITH LESS THAN 10,000 MILES ON THE TIRES, WE EXPERIENCED 3 BLOWOUTS ON ONE TRIP IN 2017. TIRE PRESSURE WAS CHECKED PRIOR TO BEGINNING THE TRIP AND WERE ALL SET AT 80 PSI. THE FIRST FAILURE WE WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO NOTICE THE TIRE HAD LOST AIR WHILE STOPPED AT A REST AREA. THE SECOND THE PASSENGER SIDE FRONT TIRE BLEW OUT WHILE TRAVELING ON THE NY STATE THRUWAY (I90) WITHIN 150 MILES OF THE FIRST FAILURE. THE THIRD HAPPENED A WEEK LATER WHILE TRAVELING ON NY STATE THRUWAY (I87) 180 MILES INTO OUR TRIP. THE FACT THAT WE HAD 3 FAILURES IN ONE TRIP IS HIGHLY SUSPECT. TIRES

NHTSA complaint 11030553, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

WHEELS Filed September 7, 2017

6,000 miles

2015 FOREST RIVER CARDINAL 3 OF THE 4 TIRES HAVE FAILED GOODYEAR MARATHON ONE TIRE HAD ALREADY BEEN REPLACED WHEN I GOT TRAILER THE OTHER 2 BLEW AT HIGHWAY SPEED OF ABOUT 60 MPH I AM SURE THIS HAPPENS MORE THAN IS REPORTED

NHTSA complaint 11022059. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

WHEELS Filed June 30, 2016

3,000 miles

WHILE TRAVELING EAST ON INTERSTATE I80 THE RIGHT REAR TIRE ON MY FIFTH WHEEL BLEW OUT, I CHANGED TIRE AND CONTINUED TO NORTH PLATT NEBRASKA, I PURCHASED A NEW TIRE AND CONTINUED OUR JOURNEY BACK TO PA. I DROVE APPROXIMATELY 50 MILES WHEN BOTH TIRES ON THE LEFT SIDE BLEW OUT AT THE SAME TIME. AFTER ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE CHANGED BOTH TIRES I CONTINUED TO KEARNEY NEBRASKA AND HAD A TIRE SHOP REPLACE THE LAST REMAINING ORIGINAL TIRE ON THE RIG. MY RIG IS A 2015 CARDNIAL WITH GOODYEAR MARATHON ST 235/80R16 TIRES

NHTSA complaint 10881733. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

TIRES Filed May 27, 2016

15,000 miles

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2015 FOREST RIVER CARDINAL EQUIPPED WITH GOODYEAR MARATHON ST TIRES, SIZE: ST235/80R16. WHILE DRIVING 65 MPH, THE REAR DRIVER SIDE TIRE BLEW OUT. THE DEALER REPLACED THE TIRE WITH THE SPARE. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE AND TIRE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 15,000.

NHTSA complaint 10871179. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

TIRES Filed December 21, 2015

3,000 miles

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2015 FOREST RIVER CARDINAL EQUIPPED WITH GOODYEAR MARATHON TIRES, SIZE: ST235/80/R16 (NA). WHILE DRIVING 60 MPH, THE REAR DRIVER SIDE TIRE BLEW OUT AND DAMAGED THE DRIVER SIDE OF THE CAMPER. THE FRONT DRIVER SIDE TIRE HAD BUBBLES. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A PRIVATE MECHANIC WHERE THE TIRES WERE REPLACED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE TIRE AND VEHICLE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 3,000.

NHTSA complaint 10811472. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

WHEELS Filed December 7, 2015

7,500 miles

ON NOV. 30, 2015 WHILE TRAVELING AT 55 MPH AN ORIGINAL PURCHASED, GOODYEAR MARATHON TRAILER TIRE, ST235/80R16, FAILED CATASTROPHICALLY WITH APPROXIMATELY 7500 MILES OF TRAVEL ON THE RV. THE BLOWOUT CAUSED MODERATE DAMAGE TO THE RIGHT WHEEL WELL AREA. ON DEC. 3, 2015 WHILE TRAVELING AT APPROXIMATELY 20 MILES PER HOUR DURING A NORMAL TURN RADIUS, A SECOND ORIGINAL PURCHASE GOODYEAR MARATHON, ST235/80R16 TIRE FAILED CATASTROPHICALLY, CAUSING EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO TH THE LEFT WHEEL WELL AREA ON THE RV, TRAVEL MILEAGE ON THE RV AT THIS TIME WAS APPROXIMATELY 7700 MILES. PREVIOUSLY, IN JUNE 2015, ANOTHER ORIGINAL PURCHASE GOODYEAR MARATHON ST235/80R16 TIRE WAS OBSERVED, WHILE STATIONARY WITH AN

NHTSA complaint 10808694, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other 2015 Forest River models

Shasta 46 Salem 8

Every Forest River on this site — 30 vehicles, 428 recall campaigns and 0 open investigation s.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

Complaints: NHTSA's ODI complaint file , published August 20, 2026. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.
Recalls: NHTSA's recall campaign API , most recent campaign filed August 12, 2026.
Investigations: NHTSA's ODI investigation file , published 2026-08-19.

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by guarledes
Independent developer and analyst