What breaks most · 2001 to 2025 model years
Forest River Salem problems by year
Owners have filed 97 safety complaints with NHTSA about the Forest River Salem across model years 2001 to 2025. Three years stand out: 2020 for tires complaints, 2022 for equipment and infotainment complaints and 2016 for wheels complaints. The quietest years are 2002, 2010 and 2014.
- Years to check closely: 2020, 2022, 2016
- Fewest complaints: 2002, 2010, 2014
- Complaints on file
- 972001 to 2025, all trims
- Worst year
- 202012 complaints
- Crashes reported
- 08 fires · 2 injuries · 0 deaths
- Typical failure mileage
- 1kMedian where owners gave mileage
- Recall campaigns
- 112Across the years shown
Complaints by model year
Raw filings with NHTSA, not adjusted for how many were sold.
| Model year | Complaints | Crashes | Recalls | Most-reported component |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 0 | 1 | Equipment and infotainment (1) | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | Electrical system (1) | |
| 8 | 0 | 3 | Equipment and infotainment (3) | |
| 3 | 0 | 3 | Tires (1) | |
| 3 | 0 | 3 | Suspension (2) | |
| 1 | 0 | 2 | Electrical system (1) | |
| 2 | 0 | 3 | Suspension (1) | |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | Wheels (1) | |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | Tires (1) | |
| 1 | 0 | 4 | Tires (1) | |
| 8 | 0 | 5 | Body and structure (5) | |
| 9 | 0 | 8 | Unknown or other (4) | |
| 5 | 0 | 9 | Body and structure (3) | |
| 6 | 0 | 9 | Body and structure (2) | |
| 5 | 0 | 11 | Tires (3) | |
| 12 | 0 | 7 | Tires (5) | |
| 4 | 0 | 10 | Unknown or other (1) | |
| 12 | 0 | 7 | Equipment and infotainment (6) | |
| 2 | 0 | 5 | Body and structure (1) | |
| 4 | 0 | 10 | Electrical system (3) | |
| 4 | 0 | 8 | Body and structure (2) |
What fails on the 2020 Forest River Salem
| Component | Share of complaints | Filings | Crashes | Parts for this job |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tires | 42% |
5 | 0 | — |
| Electrical systemAlternators, starters and ignition | 25% |
3 | 0 | Shop all electrical system parts, not filtered to this vehicle |
| Equipment and infotainment | 8% |
1 | 0 | — |
| Latches and locksDoor latches and actuators | 8% |
1 | 0 | Shop all latches and locks parts, not filtered to this vehicle |
| Body and structureDoors, latches and body hardware | 8% |
1 | 0 | Shop all body and structure parts, not filtered to this vehicle |
| Unknown or other | 8% |
1 | 0 | — |
| Wheels | 8% |
1 | 0 | — |
One complaint can name more than one component, so shares add to more than 100%. "Unknown or other" is NHTSA's uncategorized bucket and is shown but never ranked.
In owners' words
Complaint narratives as filed with NHTSA, trimmed for length.
-
Front window just cracked like a flaw in the manufacture process nothing struck it. Axles are really close together like one maybe put on backwards. I have photos but won’t let me upload
How to read this page
Every figure comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's public complaint database, which holds every safety-related defect complaint filed by owners since 1995. We refresh it monthly and count each complaint once per component it names. Data through September 6, 2026.
NHTSA only accepts safety-related complaints. Rattles, paint, infotainment bugs and other annoyances are under-reported here, so this page is a map of what fails in ways owners consider dangerous, not a full reliability score.
Counts are raw. Use the year-over-year shape and the component mix, not the absolute numbers. Where a component maps to parts we stock, the row links to that category filtered to the year you are viewing. Air bag and seat belt complaints link to the recall checker instead, because those repairs are almost always covered.
Common questions
Which Forest River Salem years have the most problems?
By NHTSA complaint volume, 2020, 2022, 2016 carry the most filings on the Forest River Salem. The 2020 alone has 12 complaints, led by tires.
What is the most common Forest River Salem problem?
On the 2020 model year, the most-reported component is tires with 5 complaints. The table above lists the top components for every year.
At what mileage do Forest River Salem problems start?
The median mileage at failure across all Forest River Salem complaints that include mileage is about 1,000 miles. Older model years skew higher; the per-year figure is in the "at a glance" card.
Are these complaints verified?
No. NHTSA publishes complaints as submitted and does not investigate individual filings. Patterns across hundreds of complaints are meaningful; a single one is not.