IH Motorhome Rear Panel Cracks....Again

[nhamps]

I have an IH FL640 which has developed cracks in the rear panel again. The panel has failed 3 times since I bought it in late 2020., and I expressed that it was faulty manufacture each time, however they refused to change the entire panel and insisted that a repair would be adequate.

After speaking to several IH owners of vans with a rear GRP panel, it has become apparent that this is a common fault, and I would guess 4 out of 5 owners seem to have had this issue.

The current failure is adjacent to the corner of the rear window which was repaired, IH stating that it is a different issue, however to me as an engineer it is obviously a failure at the next weakest point.

IH have stated that the van is out of warranty and do not recognise Consumer Rights or Sales of Goods act which state that it should be expected to last at least 6 years.

Has anyone got experience of how I might take this forward please as I would expect this to be a repair reaching into 4 figures, for which IH are knowingly producing panels with inherent design faults, while also ignoring my rights for repair, refund or replacement.

All useful comments welcome.

 

[Nanniemate]

Some photos may help.

You could try steading standards as a first point of call.

Do you have direct contact with other who have issues or is it 'hearsay'

There's always BBC watchdog or similar especially if a few of you get together and make a united approach

Mine is 2006 with solid back and it seems sturdy and until now would have gone for another one if I changed it

 

[Terry]

I believe IH buy the panels in. I have a mate who used to work for IH and left starting converting himself. He got the people who made the back panel for IH to make him a couple of back panels but at the time they wouldn’t give him exact copies of the IH panel so he had to pay £1500 for his own panel mould - He always thought it was the same as IH but it’s now his As far as I know he still uses them on his own builds.

 

[Riverbankannie]

I am on the FB IH owners group and there are a couple of people who had cracks around where the rear barn door hinges used to be.
Might be worth you joining the group if you want to contact them however I think they were just getting the repairs done themselves.

 

[Fragle]

Bugger.
Just checking around our van and noticed this around the door. I wonder what they will say.

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[Dutch 68]

I have an IH FL640 which has developed cracks in the rear panel again. The panel has failed 3 times since I bought it in late 2020., and I expressed that it was faulty manufacture each time, however they refused to change the entire panel and insisted that a repair would be adequate.

After speaking to several IH owners of vans with a rear GRP panel, it has become apparent that this is a common fault, and I would guess 4 out of 5 owners seem to have had this issue.

The current failure is adjacent to the corner of the rear window which was repaired, IH stating that it is a different issue, however to me as an engineer it is obviously a failure at the next weakest point.

IH have stated that the van is out of warranty and do not recognise Consumer Rights or Sales of Goods act which state that it should be expected to last at least 6 years.

Has anyone got experience of how I might take this forward please as I would expect this to be a repair reaching into 4 figures, for which IH are knowingly producing panels with inherent design faults, while also ignoring my rights for repair, refund or replacement.

All useful comments welcome.

That’s really bad form from a so called quality manufacturer

 

[Flairy]

I’m very surprised I met them when they started and they were very much for quality and exceptional customer service,I think they need a reminder.

 

[Fragle]

That’s really bad form from a so called quality manufacturer

I really am concerned about making a comment on this

 

[Terry]

I really am concerned about making a comment on this

Why? If you’re vans under warranty then they should rectify it. If it’s out of warranty then people need to know about things that go wrong so that to me comes under informed choice. Get IHs response and report back
IH were a good converter be nice to see they still are.