Forest River Electrical System

Forest River is recalling about 20 vehicles over a problem with the electrical system. A winch that operates unintentionally increases the risk of injury.

Campaign
23V182000
Manufacturer
Forest River, Inc.
Reported
20 March 2023
Vehicles
20
Built between
Not published
Models
3
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
Manufacturer
Owners notified
6 April 2023
Repaired
90%
Unrepaired
0

Does this affect my vehicle?

The manufacturer did not publish a build-date range for this recall, so the model and year list below is the only way to tell whether your vehicle is covered.

  • 2019-2022 Forest River Cargo Mate
  • 2019-2023 Forest River Continental Cargo
  • 2020 Forest River Cross BOW

Repair progress

The manufacturer reports every reachable vehicle in this recall has been repaired, as of Q1 2025.

90% repaired — 18 of 20 reported

Owners not reachable
2

Manufacturers file these figures with NHTSA each quarter. Vehicles the manufacturer could not trace, or that have been scrapped or exported, are counted separately and are not included in the unrepaired figure.

What the defect is

Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2019-2023 Continental Cargo, 2019-2022 Cargo Mate, and 2020 Cross Bow cargo trailers, equipped with certain Warn Winches with a wireless handheld remote. Water may enter the handheld remote control for the winch and cause circuit board corrosion, which can allow the winch to operate unintentionally.

What could happen

A winch that operates unintentionally increases the risk of injury.

What gets fixed

Forest River will work with Warn Industries, Inc. to provide owners instructions on how to inspect the remote for corrosion and disable the wireless function by removing the battery pack from the remote.

Parts involved

  • Warn Winch with RemoteVR EVO 8Warn Winch with Remote

Part numbers are as filed by the manufacturer and are listed for reference. Your dealer will confirm the correct part for your vehicle.

Timeline

  1. Recall reported to NHTSA20 March 2023
  2. Owners notified6 April 2023
  3. Latest repair reportQ1 2025 — 90% repaired

Your rights

A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.

That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 20 March 2023.

To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.

Manufacturer contact

If corrosion or water intrusion is found when removing the battery pack owners should stop using the remote and contact WARN customer service for a replacement remote, free of charge. Once new parts are available, WARN will make a replacement water resistant remote available, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed April 6, 2023. Owners may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-825-8600. Forest River's number for this recall is 51-1608.

Official source

Manufacturer's recall number
51-1608
Recalling manufacturer
Forest River, Inc.
Recall initiated by
MFR

Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Additional notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.nhtsa.gov.

Check your own vehicle

This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.

A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.

Same component

Same brand