Suburban SDS2 LP Leak Cooktop Owners

[Rossue]

Originally Posted by BobG

rbryan4 - I have reported an appliance to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) when I could get no help from a manufacturer.They ended up sending 100 lb of microwave to me 3 times due to mistakes, the last one overnight air from east coast to west coast plus freight on my original microwave. Lots of expense. This is important to know:
The CPSC contacted me and asked if there were any damages or injuries. When I told them none they told me they could do nothing about it but would keep my report on file.

Reporting a defective product that causes injury or damage does protect people from defective products. CPSC carries a big stick. As you can see, it sometimes doesn't require a recall to get results for your own situation and it can provide future protection for others.

Somehow I believe this may be a better route than NHTSA as it does not involve a Ford Fusion or Chevy Cobalt, etc.

[Brian B-P]

For U.S. residents NHTSA is a logical agency to handle this sort of issue, because the appliance with the problem is in a (recreational) vehicle, and the vehicle manufacturer supplied and installed the appliance and has contact information for most owners. For the purposes of an issue like this, there's not much (if any) difference between types of vehicles.

CPSC is also a logical agency, since the appliance with the problem is a consumer product, they might be able to influence the appliance manufacturer, and there's a remote chance that an owner would check with CPSC for potential recalls and issues.

I can't think of any reason not to use both agencies.

[Iowa Dave]

We do not have the stove involved in this discussion. Like many on this forum we have camped for 50 years and better.

For years we saw families enjoying the game of Lawn Darts or Jarts. However, they were eventually banned from being sold because of accidents when the thrown darts hit and in some cases killed children. The CPSC was behind this, just as they were behind the cessation of the sale of 3 wheeled ATV’s. So I certainly would think that the CPSC would be a good contact on this cooktop problem.

I could see where second and third owners might be difficult to track down but there’s little doubt in my mind that there are records of the address of the original owners of these trailers equipped with the stove in question.

Legal concerns aside, it would seem to me that contact of the original owner would be a decent thing to do. The previous owners of ETI encouraged, on the forum I believe, secondary owners to contact them as to the fact that they had bought a used Escape. We did this and later received the trailer frame repair kit and the solar panel repair kit. For the frame repair, once repaired, we were generously repayed for our cost. The solar panel, we were in Chilliwack and ETI fixed at the factory. Both instances were the mark of a standup company and its owners.
Iowa Dave

[noblets]

How well does the Dometic D21 fit in the SDS2 opening? From the Dometic installation guide, it seems that the D21 hole is smaller that the SDS2's hole by better that 1/4" all around.
TTMartin, I see that you used the D21. How did that work for you? I read your post, but wasn't sure.
Thanks to everybody for all of the information on this thread.

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

This is exactly the right place to post it. And while I agree they need to file a report with the NHTSA, that's little consolation to another owner injured by a stove that they didn't know was a hazard - and ETI could have told them.

Literally, no one else had properly reported the stove issue to the NHTSA prior to my doing so.

The way to get people notified is to have the stoves recalled.

The way to get them recalled is by properly reporting the issue to the NHTSA.

If you had an issue with the stove and didn't properly report it to the NHTSA don't blame Escape.

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

I can't think of any reason not to use both agencies.

Except people hadn't even bothered to use one (NHTS) and you expect them to use two?

Even the people who posted about their stoves causing an explosion hadn't bothered to file a vehicle safety defect report with the NHTSA.

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

The starting point is https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls

It starts with a VIN search, but if you click the "Vehicle" tab you get a big search box for "Year Make Model", and partial searches work so just "Escape" will get you everything by ETI... plus various models from Ford, Damon, and KZ. The ETI trailers are all on pages 8 and 10 (of 10 pages total), because they all start with the year are are from 2019 and 2020 model years. It looks at a glance like there are several recalls, but they're all for the same "Window Adhesive Failure". The complaints associated with Escapes are:

• solar panel detaching on a 2019 21C (ID: 11431665), and
• propane odor in a 2020 Escape (ID: 11442118)

Note that recalls, investigations, complaints, and manufacturer communications are all shown in the table, separately linked, but once you are looking at any of those categories you can change to the other categories without going back to the search result table.

If you click "Equipment" instead of "Vehicle" you can search for "Suburban"; there are no matches for "SDS", because in the one complaint which I could find (ID: 11442118), the stove model is given as "SDN2H".

The Suburban stove complaint report (ID: 11442118) is for a 2020 on November 8, 2021 in Oberlin, OH with a propane leak. It mentions the stove and associates with the Suburban SDN2H (not the SDS2, which is a different model) but does not indicate that any defect was found; it also notes no fire and no injuries. The trailer model is not listed, but the VIN 2e9tf6b27lc**** (2E9TF6B27LCnnnn) corresponds to a 2020 19'.

The recalls page also includes (for every type of search other than VIN) "Also search by NHTSA ID or complaints by keyword" links, so for instance you can search for the window adhesive failure reall with "21V666000" or the stove gas leak with "11442118", once you find that ID.


To report a problem (register a complaint) the "REPORT A SAFETY PROBLEM" box at the top right corner of the page (at least in the regular version of the page - I haven't checked the mobile version) brings up a submission form.

That Oberlin Ohio report was mine.

The SDN2H is what is listed as the model on the sticker of mySDS2 stovetop.

Edit: Assuming the data you listed was current as of the date of your post, another month has gone by and no one else has filed a proper complaint with the NHTSA.
SMH

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by noblets

How well does the Dometic D21 fit in the SDS2 opening? From the Dometic installation guide, it seems that the D21 hole is smaller that the SDS2's hole by better that 1/4" all around.
TTMartin, I see that you used the D21. How did that work for you? I read your post, but wasn't sure.
Thanks to everybody for all of the information on this thread.

The Dometic takes a rectangular opening and is supported by metal corner supports that go in the corners of the rectangle.

The Suburban fits in oval opening. So the corners of the oval have to be cut out to form a rectangle. Those corners can / should be cut to the exact size specified by Dometic. The extra quarter to half inch parts of the oval fall under the lip of the cooktop.

No filler pieces are needed and the stove sits firmly on its corner metal supports.

The only issue is the two hold down screws on the left and right side of the cooktop fall right at the edge of the oval cutout. I used part of the Suburban plastic mounts and screwed them up into the countertop from underneath, and then clearanced the screw path so the top screws into the plastic mount and not the counter top

[Bobbie54]

Originally Posted by TTMartin

That Oberlin Ohio report was mine.

The SDN2H is what is listed as the model on the sticker of mySDS2 stovetop.

Edit: Assuming the data you listed was current as of the date of your post, another month has gone by and no one else has filed a proper complaint with the NHTSA.
SMH

I haven't- but I have only a broken part to report. No smell as I did not turn it on, no fire, no explosion. I don't believe it would do any good to say I took it apart and found a broken tube. The people with damages need to be reporting.

[Bobbie54]

Originally Posted by noblets

How well does the Dometic D21 fit in the SDS2 opening? From the Dometic installation guide, it seems that the D21 hole is smaller that the SDS2's hole by better that 1/4" all around.
TTMartin, I see that you used the D21. How did that work for you? I read your post, but wasn't sure.
Thanks to everybody for all of the information on this thread.

I don't see a lid for the D21- is there one? Has anyone self-installed it in the 17b?

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Bobbie54

I haven't- but I have only a broken part to report. No smell as I did not turn it on, no fire, no explosion. I don't believe it would do any good to say I took it apart and found a broken tube. The people with damages need to be reporting.

Was that broken part a 'safety issue' if you had used the stove with the broken part?

If so report it as a safety issue to the NHTSA.

And YES it will do some good. As of right now the depth of the problem is not known by the NHTSA.

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Bobbie54

I don't see a lid for the D21- is there one? Has anyone self-installed it in the 17b?

The Dometic has the same style black glass lid as the Suburban.

See photos of the Dometic installed in place of the Suburban in my Escape 19 in Post #104

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by TTMartin

Except people hadn't even bothered to use one (NHTS) and you expect them to use two?

Even the people who posted about their stoves causing an explosion hadn't bothered to file a vehicle safety defect report with the NHTSA.

No, I don't expect people who didn't report to one agency to use two. I just wouldn't discourage someone considering reporting to both agencies from going ahead and reporting to both.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Bobbie54

I haven't- but I have only a broken part to report. No smell as I did not turn it on, no fire, no explosion. I don't believe it would do any good to say I took it apart and found a broken tube.

I think it would, since the broken tube is a failure which creates a dangerous situation. You don't need to have an incident causing injury or property damage to have a valid complaint.

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Bobbie54

I don't see a lid for the D21- is there one? Has anyone self-installed it in the 17b?

Here is the Dometic factory installed in a 17B.



Photo from Evan Wert on Facebook

[Eggscape]

Nice…just like it was made for it.

[2Travelers]

Originally Posted by TTMartin

The new Dometic cooktop is more square than the previous Suburban cooktop.

At least in my trailer the rounded part in the middle was about a 1/2" wider (side to side) and 1/2" deeper (front to back) than specified for the Dometic cooktop.

The corners of the opening needed to be cut out to accommodate the Dometic cooktop.

The Dometic cooktops uses 4 metal corner reinforcements to seat it. These fit perfectly as they were in the areas I had to cut out to square it. I cut those areas to the exact size specified by Dometic.

The only issue I had was the two screws that hold it down were half in the wider area side to side.

I used part of the Suburban cooktop' plastic corner mounts and used that to screw up into the counter top from the bottom, and then receive the screws from the Dometic cooktop.

Attachment 60125

Attachment 60126

The new Dometic stove top is a much nicer unit over all.

Thank you TTMartin. This is very helpful information as I puzzle over my longer-term options for what to do about this stove. I've added the lock washers and loctite and re-tightened the nuts but consider this a short-term solution. As I go into this coming camping season I will get a propane detector and check for leaks daily but that is going to get old quickly and I will be looking to swap it out for something safer and less threatening. The Dometic seems like a workable alternative that fits within my abilities.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Dave Walter

I am sure that most of you have seen this but if not, there is a recall notice on the Escape website with a reference to NHTSA Recall #20E071. https://escapetrailer.com/recalls/

But that is for Dometic ovens with 3 burner cooktop not the exploding Suburban SDS2 that is the subject of this thread.

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

But that is for Dometic ovens with 3 burner cooktop not the exploding Suburban SDS2 that is the subject of this thread.

your correct. my mistake.

[noblets]

I finished the Dometic D21 installation, and now have a dead Suburban SDS2 stove to give away: free, just pay the freight. One good tube, good glass, good grates, a bunch of little rubber grommets, etc. If possible, I'd rather send the whole thing, rather than part it out. Send me a personal message?