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Safety and Comfort Suggestions

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MapNerd

RVF 1K Club
Joined
Nov 17, 2019
Messages
2,298
Location
Prince William, VA
RV Year
2020
RV Make
Newmar
RV Model
Ventana 4326
RV Length
43
TOW/TOAD
2020 Ford F-150
Fulltimer
Yes
Safety
- Integrated TPMS across all lines as a standard. Bonus pointif 4 extra sensors included to also monitor a tow vehicle. This is 100% a safety issue.
- Include a rubber block for diesel park brakes to block brake release and prevent it from being released by accident when engine is off. An alternative to this might also be a pull-and-turn version of the diesel brake where when you pull the brake to set it, you also turn it 1/4 turn clockwise to lock it. To release, pull, turn 1/4 counter-clockwise and push in.
- Clear acrylic cover over jack control pad to prevent pets/kids from accidentally setting it off.
- Self-weighing capability - Integrate these or something like them into the unit. It would be awesome for the operator to be able to look at a gauge and know all of my weights, including four corner weight at any time. +10 points if you can throw flags when overweight, or combine that with a TPMS reading and tell me if my pressure is high/low and what it should be at according to user-programmable tire chart.
- HID Headlights with cornering on all models: These things (Newmar’s) ain't cheap. They should have good headlights. If you can use Dodge Durango headlights on my unit and charger headlights on Dutchstars, you can at least get the HID versions.
- Docking lights standard: Every RV made should be required to have docking lights. It's just safety.
- Integrate seatbelts into the seats themselves: Don't attach them to the wall. My seat is bolted to the chassis. My wall is held up by aluminum studs. I trust my seat to keep me in my rig a lot more than I trust my sidewall.
- Stop blocking the emergency egress in the rear with the toilet. The DSDP 4081 and 4020 rear bath layouts are the only layouts that doesn't do this.
- Integrated dash cam with side cams and rear cam all feeding into a central DVR, accessible by a smartphone, tablet or computer via in-coach wifi.
- Give passenger popup screen on right side under window to monitor cameras, control music and otherwise be a good co-pilot.
- Wireless interconnected smoke alarms in basement, house and generator area. If one goes off, they should all go off.
- Option to make bunk windows egress windows with toss down rope ladders tucked underneath mattress.
- Option for fire suppression system in engine area.
- Make a battery cutoff switch standard across all lines.
- All coaches should come with three fire extinguishers. One in front, one located mid-way, one in the rear.
- Power windows for driver and front-passenger chair. Mine is manual, I think this is an option or maybe standard on 2020 DSDP+, but honestly a power window? C'mon. This is easy and super convenient.

Comfort/Convenience
- Modern infotainment systems. No quarter-million dollar+ coach should come with infotainment from the late 1990's. Minimum 8" screens but honestly, the larger the better. Anything with CarPlay, AndroidAuto or Android Automotive would be fine for most.
- Include a 16' telescoping ladder with coach or give us some sort of way of getting up on the roof. An access hatch from inside the coach, maybe through the top of the rear closet could be neat but I'm just spitballing. Give me a way to get on the roof is all.
- Include a Generator Hours display inside coach. +10 points if you can integrate it into the display like ComfortDrive is done now.
- Provide an alternative option to the WiFi Ranger. Competition is good everyone! Wineguard RV TOGO maybe? It’s got solid hardware inside and $360/year unlimited data plan. At the very least, do the grunt work of identifying and providing a menu of compatible data plans that will work with it out of the box. Took me over a month to find a data plan that worked with the WiFi Ranger that wasn't priced as though they thought I was Scrooge McDuck.
- Remote Dump Controls - Create options to be able to dump tanks from inside the coach. Extra credit if you allow the tanks to dump automatically at a certain level. In both cases, these mechanisms should be required to be explicitly turned on when hooking up by the operator and should automatically be disabled and gates closed when the RV sewer is no longer hooked up and/or the ignition is on.
- Unused Conduits as Standard - Every unit should have an unused 1" conduit from the overhead driver's cabinet to the roof for the owner to run new wires for various equipment as well as an unused 1" conduit from the roof to the half-bath and down to the basement. This will make it infinitely easier for owners to add things to their units down the line without having to rip things apart and play the lottery with their power drill.
- Soft close overhead cabinets - they slam shut loudly and abruptly. I've pinched my fingers in them a couple times.
- Option for a built-in whole-coach reverse osmosis system with a bypass option for when I trust the source
- Option for a built-in water softener
- Gravity fill for fresh water tank
- Slides should emit an audible warning and stop moving inward if Driver or Passenger Chair are in the way and would be damaged. On models where damage to baggage doors might occur, same if those baggage doors are open. Don't let people break their rigs because of bad design.
- Fix the external Microwave Vent issue in Production. I shouldn't have had to fix that at FPU/CPU. It's an easy fix. Do it in production.
- Make the valances more low profile. Currently, they're built using 1" thickness wood. They don't need to be that thick. You could easily do with 1/2". It's just there to block light creep and make the windows look finished. Secondly, bring them as close to the shade rollers as possible. There is a lot of wasted space in there.
- Option for a four burner induction w/ additional batteries as appropriate: 2 burners isn't always enough for a full-timing family.
- Boondocker's Package: Very robust (almost full roof) solar implementation with a large battery bank, whole-coach reverse osmosis and larger fresh, black and grey water tanks. Maybe even a switch to divert gray through a fine filter and be used in the toilets to stretch the fresh water. IDK if that last part is a good idea or not - gray can be almost as bad as black sometimes.
- Maintenance Free Batteries: No more battery watering. Use AGM, Li-Ion or others battery types as appropriate. At the least, if you're going to install flooded batteries, give us a install a watering system with them. Make glamping as foolproof as possible.
- Option to install Air Boosters so that on-board compressors can be used to fill tires to 125psi in a reasonable amount of time without need for the separate compressor we all carry.
- AirForce 1 prep option for Freightliners: I hear FL won't do an AF1 prep for Newmar. Fine - Newmar, install the coach side AF1 equipment at the factory and hand over the vehicle-side AF1 components at delivery. Or maybe even contract with a local installer to come over to install the vehicle-side pieces as an all-in factory-performed AF1 option.
- Pull down lanyards on manual MCD shades. Simple. Effective. Why do I have to mod this in?
- Heated floors on any model that has tile. I have a Ventana. There’s no technical reason I couldn’t get heated floors under the tile.
- More floor on VTDP and below lines by creating an option to replace carpet with matching laminate in the slides. No heated floor option in the slides, just an alternative to carpet.
- Sealed trash chute: would be great to see a sealed trash chute of some sort so that I could keep my trash bin in the basement and just have a built in hole somewhere with an aluminum swinging or flip lid and my trash drops into the bin located in the basement.
- Leather wrapped dashboard and driver/passenger sidewall armrests - would be a really nice touch that would make things at least "feel" a little more on the level of automative quality.
- Option for RVWhisperer and a Newmar app that lets me control most of my units core operations from an app.
 
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When I'm inside and the door is locked, why doesn't it unlock when I pull the handle up? If the coach was on fire and the cabin filled with smoke, the dog is freaking out and so is my wife, nobody can see and adrenalin is pumping on high, and on top of this, I have to find the lever to unlock the door so we can escape to safety.

Pulling the handle up should (by default) unlock and open the door. You know, so we can survive to buy another one with the Insurance money. . .
 
When I'm inside and the door is locked, why doesn't it unlock when I pull the handle up? If the coach was on fire and the cabin filled with smoke, the dog is freaking out and so is my wife, nobody can see and adrenalin is pumping on high, and on top of this, I have to find the lever to unlock the door so we can escape to safety.

Pulling the handle up should (by default) unlock and open the door. You know, so we can survive to buy another one with the Insurance money. . .
I would say, before you plan to collect on insurance, it would be wise to unlock the door 😉
 

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