2025 Forest River Cherokee Travel Trailers Recalled for Hitch Coupler Defect
Forest River is recalling certain 2025 Cherokee travel trailers with incorrect trailer hitch couplers that may fail when overloaded, increasing the risk of crash or injury.
What this means for you
Our assessment, not the agency’s: severity 4/5 (Severe).
The hazard poses a serious risk of illness, injury, or structural failure. Stop using the product immediately and contact the manufacturer for a refund or repair.
Our severity reasoning: This is a structural vehicle defect in a safety-critical component. The hitch couplers have an incorrect load rating that may cause failure, increasing the risk of crash or injury. Although no incidents have been reported, structural defects in trailer hitches present serious safety hazards.
Plain-English summary
Forest River, Inc. is recalling certain 2025 Cherokee travel trailers equipped with Pacific Rim brand trailer hitch couplers that have an incorrect load rating. The same defect affects select 2024 models of Salem, Puma, and Wildwood travel trailers.
The incorrectly-rated couplers may be overloaded, causing the hitch to fail. Hitch failure increases the risk of a crash or injury to occupants and other road users.
Owners of affected trailers have been notified by mail and should contact Forest River Customer Service for free inspection and replacement of the faulty couplers. For Cherokee trailers, call (260) 499-2100; for Salem & Wildwood, call (574) 534-3167; for Puma, call (574) 642-0588. Additional assistance is available through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) or www.safercar.gov.
The recalled product
- Product
- FOREST RIVER SALEM, PUMA, CHEROKEE, WILDWOOD
- Brand
- FOREST RIVER
- Manufacturer
- Forest River, Inc.
- Category
- Vehicle — Trailer Hitch
- Hazard
- Affected units
- 17
Is your product affected?
Check your packaging against the codes below. If any of them match, the product is part of this recall.
Model numbers (4)
- SALEM
- PUMA
- CHEROKEE
- WILDWOOD
Distribution
Distributed nationwide across the United States.
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