Tepui recall question

[killacks]

Does anyone know the details of the Tepui Hybox tent recall?

I was looking for specs to reference, as a couple popped up in local classifieds, and the Tepui/Thule website states a recall for some models. Other than saying it's a safety issue, there are few details offered. I wonder if it's something easily remedied or an issue of greater concern.

 

[Lemsteraak]

The Tepui website is quite explicit. They name the tents and mfg dates and want them back. You are right that they don't describe the defect but reading between the lines it sounds like it may be a mounting issue. They say not to use the affected tents, so it isn't something easily remedied. I think they need to be commended for this action.

 

[killacks]

I wonder if it is something like a not-so-easily avoided user error. Like maybe their instructions were easily misinterpreted and tent owners were widely mounting these tents wrong, causing the problem. I re-read the text on the website and it says something to the effect of... tents came become unattached from the vehicles under certain circumstances.

I'm curious whether the issue is a design or manufacturing flaw, or something that can be DIY-fixed (e.g. add another strap to secure it to crossbars)??

 

[Lemsteraak]

Hard to tell, there is a lot that goes on behind the scene. Small companies can wing it, buy from China, slap on their brand label and good to go.

Yes, you probably can adapt it to make it safer. Problems in design will sometime show much later as customers use the product is ways the designers haven't thought of. An example, lets say you put one of these tents on a trailer, the dynamics are really different from a standard vehicle. Trailers tend not to have shock absorbers so vibrations and impacts will affect the tent and the mounts in strange ways. I've had a tent that was in production 30 years break because it was on a trailer. A couple brackets in a pivot mechanism broke because of constant bending and stress. There was an easy fix in this case.