Freezer vent cover Avalanche 365 MB

[8-ball]

Just wanted to post a little FYI. I just bought my 2017 Avalanche 365MB. On our first maiden voyage we were traveling down the road at about 45 I was merging onto I-65 when I saw the black cover to the freezer fly off into traffic. Of course it got ran over and broke into a million pieces. Then I got looking at the cover to the fridge and noticed it is held in with only 2 little plastic clips. I feel like this could have been prevented with real hardware like bolts and nuts. My dealership is sending me a new cover with no charge so that makes me happy. I had the bug filters put on since I don't want issues with that, so maybe they didn't secure it well after that but either way the plastic clips are not very secure. The new freezer cover when it arrives and the current fridge cover will both be secured with nuts and bolts (screw those little plastic pieces).

[JRTJH]

Dometic has been using "those little plastic clips" for the past 10+ years and there's probably "hundreds of thousands if not millions" of them in use. You're the first person I've heard that has complained that the clips failed. Many of us have had them break, but it's much better that the clip be the "weakest link" and break rather than the permanent part of the vent be damaged. It's a matter of ensuring the "weakest link" is easiest to replace while keeping the entire assembly reliable.

If you do devise a way to adapt "permanent hardware" to replace the current clips, please take pictures and post them for others to see how you've adapted the vent cover.
I'd also speculate that you're right about the vent cover not being properly installed after your dealership added the insect screens. As many vents as are in use (there's two on almost every trailer with the refrigerator installed in a slide), if it were a significant problem, we'd be hearing about it much more than we do.

[chuckster57]

John, you have probably hit the nail on the head. I remove the bottom cover during walk through to familiarize the customer and part of my speech after turning the clips is "give it a tug to make sure it's secure".

Years ago I may have not done the tug test and we had to get a new cover and then color match all 4 colors that went across.

[m&m]

Thanks. Mine were missing on pre inspection and taped. Was an issue but found nothing wrong.

[8-ball]

Thanks for the replys guys. I actually took a good look at the vent covers. I agree its a fault of the bug screens being forced in and not trimmed to the right size making the cover bow out and be wider. Had mine been on the rear it may not have been an issue but since its on the side it caught more wind. I am thinking about getting those screws they put licence plates on with. I will take pics of before and after. Thanks again