KZ Escape — 2023 Floorplans, Specs & Weights

01 What KZ publishes for the Escape

K. Z., Inc., of Shipshewana, Indiana, lists 10 Escape travel trailers in its 2023 Escape brochure. KZ prints a dry weight for every one profiled here, and each has a page of its own. It prints a GVWR for every one too. It prints a net carrying capacity for 10; on the 10 that carry both that and a GVWR, the dry weight plus the carrying capacity equals the GVWR exactly on 10. (How the data is verified.)

02 KZ Escape models

KZ Escape · 10 models

Model	Dry weight	Cargo (CCC)	GVWR	Tongue	Length	Sleeps	On this site
Escape E17 HATCH	3,320 lb	680 lb	4,000 lb	550 lb	22'	4	Profiled
Escape E18 HATCH	3,490 lb	730 lb	4,220 lb	560 lb	22'	4	Profiled
Escape E181RB	3,500 lb	500 lb	4,000 lb	560 lb	22' 1"	3	Profiled
Escape E20 HATCH	3,560 lb	840 lb	4,400 lb	540 lb	23' 10"	4	Profiled
Escape E181MK	3,590 lb	670 lb	4,260 lb	520 lb	22' 1"	4	Profiled
Escape E191BHK	3,610 lb	635 lb	4,245 lb	510 lb	22' 1"	5	Profiled
Escape E201TB	3,700 lb	700 lb	4,400 lb	500 lb	23' 9"	3	Profiled
Escape E201BH	3,780 lb	620 lb	4,400 lb	520 lb	23' 9"	5	Profiled
Escape E211RB	4,000 lb	1,000 lb	5,000 lb	440 lb	25' 2"	4	Profiled
Escape E231BH	4,170 lb	830 lb	5,000 lb	510 lb	27' 3"	8	Profiled

Read from KZ’s 2023 Escape brochure, 5 Nov 2026. “Not published” means the maker prints no figure; nothing is filled from another model, year or dealer.

03 Reading KZ’s figures

A maker’s published weight is for a base trailer; options and dealer-installed equipment add weight to any particular unit. The federal weight label inside the trailer carries its own unloaded weight, cargo carrying capacity and GVWR (49 CFR 567 and 571.120): read it on the unit itself before any towing decision.

04 Documents

PDFKZ Escape brochure (2023)kz-rv.com · read 5 Nov 2026

05 Recalls

NHTSA lists 6 recall campaigns affecting this line. The earliest was reported 21 Nov 2017 and the most recent 29 Jun 2022.

Reported	Campaign	Component	What can go wrong
29 Jun 2022	22V462000	Equipment	Overinflated tires can cause a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash.
2 May 2022	22V289000	Equipment	A gas leak in the presence of an ignition source can increase the risk of a fire.
15 Jan 2021	21V013000	Equipment	Being connected to the wrong amperage circuit breaker may not provide adequate circuit protection, increasing the risk of a fire.
22 May 2020	20V296000	Tires	Overinflated tires may affecting vehicle handling, increasing the risk of a crash.
4 Mar 2019	19V165000	Equipment	If the flame becomes inverted, excessive heat buildup may occur, increasing the risk of a burn injury.
21 Nov 2017	17V749000	Equipment	In the event of a fire, if the fire extinguisher does not function properly, it can increase the risk of injury.

Coverage is not complete: this list is a starting point, not a clearance (how it is built), so check a specific VIN at NHTSA before you buy and again before you tow.

This count covers the KZ Escape only, not the Ford Escape or Escape Trailer Industries; campaigns filed only under KZ’s separate Spree Escape series or the Escape Mini are not counted here.

06 Owner-reported problems

A sweep of NHTSA’s complete complaint file — every safety-defect complaint NHTSA has received since 1 January 1995, matched on NHTSA’s own model field under every name this site publishes for the line — found no complaint naming this line. Treat that as no report found, not as a clean record: owners file under whatever name they were sold, and a newer or lower-volume line simply has fewer owners to file.

How this count is drawn. A report is counted here only when NHTSA’s own model field names this line. What the owner typed in the description is never used to attribute a report: our line names are ordinary English words, and an owner writing “imagine my surprise when the axle went” or naming the state of Montana is not reporting a Grand Design Imagine or a Keystone Montana.

Read these as reports, not as findings. Complaints are submitted by owners and NHTSA does not verify them; no complaint here has been confirmed as a defect, and none of them is a recall. The sample is also self-selected — only owners motivated to file appear in it — so a high count tracks how many units a line sold at least as much as how well it was built. Use the pattern, not the total: a component that keeps recurring is worth inspecting on any used unit. File or search complaints at NHTSA.

Related data guides

How these floorplans changed, model year by model year

This summary is built only from the maker records this site holds for the floorplans this page lists (Escape): 38 floorplan-year records covering 10 floorplans and the model years 2017 to 2023. Each floorplan page shows its own record and its earlier-year records in full. A model year with few floorplans here means this site holds few maker records for it, not that few were built; weights are the unloaded (dry) weights each record prints.

Model year	Floorplans recorded	Unloaded weight range	Median
2017	2	3,099 lb–3,760 lb	3,430 lb
2018	2	3,099 lb–3,760 lb	3,430 lb
2019	3	3,099 lb–3,760 lb	3,480 lb
2020	4	3,220 lb–3,890 lb	3,710 lb
2021	8	3,235 lb–4,000 lb	3,545 lb
2022	9	3,260 lb–4,140 lb	3,470 lb
2023	10	3,320 lb–4,170 lb	3,600 lb

Year over year, on the same floorplan codes:

2019 → 2020: of the 3 floorplans recorded in both years, the printed unloaded weight went up on 3, down on 0 and stayed the same on 0 (median change +121 lb).
2020 → 2021: of the 4 floorplans recorded in both years, the printed unloaded weight went up on 3, down on 1 and stayed the same on 0 (median change +15 lb).
2021 → 2022: of the 8 floorplans recorded in both years, the printed unloaded weight went up on 5, down on 2 and stayed the same on 1 (median change +28 lb).
2022 → 2023: of the 9 floorplans recorded in both years, the printed unloaded weight went up on 9, down on 0 and stayed the same on 0 (median change +140 lb).

What reviewers say

Independent reviews of this line, summarised in this site’s own words and linked to the original. Each says whether the reviewer actually towed or inspected the trailer. Reviews are opinions about the year and floorplan they looked at; every figure on this site still comes only from the maker’s own documents.

RV Travel (RVtravel.com) · not stated (2021 per image filenames) E20 Hatch · by Tony Barthel, 2021-01-29

Not a hands-on test: written from the maker’s information and the reviewer’s own research.

Tony Barthel likes the design of the KZ Escape E20 Hatch, seeing its rear hatch and open cargo area as good for bikes and kayaks, with logical storage and no slides for stealth camping. He notes a small fresh tank relative to grey, no bath vent fan, a sink-less dry bath and a propane-only water heater.

Liked

Rear hatch for bikes and kayaks
Light yet carries cargo
Logical storage
No slides

Criticised

Small fresh tank vs grey
No bathroom vent fan
No bathroom sink
Propane-only water heater

Read the review on rvtravel.com

KZ RVEscape Models

KZ Escape at a Glance — MY2023