Rivian R1S
Reliability, NHTSA Complaints & Recall History

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

Safety Recall

On [XXX], I was driving my Rivian R1S on [XXX] in the far left lane at highway speed on a smooth, straight road when I suddenly and completely lost control of the vehicle without warning. The vehicle swerved right, struck a vehicle in the middle lane, then veered left, spun, and collided head-on with the guardrail on the right side of the road. I was evaluated at the scene by EMT. There were no warning lamps, messages, or any symptoms of any kind prior to the failure. The loss of control was instantaneous and without any prior indication of a problem. Review of video footage captured by the vehicle's own cameras clearly shows the rear driver-side toe link failing and the rear wheel moving in a manner inconsistent with normal operation immediately prior to loss of control. At the scene, the rear driver-side wheel was visibly sitting at an abnormal angle, inconsistent with normal alignment, and the toe link bolt was visibly absent from its mounting location. The vehicle is currently being preserved as evidence and is available for inspection. The mounting location where the toe link bolt should be seated is visible and available for examination. The vehicle has not yet been inspected by Rivian, a dealer, or any independent service center. I am aware that Rivian issued NHTSA recall 26V003 on January 8, 2026, covering 2022-2025 R1T and R1S vehicles for this exact defect — rear toe link joint separation while driving, which increases the risk of a crash without prior warning. Rivian acknowledged awareness of at least one prior crash related to this defect prior to the recall filing. My vehicle has no open recalls on record and I was never notified of recall 26V003 or any related service campaign. This incident resulted in a multi-vehicle accident on a public highway. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Car suddenly lost control, making zig zag movements, none of the safety sensors were working, car went off road and crashed into freeway side fence. Windows airbags deployed on driver window and passenger window behind driver seat

While backing very slowly into a parking space, I lightly contacted small twigs (please see photo) with the vehicle. There was no impact with another vehicle, pole, wall, or solid object, and no significant force was applied. A child seated in the third row mentioned hearing a light scraping sound. Immediately afterward, the rear window suddenly and violently exploded, sending glass shards into the interior of the vehicle. The glass dispersed forward into the cabin, creating a significant safety hazard for the occupants, including children. There was no prior damage to the window, no visible cracks before the incident, and no collision that would reasonably explain the shattering of tempered glass. The explosion appeared spontaneous and disproportionate to the minor contact with twigs. This incident raises serious concerns about rear window glass integrity and the risk of injury to passengers, particularly children seated near the rear of the vehicle.

The contact owns a 2024 Rivian R1S. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the rear windshield shattered without impact. The contact's husband was outside and heard an abnormal cracking sound coming from the vehicle. The contact's husband witnessed the rear windshield shattering and bulging outwards. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the dealer for inspection at the owner's expense. The contact stated that upon investigating the failure, the contact found out that nickel was used in the tempered glass, which weakened the glass. The contact had safety concerns about driving the vehicle. The failure mileage was 43,511.

Vehicle was involved in a rear end collision. Vehicle was setup to have Emergency Braking enabled and used the Rivian High Regen setting (one pedal driving). In freeway traffic, the vehicle in front slowed quickly. The vehicle initiated emergency braking, but when the vehicle in front sped away, the vehicle failed to release emergency braking thus resulting in the car behind hitting my Rivian. There was no vehicle to the right of my car. I should have been able to accelerate out of the way and move to the right. It would appear the Rivian system requires a FULL STOP. I was unable to accelerate to mitigate the rear collision damage. Secondly, the vehicle acted like it did not recognize HIGH REGEN setting as a brake input. I have had multiple time where it flashed at me to brake and the HIGH REGEN setting was stopping the vehicle. This is not acceptable. Rivian was contacted and the vehicle taken for service and repair. I was informed that they reviewed the accident and that all systems checked okay. Rivian noted that I did request acceleration from the car, but I did not hold the accelerator long enough for the vehicle to allow me to regain control. I have asked what the threshold is to regain control and they were unable to answer. Minimally I would hope they can describe how their system has been designed so that I can properly drive their vehicle. Ideally, the system should display emergency information on how to override in the event it forces the car to stop on a freeway. I am sure the Rivian system is smart enough to see that I was on a freeway and I would hope smart enough to detect that I could have safely moved to the right as other cars did to avoid collision. I firmly believe the incident could have been avoided. Vehicle had all cameras enabled and full accident is recorded and available for review. Rivian also collected vehicle diagnostic logs.

clunking/thumping noise coming from front end over speed bumps like something is loose or going to fall apart. have taken car into service few times and was told its normal, its getting worse. Online forum threads have mentioned same issue , I am afraid one of these days something going to snap and cause a breakdown or even worse terrible accident.

Front wheel hub bolts back out on their own. This is a huge safety problem and needs a public recall. It is a known problem. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Rivian has a 'kneel' option that uses the powered air suspension to lower the vehicle to make entry and exiting the vehicle easier for users. Yes, this can be turned off or on. When on, the function stops if a main door (driver/passenger) is open and left open the car will not continue to kneel for safety purposes. However, it does NOT stop if you are using the rear hatch to access anything. The car continues to kneel. I have hit my head multiple times on the rear hatch because I am behind the vehicle and assume a certain amount of head room and the car is still kneeling and I do not realize it and stand up like I was and hit my head. I have notified Rivian and asked for updates. I consider this a critical issue and has caused minor injury or confusion momentarily. I live on a busy street and the last thing I need is to hit my head and be knocked out. I have not heard anything from Rivian on my request and an update came out to 'fix' items but this was not included. I advised if it was not I would file an official complaint to make them take security and safety issues seriously.

The contact owns a 2024 Rivian R1S. The contact stated that while his wife was attempting to park in a parking space, the vehicle unintendedly accelerated. The brake pedal was violently depressed however the vehicle continued to accelerate. No warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle hit a curb in a landscaping zone and crashed into another vehicle. The air bags did not deploy during the incident. No medical attention was provided but the contact and the contact’s daughter suffered minor neck, side, and back pain. The wife also sustained minor unknown injuries, A police report was filed with the Oswego State Department, but the report was not provided. The vehicle was towed to the dealer. The dealer was contacted, and the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was opened. The approximate failure mileage was 5,000.

My vehicle has been a service seven times, each time I have complained about my wife not being recognized by the passenger seat. She weighs 100 pounds, and I’m told that the weight limit is 65. On the latest visit they replaced the passenger seat and told me if it still does it, then it is a design flaw, and I’ll have to deal with it. Don’t find this acceptable as it affects my wife’s safety, and would like the manufacturer to rectify the issues of the airbag will function correctly.

The 15mm nut securing the 2nd row seat track, behind the passenger front seat, was not secure and the seat track moved in all directions by several millimeters. The nut was stripped and could not be tightened. This manufacturing defect was repaired by Rivian. However, given the ongoing quality issues with this Rivian, I would speculate that other safety related defects have yet to be discovered.

Below are the diagnostics that Rivian says happened. I pulled into a parking space and as I placed my foot on the brake the car launched forward. I DID NOT hold both peddles down at the same time. The car malfunctioned and thank god I hit another parked car and not a person. The car has no been in the shop and at Rivian service center for the last 4 months. They are taking no responsibility for the events and are not returning my calls. I have read on many chat boards that this has happened to other drivers and they say it is "user error". a car with this much power should not be accidentally able to be put into launch mode. Vehicle enters a parking lot area at approximately 6:38 PM PST as vehicle speed is reduced and steering is consistent with parking lot maneuvers. Vehicle proceeds to travel at speeds below 15 mph. At approximately 6:40 PM PST the vehicle beings to turn left, then right while traveling at speeds below 7 mph. At this time, the steering wheel is returned to a centered position when the accelerator pedal is depressed to 98% application. Accelerator pedal and brake pedal are depressed simultaneously again as the vehicle comes into contact with another vehicle. Vehicle comes to a complete stop at 6:40:48 PM PST and remains in Drive. Vehicle remains in Drive and does not move for almost 8 minutes until vehicle is shifted into Reverse then Park at approximately 6:48:18 PM PST.

Vehicle stopped working while driving. It completely shut off even though I had 250 miles of range available. It looked up the rear wheels and came to a very harsh stop. It was immobilized and even with a hard reset it didn’t come back to life.

The horn is so quiet that when I was driving on the highway at 65 mph, someone changed lanes without looking. I tried to use the horn, but it was so soft that neither the other driver nor I could hear it, which nearly caused a major accident. I’ve spoken to other owners who have also noticed this issue. This could also be dangerous for pedestrians in case of a wrong crossing, as the horn may not be loud enough to alert them.

In the R1S, there is a crossmember for the 3rd row seating. On low VIN vehicles, there appears to be a trend, including mine personally, that have crossmember bolts that were mis-installed during assembly and have disconnected the threaded inserts from the body and remain unscrewed and loose. This is a primary mounting point used to secure the seating in the vehicle. The service center confirmed that this has occurred and a video was provided to Rivian when requesting repair. (This video is no longer accessible in the app) Rivian's stance is that contrary to online reports of similar issues on low VIN R1S vehicles and mine, this is caused by the end user. Given the number of occurrences, this appears to be a faulty installation issue from unskilled labor.

Passenger airbag sensor does not detect passenger reliably. My 13 year old son and my wife both have issues. They are both over 120 lbs, so I think they should trigger the sensor. I have had it serviced for this issue, but it did not fix the problem. It also will detect a person in the seat during a drive and turn off later in that same trip without stopping the car. It seems to me that the sensor needs to be more sensitive. And, once it detects a person in the seat, it should keep the airbag on until the car is stopped and door opened. My wife does not feel safe in the car as it stands now.

When I am driving, my passenger sometimes does not trigger the airbag to activate. Depending on how they are sitting, many times the passenger airbag is set to "off" because it can not detect a passenger. The Rivian service center has investigated and mentioned there is no problem and that the passenger needs to sit more upright, but this still seems like a safety issue if we are driving and fail to notice that the passenger airbag is not activated

On Monday, December 11, 2023 Myself, my girlfriend, and our two dogs were headed across the I-182 bridge coming out of Pasco, WA to Richland, WA. We were in the far left or center lane (I am not sure which). The highway is three lanes each way. We were at highway speed (the speed limit is 70 mph). About ¾ of the way across the bridge, the vehicle felt like all 4 wheels locked. The vehicle then skidded, turned 90 degree towards the concrete bridge barrier. We struck the bridge barrier nearly head on. The vehicle then rotated off the barrier and landed upright in the far right lane. Airbags fully deployed. There were numerous witnesses who reported seeing what looked like the vehicle’s wheels lock and then the events as described. No other cars were impacted. About 20 minutes prior to the crash I commented that the vehicle alignment was off. I had to keep the wheel at 10:00 or 11:00 for the vehicle to travel straight. I found that odd as the vehicle alignment was fine prior to that. Everyone walked away from the accident although both us were injured.

I purchased a 2025 Rivian R1S Adventure (VIN: [XXX] ) new from Rivian. Since the first week of ownership, the vehicle has exhibited persistent pulling, drifting, and handling instability requiring constant steering correction. I have brought the vehicle to Rivian Tampa for five service visits over five months. The defect has never been resolved. What I am requesting: Rivian's own technicians have twice attributed this vehicle's handling problems to the factory-installed tires, and confirmed via wheel-swap testing that tire pull is the root cause. These are factory-installed tires I did not select or modify. I am requesting: (1) replacement of all four tires with a highway-appropriate set at $0 cost; (2) a four-wheel alignment after installation at $0 cost; and (3) reimbursement of $61.81 charged for a tire rotation that could not address the confirmed defect. Rivian has acknowledged enough of a problem to waive $717 in labor and convert the alignment to warranty — yet refuses to cover the tires that their own technicians confirmed are defective. That is not an acceptable resolution. I have complete documentation including all work orders, invoices, and service records supporting every claim above. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

This complaint is associated with Complaint #11717398. My 3rd windshield has cracked after a tiny 1/8" impact point. The result was spidering all the way around the middle sensor housing area and propagating 6" down. It also spidered to the top of the windshield. This tiny impact shouldn't have caused a huge spidering effect. Whether from incorrect installation, car frame issues or defective windshield quality, this is my third heavily cracked windshield in my first 10 months of vehicle ownership. I'm heavily concerned about the safety issue from seemingly anything that strikes the windshield and the $2400 cost to replace each windshield. Thank you