Within the first month of owning my R2, the AC compressor failed while I was in South Florida in 98 degree heat, and this video is the full story of what broke, how Rivian handled it, and whether it could happen to your R2. The short version is that Rivian got me sorted quickly and it cost me nothing, but there is a real wrinkle here that other R2 owners should know about.
Jose CastilloFounder and Editor
Jose Castillo is the founder of RivianTrackr and has owned and driven Rivians since early in the brand's consumer history. He currently drives an R1S and an R2 in Florida and uses Universal Hands-Free every day. As a credentialed Rivian journalist, he has covered the R2 First Drive in Park City and SXSW firsthand and has spoken directly with Rivian's software and autonomy leadership.
You have the right attitude. A mechanical item failing is always a possibility, anyone thinking it can’t happen and gets upset when it does has frustration in their future.
Life is to short, people need to chill and roll with the surprises, it will make them happier in the long run.
I was told I missed you by two hours! I have an R1T currently and went for a R2 demo drive this afternoon. Somehow your name popped up talking with sales and watching videos. LOL, Glad the AC is fixed!
Rivian needs to have tighter monitoring on their component suppliers. I worked for a computer manufacturer in the 1980s that had a sterling reputation for reliability, whereas our competitors with nominally similar architectures were notoriously plagued with unreliable hardware and software. The difference was that not only did we have strong internal QA systems, we also thoroughly vetted our suppliers and their QA processes, thus preventing virtually all hardware and software failures from leaving the factory walls.
I agree with your attitude Jose. Rivian is not perfect but they are a good brand. They are a new company and R2 is a brand new model so we are all early adopters and should expect some issues. The important point is how Rivian handles our issues. That being said, I am really concerned about this issue happening to me with no proactive plan by Rivian to get in front of it. I live in the Southern California desert – 118% yesterday with humidity. I am currently traveling and often 2-3 hours from a service center. Loss of A/C is a life threatening event for me. I would never have started this trip if I had known about your issue without assurance from Rivian that my VIN did not have the suspect part. I do wish Rivian would provide a method for us to check our VIN with them to see if we have a suspect vehicle. Then I could also be proactive and plan my next move accordingly.
Thanks for sharing. While I’m glad it was addressed, I’m very concerned by the number of times you had to use your “special contacts/connections” to have it addressed. Even then it wasn’t smooth.
What does the regular non-reviewer person do when they don’t have a special contact to call on a weekend? What does they do when the next appointment is 4 weeks from now and they’re told to drop it off and it will be looked at in the next few weeks? Or they won’t be given a rental anymore and only uber credits.
I think it’s critical to acknowledge your experience was exceedingly atypical. Even though it was bumpy.
I do admire the way you handled the situation. I try to handle things the same way. However I will mention that I am going through an issue with my R1S at the moment. It became completely inoperable. The car has been in Rivian’s possession now for almost three weeks. They finally believe they have diagnosed the issue (they believe it is the high voltage distribution box). Probably will be another week before I get my car back since they have to order the part and install it. The way I’ve been treated has been great (got me an electric rental, etc) but the process is extremely slow. I want my car back.
Based on this, you have every right to be upset. I’m sorry your experience has been poor and it is unacceptable.
Disappointing to see you censoring my previous message. It give people a view on how Rivian handles normal people. I wasn’t even really critical. For you to remove my message says a lot about RivianTrackr. I expected better Jose.
The one I just approved? I don’t censor anything, I just have to manually approve comments and as you’ll see, it’s there.
That was not what I observed. I can see my message that says “this comment is awaiting moderation.” My message above was completely removed until I made my second comment. Either way. Thanks for all that you do for the community.
I just approved them all, I promise nothing was removed! I want everyone to be critical and honest with me at all times 🙂
I have a gen2 R1s and the AC went out on an 8 hour trip to Vegas in the desert heat. I got warning on the battery and was in the middle of nowhere. I kept driving and the battery errors went away but no AC. I had to drive a total of 10 hours with no AC. Rivian fixed it but was a big hassle and a very uncomfortable drive in my $120K car. A disappointing experience given it was a 1st road trip in the car and now my wife doesn’t want to take it on any more trips
You have the right attitude. A mechanical item failing is always a possibility, anyone thinking it can’t happen and gets upset when it does has frustration in their future.
Life is to short, people need to chill and roll with the surprises, it will make them happier in the long run.
I was told I missed you by two hours! I have an R1T currently and went for a R2 demo drive this afternoon. Somehow your name popped up talking with sales and watching videos. LOL, Glad the AC is fixed!
Rivian needs to have tighter monitoring on their component suppliers. I worked for a computer manufacturer in the 1980s that had a sterling reputation for reliability, whereas our competitors with nominally similar architectures were notoriously plagued with unreliable hardware and software. The difference was that not only did we have strong internal QA systems, we also thoroughly vetted our suppliers and their QA processes, thus preventing virtually all hardware and software failures from leaving the factory walls.
I agree with your attitude Jose. Rivian is not perfect but they are a good brand. They are a new company and R2 is a brand new model so we are all early adopters and should expect some issues. The important point is how Rivian handles our issues. That being said, I am really concerned about this issue happening to me with no proactive plan by Rivian to get in front of it. I live in the Southern California desert – 118% yesterday with humidity. I am currently traveling and often 2-3 hours from a service center. Loss of A/C is a life threatening event for me. I would never have started this trip if I had known about your issue without assurance from Rivian that my VIN did not have the suspect part. I do wish Rivian would provide a method for us to check our VIN with them to see if we have a suspect vehicle. Then I could also be proactive and plan my next move accordingly.
Thanks for sharing. While I’m glad it was addressed, I’m very concerned by the number of times you had to use your “special contacts/connections” to have it addressed. Even then it wasn’t smooth.
What does the regular non-reviewer person do when they don’t have a special contact to call on a weekend? What does they do when the next appointment is 4 weeks from now and they’re told to drop it off and it will be looked at in the next few weeks? Or they won’t be given a rental anymore and only uber credits.
I think it’s critical to acknowledge your experience was exceedingly atypical. Even though it was bumpy.
I do admire the way you handled the situation. I try to handle things the same way. However I will mention that I am going through an issue with my R1S at the moment. It became completely inoperable. The car has been in Rivian’s possession now for almost three weeks. They finally believe they have diagnosed the issue (they believe it is the high voltage distribution box). Probably will be another week before I get my car back since they have to order the part and install it. The way I’ve been treated has been great (got me an electric rental, etc) but the process is extremely slow. I want my car back.
Based on this, you have every right to be upset. I’m sorry your experience has been poor and it is unacceptable.
Disappointing to see you censoring my previous message. It give people a view on how Rivian handles normal people. I wasn’t even really critical. For you to remove my message says a lot about RivianTrackr. I expected better Jose.
The one I just approved? I don’t censor anything, I just have to manually approve comments and as you’ll see, it’s there.
That was not what I observed. I can see my message that says “this comment is awaiting moderation.” My message above was completely removed until I made my second comment. Either way. Thanks for all that you do for the community.
I just approved them all, I promise nothing was removed! I want everyone to be critical and honest with me at all times 🙂
I have a gen2 R1s and the AC went out on an 8 hour trip to Vegas in the desert heat. I got warning on the battery and was in the middle of nowhere. I kept driving and the battery errors went away but no AC. I had to drive a total of 10 hours with no AC. Rivian fixed it but was a big hassle and a very uncomfortable drive in my $120K car. A disappointing experience given it was a 1st road trip in the car and now my wife doesn’t want to take it on any more trips