Rivian is pulling some early R2s off the road and towing them in for inspection, and from what I’m hearing it comes down to how some battery packs were assembled at the factory.
An owner on r/RivianR2 shared that Rivian service called and told them to stop driving immediately, with a tow already on the way. The rep couldn’t give specifics and said there may not be anything wrong, but corporate wanted the vehicle grounded right away. The owner had about two weeks with their R2 with zero issues, a VIN in the 74XX range built around mid August, and Rivian covered them with Uber credits and a rental. The service request in the Rivian app later listed the reason as a Rivian directive for a high voltage circuit fastener inspection.
That lines up with what a source on the service side told me. They described a run of assembly problems with the R2’s high voltage pack, including packs that weren’t bolted and sealed properly, missing bolts, and fasteners that were under tightened, over tightened, or stripped. In some cases the whole pack has to come out and a replacement gets shipped, and that’s where it gets slow, since new packs are going straight to the production line in Normal and there aren’t many spares to go around.
The good news is that most of these checks are simple. A tech inspects the fasteners and it either passes or fails, and only a fail means digging deeper.
The catch is staffing. My source says most service centers only have one tech fully trained to go deep on an R2 right now, while the others handle minor stuff on the outside, so if your vehicle does need a pack swap don’t expect a quick turnaround.
As an R2 owner myself, I’d rather Rivian ground a vehicle before anything happens when high voltage hardware is involved, even if it’s a hassle. I fully expect this to stay limited to vehicles from a specific stretch of early production, with most owners getting a pass and their R2 back without ever needing a new pack.
If you get a call from Rivian service about your R2, let me know, and as soon as I hear more about which VINs are affected I’ll share it with you all.
Update 9/28 at 2:22PM ET: Rivian has reached out to clarify that as of right now, only 14 R2 vehicles are impacted. I’ll continue to provide updates as I receive them.
I’m picking up my VIN# 7520 on Wednesday. I hope this has been addressed. I’ll be sure to ask. Thanks for keeping us all informed!
Thank you for reporting this and explaining it!!
Yep, received the call on Friday. Wife had vehicle at work and told us to immediately stop driving. Tow truck came and got it and is at the service center with an appointment tomorrow. Took delivery aug 28th with vin 5473. Launch edition performance. Crappy enterprise rental car and no explanation on what was wrong and how long it could be.
Rivian seems really on top of early defects with the R2. I’m impressed. It is shoring up my perception that here is a company run by responsible adults, and makes me glad to have bought one. (87XX VIN, fingers crossed this doesn’t impact me.)
I was told by the service center that they have an extended QC checklist that they’ll be going through when my R2 arrives, so it will take a bit longer than “normal.” I’m all for QC, though. I’d rather wait and have them find issues than have me (or, worse yet, my wife) find them during pickup or on a drive.
This is my R2 unfortunately, and I stopped into the SC to swap out my rental for an R1S Loaner and was told they had escalated to the regional manager who stated “They should receive next steps on Friday”.
I will give kudos to my SC who has done everything that can to minimize the inconvenience this has caused. Prior to this my experience through delivery had also been stellar. However for Rivian corporate and this they simply need to do better. The lack of communication at this stage is unacceptable and really feels like they’re more concerned with legal CYA than providing information on the issue.
I went into purchasing an 1st gen model fully aware i’d likely be dealing with software quirks and other teething issues. However I did not sign up for having my functioning vehicle towed and left in the dark with what amounts to “Deal with it.”