Rivian’s Stance on Third-Party Accessories: What You Need to Know Before Your Next Service Appointment

Many Rivian owners have expressed frustration with Rivian regarding getting their vehicles serviced while having third-party modifications or accessories. Rivian Clubs of America (RCA) recently reached out to Rivian to get clarification and an understanding of how Rivian wants to handle third-party accessories, specifically Rivian’s stance on Rock Sliders and Running Boards.

In an email reply to RCA, Rivian said “We have specific service procedures that our technicians are required to follow and when a Rivian owner adds third-party accessories or modifies their vehicle, this may require additional work for us to complete those same service procedures safely.”

Rivian goes on to say “We haven’t tested the efficacy of third-party jack points, so we can’t advise our technicians to use them as substitutes”. Many third-party companies that sell rock sliders have advertised the ability to jack the vehicle up using the rock slider but this could still be very dangerous to do.

“When possible, we’re happy to remove bolted-on rock sliders and reinstall them when required to complete a service appointment” Rivian went on to say. Because this requires additional labor, Rivian will charge the owner for the additional time. Alternatively, you can remove the rock sliders before your service appointment to avoid any additional charges.

So next time you have a Rivian service appointment that requires either jacking up the vehicle or access to the high-voltage battery, you may want to consider removing your rock sliders or running boards to avoid additional labor costs.

Another note is that this messaging has not been consistent across all Rivian Service Centers with some locations opting to do work on a Rivian no matter what, while others informing owners that they would not service their vehicle until the third-party accessory had been moved.

What do you think? Would you remove third-party accessories before your next service appointment? Do you think this is the right approach considering Rivian is designed to be an adventure vehicle and owners will modify them? Let us know in the comments below.