Rivian HV Battery Failure

[bfilippo]

Hi Folks,

I hate complaining publicly, and I previously have had many good experiences with Rivian in the two years we’ve owned our vehicles.

Unfortunately, in the spring, our R1S LE had a HV battery failure warning and was towed to the Rivian SC in Hudson NH.

The SC, despite the fact that the vehicle burned my wife’s fingers upon entry as it was over 100F inside, tried to say it was an HVAC issue. They told us it was water ingress and not via normal use.

My wife drives the kids to school in this, we don’t ford water in it. When we bought it 8 months prior, used, we had the Chelsea SC do a comprehensive inspection under the 60k warranty to catch any potential issues, they found none.

I was adamant that there’s no way water got in there from regular use, and pointed out the existing service bulletin for this faulty component in early VIN vehicles, but they ignored me.

When the tow came to bring the truck back to us in Maine, the tow driver noticed a bunch of errors and informed the SC. Unsurprisingly, the HV battery was in fact in need of complete replacement.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who has a Gen1 Quad because they like the 175k mile/8 year battery warranty.

Well, SC claimed it was caused by the known defective part of the hvac water issue and therefore was NOT under the battery warranty. They would goodwill the replacement but still wanted to charge me over $5k for the faulty hvac issue.

I argued, but they towed it back to me without payment as it was in dispute.

Now, the 12V battery has failed as of the other day, and Rivian won’t address it until I pay for this faulty hvac issue, missed by Chelsea, under a known service bulletin.

I’m nervous Rivian is trying to hide HV battery failures, since of course it’s nearly always connected to another failed component because it’s a huge battery truck on wheels!

anyway, I’m very frustrated and needed to vent. I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else, and I still really like driving my R1T, but will likely take up litigation over what is clearly a flawed vehicle with the R1S.

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[Dave Cundiff]

Hi Folks,

I hate complaining publicly, and I previously have had many good experiences with Rivian in the two years we’ve owned our vehicles.

Unfortunately, in the spring, our R1S LE had a HV battery failure warning and was towed to the Rivian SC in Hudson NH.

The SC, despite the fact that the vehicle burned my wife’s fingers upon entry as it was over 100F inside, tried to say it was an HVAC issue. They told us it was water ingress and not via normal use.

My wife drives the kids to school in this, we don’t ford water in it. When we bought it 8 months prior, used, we had the Chelsea SC do a comprehensive inspection under the 60k warranty to catch any potential issues, they found none.

I was adamant that there’s no way water got in there from regular use, and pointed out the existing service bulletin for this faulty component in early VIN vehicles, but they ignored me.

When the tow came to bring the truck back to us in Maine, the tow driver noticed a bunch of errors and informed the SC. Unsurprisingly, the HV battery was in fact in need of complete replacement.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who has a Gen1 Quad because they like the 175k mile/8 year battery warranty.

Well, SC claimed it was caused by the known defective part of the hvac water issue and therefore was NOT under the battery warranty. They would goodwill the replacement but still wanted to charge me over $5k for the faulty hvac issue.

I argued, but they towed it back to me without payment as it was in dispute.

Now, the 12V battery has failed as of the other day, and Rivian won’t address it until I pay for this faulty hvac issue, missed by Chelsea, under a known service bulletin.

I’m nervous Rivian is trying to hide HV battery failures, since of course it’s nearly always connected to another failed component because it’s a huge battery truck on wheels!

anyway, I’m very frustrated and needed to vent. I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else, and I still really like driving my R1T, but will likely take up litigation over what is clearly a flawed vehicle with the R1S.

I haven't seen Rivian's side of the story, @bfilippo, but based on your account it doesn't sound as if Hudson SC is treating you fairly.

If escalating to Rivian management doesn't produce a fair settlement, and if litigation is worth your time, that's what lawyers are for....

Best wishes!

 

[MATTELSEWHERE]

Assuming this is all accurate, you need to file for arbitration at the least. I’d also consider consulting with a lemon law attorney. You may not be able to file for lemon law in your state depending on time and mileage, but arbitration is active as long as you are under warranty.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Service bulletins aren't an extension of warranty. They are internal documents that help clue the tech into what an issue is and how to fix it. My R1T had this HVAC issue a week after I sold it, but the truck was still under warranty, so it cost nothing for them to have it fixed.

This HVAC failure does cause the HV battery to go into a failsalfe state, but it doesn't mean it requires replacement. Rivian just has to reset the codes involved.

 

[Outdoors]

Assuming this is all accurate, you need to file for arbitration at the least. I’d also consider consulting with a lemon law attorney. You may not be able to file for lemon law in your state depending on time and mileage, but arbitration is active as long as you are under warranty.

Just bought a R1S. Can I opt out of arbitration just like people do with Tesla within the first 30 days or something?

 

[TollKeeper]

Just bought a R1S. Can I opt out of arbitration just like people do with Tesla within the first 30 days or something?

Yes you can.... [email protected]
Optout in the subject line and in the body, from the email you bought the Rivian with.

 

[bfilippo]

Service bulletins aren't an extension of warranty. They are internal documents that help clue the tech into what an issue is and how to fix it. My R1T had this HVAC issue a week after I sold it, but the truck was still under warranty, so it cost nothing for them to have it fixed.

This HVAC failure does cause the HV battery to go into a failsalfe state, but it doesn't mean it requires replacement. Rivian just has to reset the codes involved.

unfortunately in this case the HV battery was in fact in need of replacement, and now the 12V battery has failed as well.

 

[Dark-Fx]

unfortunately in this case the HV battery was in fact in need of replacement, and now the 12V battery has failed as well.

You're probably the first person to have all three of those failures simultaneously. I would push back.

 

[bentsauce]

I'm curious if our situation might be related. We have a Gen 1 Dual Performance Standard+ (Large, right?) R1S. It's been in for service officially five times since April 10th (every time they say its fixed, the same day we pick it up we experience the error within a matter of minutes after driving away [DC Fast charging disabled])

The last time (July 15th) we picked it up the day before and ended up completely bricked (Electrical system fault & Critical battery issue) and they had to flatbed it back to the service center. At this point, the identified issue is "high voltage isolation" and apparently its been the problem all along.

During this 4th visit, the service team ended up going beyond the expected set of repairs and replacing everything possible they could. So when the error popped up again 20 min after picking it up this time, the service advisor said he would initiate the paperwork for lemon law arbitration - which surprised me since I wouldn't expect the service center to take on that step themselves.

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