The most annoying thing about my R1T so far

[Mysta]

Funny thing is, all of these issues would automatically be resolved if they turned the metal key into a passive key. I can't understand why that key is not passive. But I guess if you don't have a touch capacitive surface then the key would always be pinged so battery on the key would likely run out very quickly.

I just went and disabled the approach feature, and something else occurred to me. You can't leave the car unlocked unless you want it to always be ready to go. Which means it runs all the screens, the HVAC and air suspension is always running if the vehicle is simply unlocked so basically you MUST lock your vehicle because that seems to be the only way to turn all this shit off. I have to agree with Matt Farah's assessment that all EVs should have a ON/OFF button.

A lot of this arises from the idea that EVs should innovate everything. I totally disagree with that. I think cars in general have figured out a lot of things over time for good reason. The whole keyless/go situation has been getting ironed out for the past 20+ years. My Gladiator does an absolutely brilliant job of it including a flawless remote start feature. I think EV companies should only focus on innovating in the areas that are ICE related. And yes, please, innovate the heck out of that. But trying to innovate the way the doors open and close (Model X), and locking, and lighting, is just re-inventing the wheel. Which I'm sure one of the is about to do.

Having the taycan off button is actually kinda annoying. I think the lack of off could work if the software is right

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[7cupholders]

If the phone key works via Bluetooth, can't you simply turn off your phone Bluetooth for now while you're working in your garage 'til Rivian fixes this issue?

So my faraday car cover business may see a boom. If you’d like to invest please send your Rivian to my address.

 

[texasBuzzard]

Interesting thread with some valuable information. Thank you for sharing. I go in and out of my garage 20-30 times a day. I Hope Rivian can fix this. Hope you can turn off the phone-as-a-key thing without shutting off Bluetooth.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

2. Turn off bluetooth at night.

I think you’d want to turn off Bluetooth on your phone

These are not practical solutions, imo. Bluetooth has many uses, and turning it off may cause many inconveniences. For example, smart watches typically rely on a bluetooth tether for data.

even if you didn’t care about losing Bluetooth functionality, it’s crazy that we would have to manually turn it on/off when every other manufacturer figured out great-working active fobs a quarter century ago.

 

[crashmtb]

It would be nice if the keyfob had passive access, but it doesn’t appear they
have the hardware in place for that(regular proximity sensors like on most other cars). Using Bluetooth for phone as a key and NFC (or maybe RFID?) for the key card and wristband.

 

[SoCal Rob]

These are not practical solutions, imo. Bluetooth has many uses, and turning it off may cause many inconveniences. For example, smart watches typically rely on a bluetooth tether for data.

even if you didn’t care about losing Bluetooth functionality, it’s crazy that we would have to manually turn it on/off when every other manufacturer figured out great-working active fobs a quarter century ago.

I proposed the solution of turning off Bluetooth and using the wristband for this scenario, specifically:
ksujeff99 said:

• If I park at the trailhead and go for a run, leaving my phone and wallet inside the truck, how do I lock the truck when I walk away? Is the truck smart enough to realize it's locked with the phone proximity key inside?

I’m only addressing the use case, which I’m assuming is rare, where someone wants to leave their phone and wallet in the locked vehicle while they engage in some activity where they don’t want their phone. I think turning off Bluetooth, placing the phone and wallet in the center console (which locks), and then using the Rivian wrist band to lock and unlock the vehicle is a totally reasonable solution when the intent is to leave the phone in the vehicle.

Hopefully you understand why this is a reasonable and practical solution to the problem presented.

 

[trez63]

Interesting thread with some valuable information. Thank you for sharing. I go in and out of my garage 20-30 times a day. I Hope Rivian can fix this. Hope you can turn off the phone-as-a-key thing without shutting off Bluetooth.

It is very easy to disable this function within the car. But then you’re back to using your key fob and hitting the buttons to do stuff. Basically you lose all hands free functions. That’s what I’m doing now to cope until they have a better fix for this.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

I proposed the solution of turning off Bluetooth and using the wristband for this scenario, specifically:
ksujeff99 said:

• If I park at the trailhead and go for a run, leaving my phone and wallet inside the truck, how do I lock the truck when I walk away? Is the truck smart enough to realize it's locked with the phone proximity key inside?

I’m only addressing the use case, which I’m assuming is rare, where someone wants to leave their phone and wallet in the locked vehicle while they engage in some activity where they don’t want their phone. I think turning off Bluetooth, placing the phone and wallet in the center console (which locks), and then using the Rivian wrist band to lock and unlock the vehicle is a totally reasonable solution when the intent is to leave the phone in the vehicle.

Hopefully you understand why this is a reasonable and practical solution to the problem presented.

Unnecessarily complicated, imo.

I can lock a fob in my Volvo and the car is smart enough to disable that fob until the vehicle is unlocked, again.

These are problems that have already been solved. It’s silly that companies try to re-invent things and just make them worse.

 

[texasBuzzard]

Thanks! Pretty used to that with my suburban. I leave my car unlocked in the garage, hate it when my wife's car locks itself. I won't mind turning that off AT ALL!

Guess when rivian pushes a fix out then can turn it back on. Can't wait to get it. Midnight looks sick. Anyone seen a midnight edition yet?

 

[SRTConvert]

I disabled Phone As A Key for my Lincoln Navigator because the phone would connect with it during the night and drain the truck's battery. The Navigator does not fit in my garage.

On the Tesla, which is in the garage, I select the software setting for "do not lock at home," but if you walk too close with the phone the door handles present. The bluetooth range is pretty short, but it still is annoying. I turn off the auto-present door handles when it becomes too annoying.

Perhaps a setting on the phone could control this - Auto Lock/Unlock OFF, while retaining other phone to Rivian communication.

 

[NooterIA]

Hope they address this soon, like the OP I’m in and out and passing by my garage dozens of times a day. This issue would absolutely drive me nuts. Turning off BT is not a real solution either, that’s just salt on a wound. Look forward to hearing what support comes back with.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Unnecessarily complicated, imo.

I can lock a fob in my Volvo and the car is smart enough to disable that fob until the vehicle is unlocked, again.

These are problems that have already been solved. It’s silly that companies try to re-invent things and just make them worse.

It's a swipe and a tap so not that onerous in my opinion.

Of course I'm also going on the assumption that the poster wanted the extra assurance that the phone is disabled as a key and that this step is required. It may not be since I couldn't see anything in the manual about that and I don't have a Rivian for testing. It may use the same logic as Volvo and others: ignore any keys inside the vehicle if the sport key/activity key/wrist band is used to lock the vehicle.

My Ford allowed me to lock everything, including key fobs, in my car and use a light-up touch-sensitive keypad on the door frame to lock and unlock. From my perspective that's the best solution and anything which requires you to take a piece of hardware along is less than ideal. I don't want to worry about losing or damaging something and then being locked out.

 

[Jafresh]

My living room and kitchen are above my garage. The truck auto unlocks and locks constantly. It is frustrating.
Also my bracelet does not work. I have a service request in for this so hopefully they can address it.

 

[ksujeff99]

My Ford allowed me to lock everything, including key fobs, in my car and use a light-up touch-sensitive keypad on the door frame to lock and unlock. From my perspective that's the best solution and anything which requires you to take a piece of hardware along is less than ideal. I don't want to worry about losing or damaging something and then being locked out.

THIS!!!

Whatever patent Ford has on this feature is a solid advantage for them. I’ve had the door keypad on my last 2 F150s and it’s going to be very difficult to give up.

The Internet can flame me for this one, but I leave my key (it’s a physical key - 2013 model) in my truck 90% of the time and unlock it with the keypad. The wristband will more or less offer the same functionality for me. I guess I’ll wear that full-time? It would be cool to have that functionality built into an Apple Watch band (or hell even work with NFC on the watch itself).

 

[EVnewb]

I’m sure they will get the lock/unlock thing figured out at some point with an update. Like others have agreed here, it’s not a small problem for a group of us. My wife isn’t allowed to take her phone into the building she works in so she has to leave it in her new model Y. She uses the key card to lock and unlock the car without disabling Bluetooth on her phone while it sits in the car. The car also stays locked for me until I walk up and touch the door handle with my phone in my pocket, and locks automatically when I get about fifteen feet away. Works great!

Point is, like CommodoreAmiga said, other companies have had this problem solved for awhile. Rivian just needs to get some feedback and hear about it so they can push an update out… I hope!

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