⛔️ Powered Tonneau cover removed from R1T production until further notice on all future deliveries

[Singletracker]

I’m not overly concerned about the tonneau cover elimination/redesign. The thing that got my attention was the elimination of the integrated side rails. I surely hope that Rivian will come up with a design the will allow for the easy attachment of other rack systems, other than the crossbars. Now is the time to do it right!

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[Mcdubjr]

This is really a bummer, I have a max pack R1T on order as well. Hopefully powered cover is back by then as it's important to me.

 

[Tahoe Man]

I’ve got to wonder if it would have been better to delay the IPO 6-8 months to allow Rivian to work out some of the engineering/production issues before they had to continually chase Wall Street production expectations? If they did time the IPO correctly, then the benefits of that decision should have been tempered with knowledge that lots of service calls on early production models would partially offset that benefit.

I‘ve got to believe they knew this day was coming and it was a deliberate decision from first customer delivery days.

They do the IPO when the mania is in full blossom, regardless of anything else. It worked...people bidded it up on the secondary market, until it crashed.

 

[RIVDOC]

Well, removing the cover makes sense if it lets produce another 500 trucks per week….

 

[ads75]

Well, removing the cover makes sense if it lets produce another 500 trucks per week….

500 less service visits per week…

 

[IdahoNativeNate]

This is really a bummer, I have a max pack R1T on order as well. Hopefully powered cover is back by then as it's important to me.

Agree...

if auto Tonneau isn't back by the time the max pack starts shipping... pretty sure this will be the end of my Rivian journey. They just can't check the key boxes (protection of goods, battery range and charging speed, and performance) and the constant churn is a sign of a company that can't define themselves and stick to a specification.

 

[swhme]

They’ll be giving us all brand new trucks that fit around the redesigned tonneau cover container

I wouldn't be surprised if they end up having to replace a significant portion of the bed... My guess is they realized that this retrofit is going to cost many thousands per truck, and that's why they stopped shipping trucks with the old one.

 

[QGessner]

IDGAF about the price going up, or features being removed. Whatever nothing that couldn’t be lived with.

it’s the way those things have been handled that is the issue.


telling Rivian they’ve shit the bed in a big way is in fact giving them “the support they need”.

So you already have yours and don't care about others getting screwed by the decisions of Rivian management. Nice.

 

[cohall]

So you already have yours and don't care about others getting screwed by the decisions of Rivian management. Nice.

@crashmtb certainly does not already have his truck.

Poor bastard is in Canada AND has the Max pack. He’s eternally screwed.

 

[QGessner]

Guys Guys, stop complaining for every single thing !!! we all knew this is a brand new vehicle, designed by a 35 year old guy that never designed a car, leave alone an electric pickup..... So we are going to have issues, deal with them and in the meantime enjoy what the truck has to offer and remember, there is none, zero, cars like this in the market.

One more thing, I hear a lot of people crying about "PRE" March pricing.... I want my pre march prices on the tonneau, the gear camping, bla bla bla...... Listen, the world has changed, is not the same world of 2 years ago, we are in a complete different escenario, If we don't pay the current market prices we are going to bankrupt the company and then what ? get a cybertruck ? a Lighthing ? FUCK NO ! I LOVE MY RIVIAN, Lets give Rivian the support they need.

So you already have yours and don't care about others getting screwed by the decisions of Rivian management. Nice.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

​ ​ ​ Hi Adam,​ We recently shared with R1T owners that we are upgrading the powered tonneau cover. As we go through the process, we are removing the powered tonneau cover from production. We plan to re-introduce this feature later, but a date has not been set. For the foreseeable future, all R1Ts will come with either a manual tonneau cover or no tonneau cover. It's kind of a cowardly way to write that your current generation tonneau is a failure. You aren't upgrading it, unless you mean upgrading it to one that actually works without a gallon of dry lube and a séance to get right with your ancestors every time you press the button on the thing. People don't like when you avoid responsibility for a screwup. This avoidance sets the tone for people to be pissed off right off the bat. Instead he should have acknowledged that the current generation tonneau has a higher than acceptable failure rate and they are working on a redesign. Since you have selected a powered tonneau cover, your configuration will need to be updated to either a manual tonneau cover or no tonneau cover. It’s important to note this choice will not impact your delivery timing estimate coming later this month. Again this kind of reads like a "tough shit" sort of paragraph. It's somewhat antagonistic and really has a "take it or leave it" vibe. That's not what you want when you're the one who screwed up. A "we're sorry to inform you that since you've selected a powered tonneau you will need to select either a manual tonneau or no tonneau cover at all in order to take delivery of your R1 product." would have been a much nicer way to say the same thing. Our manual tonneau cover is comprised of four interlocking panels constructed of a durable aluminum composite that slide in and out of the bed’s integrated siderails. When not in use, the panels store in a cargo bag and fit easily in the Gear Tunnel. The manual tonneau cover is fully lockable and offers protection against light weather. If you are taking delivery soon, your panels will ship later. Our current estimate is early 2023. Photos and a full demonstration of the manual tonneau cover will be shared before then. I don't really get why they STILL don't have a picture of the manual tonneau. They've been promising this since the beginning, wasn't someone working on this thing already? Surely they have the design finalized already, if not early 2023 my ass. If you choose no tonneau cover, vehicles delivered in the next few months will include the integrated siderails in the bed. In early 2023, we will transition to a design without the integrated siderails. It’s worth noting that when driving an R1T with no tonneau cover, there is little to no impact on range when the bed is empty. Why are you taking away the side rails? Will the new tonneau not use them? If that's the case say so. Also what's missing here is any information as to whether or not a powered tonneau can be added in the aftermarket. They are going to have to fix the ones they have already installed so they can't simply just ignore this problem. If they are making one, why isn't that being offered as a retrofit in the gear shop? What they could have done is pulled the tonneau in the first thousand or so trucks, then they could have forgotten about it. All they would have had to do is offer the first thousand people the option for a refund on their current tonneau, a 1500 dollar credit, or to buy back the trucks. That ship has sailed though, they aren't going to offer that to 13K people they can't. And they can't just refund the money for everyone because they sold a product they knowingly couldn't deliver and that's legal culpability. They are on the hook if they go this route because that can constitute fraud which would render any contract to purchase you signed agreeing to arbitration voided. So with that said we know they need to fix it. If they need to fix it anyways why not offer it to the aftermarket. Maybe people want the tonneau, let them pay for it later. If they added something to the end of the email saying "Our intention is to offer a retrofit through our gear shop at a later date for all trucks purchased sans tonneau. We cannot provide any additional details on pricing or availability yet as the redesign and implementation has not been finalized. We will continue to provide updates as the situation progresses." You still didn't provide any real answer that it's clear you don't have at this time, but you saved a lot of people from being pissed off by acknowledging the most obvious questions. The way this reads I agree with another poster who said that it seems like Rivian just wants to pretend this never happened. They can't, they have 13K trucks with something broken from the factory. It can be proven they knew about it long ago and that it's been an ongoing issue. They have to fix it, and if they have to fix it why not be proactive. You aren't promising anyone anything by saying you INTEND to offer it as a retrofit but you're unable to give specifics at this time. You ARE calming people down however. ​

​ ​ ​ If you have any questions on this update, our team is here to help. Please don’t hesitate to reach out. Tony Caravano Head of Rivian Customer Engagement​

See replies in bold.

 

[crashmtb]

[

So you already have yours and don't care about others getting screwed by the decisions of Rivian management. Nice.

I live in the middle of canada, where regulatory approval was only received last month and there are zero operational service centres, my preorder is for a max pack R1T. Do you think I have a Rivian?


as I said the price increase/change in availability of accessories itself didn’t matter. There are reasons for it. I get that.. It’s the way it all was handled.


It’s a $150k toy, ultimately. I don’t need it, especially if Rivian is going to keep seeing how much they can erode customer goodwill.

 

[goldburger]

So I really hate the manual design. Anyone know of a generic rolling cover? The cross bar mounts on top of the bed seem really poorly placed if you have no interest in adding the bed rails. Bad location for tie downs, and prevents adding a rolling cover (I think, not sure how they install, actually) or shell in the future. Ugh it’s really dumb they even sold truck with it seriously did they test it at all? Ugh. I liked the powered tonneau feature a lot… more so than the yellow on the floor mats

 

[Jac]

See replies in bold.

You had me at the “séance” comment, but the core issue is this point you made : “You still didn't provide any real answer that it's clear you don't have at this time, but you saved a lot of people from being pissed off by acknowledging the most obvious questions.”

Bingo.

 

[NooterIA]

I wouldn't be surprised if they end up having to replace a significant portion of the bed...

agreed, this is going to have to be more that just another motor. Mines got jammed so many times the black plastic liner in side each rail is peeled off and crinkled up in a pile half way through, I’ve got three panels sitting on the garage shelf and another two of the panels still jammed in there have broken pieces of plastic on each end and scratched/warped panels. Everyone I show loves the truck, but the mess of a tonneau cover is rather embarrassing considering we dropped $80k.

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