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

[Prime]

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.

I get that but imagine taking out 4 panels one by one manually then stuffing them clumsily into some sort of carrying case before having to carry them into the gear tunnel. Not very elegant either.. I actually switched orders from suv to truck thinking I would get it earlier, but definitely considering going back to the suv. What was super “cool” was you could also check if the tonneau was open or closed from the infotainment system or even open or close it from there. None of that going be the case anymore.

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[zipzag]

I get that but imagine taking out 4 panels one by one manually then stuffing them clumsily into some sort of carrying case before having to carry them into the gear tunnel. Not very elegant either.. I actually switched orders from suv to truck thinking I would get it earlier, but definitely considering going back to the suv. What was super “cool” was you could also check if the tonneau was open or closed from the infotainment system or even open or close it from there. None of that gonna be the case anymore.

I'm semi OK with the manual tonneau. But paying $800 for 4x$20 panels that I didn't want is sad. $1500 for an automatic Tonneau is fine.

 

[Wentworth]

Please google these products for yourselves. $800 for a hard tonneau cover is a bargain. The powered ones run close to $3K. Aftermarket. Now go and find a powered cover in a parking lot. My sample size is #LOLMinnesota, but you don’t see truck people buying powered tonneau covers around here.
The idea is lovely, the execution is lacking. Just like J.G. Wentworth says, “It’s your money, spend it when you want!” But please be an informed consumer.


I get the impression that so so so many people who are upset/frustrated/worried about “omg where will I put the panelz?!?” are first time truck buyers. You won’t have a problem stowing your panels. I’m hoping someone sees this that I talk off a ledge. If this is your first truck, welcome to the club! You’ll wonder how you lived without one for so long. Enjoy having a bed to toss stuff in.

 

[zipzag]

Please google these products for yourselves. $800 for a hard tonneau cover is a bargain.

Doesn't change the fact that Rivian is paying less than $20 per panel and charging $800 for a product I don't want.

A traditional American truck maker charges $500 for fancy paint. Porsche charges $5000 for a fancy paint. Rivians market cap is an absurd $30 billion. Porsche's market cap is $9 billion and they make 70,000 cars a year.

So what is Rivian? A boutique auto maker? Or a future high volume auto maker.

Currently they decided to price like a boutique auto maker because they are unprofitable and can get away with high markups do to high demand. I don't have to like being forced into a choice because they can't make the product they offered.

 

[WylieD]

In what universe is designing and manufacturing power tonneaus part of Rivian's core business?

This entire screwup is an unforced error, and regardless of how Rivian (mis)communicated the news, it would have been a hot mess.

Rivian should have provided necessary specs to the several successful power tonneau manufacturers and let them do the development and manufacturing. Rivian needs to be intensely focused on doing only those things necessary to creating a successful "adventure" EV company. Power tonneaus is definitely not one of those things.

 

[crashmtb]

Rivian should have provided necessary specs to the several successful power tonneau manufacturers and let them do the development and manufacturing. Rivian needs to be intensely focused on doing only those things necessary to creating a successful "adventure" EV company. Power tonneaus is definitely not one of those things.

the supplier for the current version makes sunroofs and so on.

why assume they’re designing and building it themselves?

 

[Hayden123982]

Doesn't change the fact that Rivian is paying less than $20 per panel and charging $800 for a product I don't want.

Where are you getting this info from. I find it hard to imagine it’s less than $20 a panel. Either way, if you don’t want it, then don’t get it

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

I get the impression that so so so many people who are upset/frustrated/worried about “omg where will I put the panelz?!?” are first time truck buyers. You won’t have a problem stowing your panels. I’m hoping someone sees this that I talk off a ledge. If this is your first truck, welcome to the club! You’ll wonder how you lived without one for so long. Enjoy having a bed to toss stuff in.

to provide a slightly different perspective: this isn’t my first truck. Not even close. I’ve never owned a tonneau cover before. The manual covers always seemed stupid to me.

Soft cover? No security. They flap about. Generally pointless.

hard solid cover? some security, but congrats on killing the main ’truck’ feature because now you can’t use your bed for anything more than a short trunk.

Hard panelized cover? Some security. PITA to store. Can’t typically use in partial configs. Better plan ahead.

rolling cover? Some security. Can kinda use the bed, but the designs I’ve seen take ~1 foot away from bed length. If you must have a cover, this seemed like the only reasonable option. Expensive. Uncommon. I can only recall seeing them on trucks that had ”every accessory“ and were lifted so high they were just a caricature.

The R1T is the first truck that made me seriously consider actually having a tonneau. The powered tonneau addressed my concerns in a reasonable way. Security. Ease of use. No advance planning required.

I bought the powered cover, and I like it. I hope Rivian can fix it and make it reliable.

If I had to choose between manual and “no cover“ it wouldn’t even be a contest — I’d live without a cover, like I did for years before.

 

[crashmtb]

to provide a slightly different perspective: this isn’t my first truck. Not even close. I’ve never owned a tonneau cover before. The manual covers always seemed stupid to me.

Soft cover? No security. They flap about. Generally pointless.

hard solid cover? some security, but congrats on killing the main ’truck’ feature because now you can’t use your bed for anything more than a short trunk.

Hard panelized cover? Some security. PITA to store. Can’t typically use in partial configs. Better plan ahead.

rolling cover? Some security. Can kinda use the bed, but the designs I’ve seen take ~1 foot away from bed length. If you must have a cover, this seemed like the only reasonable option. Expensive. Uncommon. I can only recall seeing them on trucks that had ”every accessory“ and were lifted so high they were just a caricature.

The R1T is the first truck that made me seriously consider actually having a tonneau. The powered tonneau addressed my concerns in a reasonable way. Security. Ease of use. No advance planning required.

I bought the powered cover, and I like it. I hope Rivian can fix it and make it reliable.

If I had to choose between manual and “no cover“ it wouldn’t even be a contest — I’d live without a cover, like I did for years before.

100% same reasoning for me. A covered bed with push button convenience? Sign me up.


if I have to choose between manual or no cover, it’ll be manual…the cover itself will be useful in winter(it’s nice to have the bed available as a huge trunk vs full of snow), not having the slots the cover goes in otherwise seems like a miss, and it seems more usable than most of the three panel folding ones I’ve dealt with in passing.

 

[moosetags]

We never wanted a tonneau anyway. We only had it specified to get a truck. We're glad that it's gone.

Brian

 

[Dcavalheiro]

That was the it for me, I was debating in my head R1T and R1S, 80% of the pros for R1T are gone now then I just switched back to the SUV.

The only thing that I really wanted was the max pack, but I can live with the large one.

And again, maybe I will be just waiting for nothing until we receive a letter saying the Max pack was removed from specs while they .... Something ...it.

 

[domoplaytime]

Rivian needs to change their configurator so that every option has an additional choice, "whatever comes soonest". Rivian is not currently getting high quality data about what configs people actually want.

In Seattle we are going to be voting on the possibility of running future elections with Approval Voting or Ranked Choice Voting. Surely an Agile startup can keep up with a city government's ability to evolve.

 

[zipzag]

Rivian needs to change their configurator so that every option has an additional choice, "whatever comes soonest". Rivian is not currently getting high quality data about what configs people actually want.

In Seattle we are going to be voting on the possibility of running future elections with Approval Voting or Ranked Choice Voting. Surely an Agile startup can keep up with a city government's ability to evolve.

At this point sales is only suggesting what production makes. That is why the store exists. Rivian did notify order holders when OC was delayed. I assume many people who currently have vehicles switched to black.

Also, there are very few options integral to the vehicle.

The store and Rivians new order forecast system with the semi-lockdown may be as far as they go with delivery dates. When tesla exposed the actual production date to customers it moved weekly. Don't know what Tesla is doing now, but exposing the actual production system was probably not better than an occasional update.

 

[Ngkgb]

Forgive me if it’s already been asked, but why is it still an option when youre configuring?

 

[crashmtb]

Forgive me if it’s already been asked, but why is it still an option when youre configuring?

Because, as mentioned in the email, they haven’t updated the configurator yet.

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