Steering Wheel Shake at Highway Speeds

[glgoody]

Had my truck in the Denver service center today for steering wheel shake and a couple other minor items.The small stuff was all fixed but had an interesting discussion with the service lead about the steering wheel shake.

First of all, he said this is a fairly common issue and they do plenty of wheel re-balancing and alignments that seem to marginally help but haven't been able to truly resolve it. They've also been sending details on each of the trucks they've serviced to the engineering team for their input and suggestions.

The latest they're hearing from the engineers is that this is going to require a larger fix, involving installing "something" (i.e. not a software fix). Current timeline for delivery of this solution sounds like end of the quarter so he suggested potentially opening another ticket in the October timeframe or sooner, if it gets worse, and they can hold the ticket internally until the new fix is in.

I also asked if there would be any proactive notification from Rivian to owners who had already been in for this issue. He said this is a new situation for them but suggested it could potentially be a notification/message from Rivian to owners with VINs that have been serviced or Rivian might send that list of VINs to the service centers for them to reach out to impacted customers.

As you can imagine, I have just slightly more than zero confidence in Rivian's communication skills so will likely open a ticket later this year when they've got the solution dialed in.

I just got my R1T Sept 2022, I experienced the same issue with the steering wheel vibrating at 60mph and higher. Also problems with drifting to the right at any speed. Sent to Orlando service center for evaluation and repair 10/12. Got a call yesterday 10/18 that the front end was out of alignment but the steering wheel vibration is a known problem and tires were in balance. She said the engineering team is working on a solution and affected owners will be contacted once a fix is ready. I have to say the service team called me every day with an update even if nothing to report. The customer service has been great and so far I haven’t experienced any significant issues. Looking forward to a solution to the vibration issue.

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[Rousie13]

I did not have this issue when I had the 21” wheels on my truck, but now I have it present with the 22” wheels. I’m dropping my truck off at the sc on 10/21 for several items and this is one of them. It doesn’t appear to be wheel balance because it doesn’t do it 100% of the time.

 

[R1Tom]

My steering shake has actually gone away on its own. I can only assume that tires wore in and once they did, the effect went away.

 

[mini2nut]

Steering wheel shake is abnormal.

In my experience it's out of balance tires and/or defective tires from the factory that simply can't be balanced.

 

[The J-Man]

Anybody had their shake fixed by Rivian yet? The Denver service center was unable to fix mine. I also have the tock/clunk which sounds like driveline slack anytime I accelerate and/or use regen, especially at slow speeds. I am certain the issues are related. They REALLY need to have a fix for these issues ASAP especially now that they've issued a "wheels falling off" recall. The truck just is not confidence inspiring with these issues.

 

[mitchelmb]

Same issues from day one going back to march 2022. I really hope this can be addressed at some point. I've had the wheels rotated and tires balanced twice now by service. Has not solved anything. Maybe not as bad as it used to be, but still unacceptable.

 

[evhelphub]

Taking mine in for this issue plus about a dozen others. Don't expect that a fix is available. It feels like the truck as a whole vibrates and shakes more than any other vehicle I have owned. Lots of that can be felt through the steering wheel, seats, center console arm rest etc.

 

[OffRoad987]

My car is smooth to the triple digits. (In Mexico)

 

[M4H4X]

Same issues from day one going back to march 2022. I really hope this can be addressed at some point. I've had the wheels rotated and tires balanced twice now by service. Has not solved anything. Maybe not as bad as it used to be, but still unacceptable.

For what it’s worth, it seems pretty minor at least. Does it go away below 60mph?

 

[DJG]

Mine mostly went away after 5-6k miles, as they said it should.

 

[Rulaifas14]

Anyone else experiencing fairly significant wheel shake when driving at highway speeds when letting go of the wheel? I also have a slight rightward drift alignment issues (not nearly as bad as others reported), which may be related.

Hello yes it is wurst in 22 inch wheels but it hapens, do you have any solution experiencie.

 

[Kdog]

Picked up my R1T a month ago. As soon as I drove off, I immediately went back to SC and said there was a wheel out of balance due to excessive wheel shaking. They said they couldn’t get to it right away but would get me in the following week. Finally got in 3 weeks later. Also have the severe clunking noise in front suspension. Had them look at both. They have a truck with the same issues in the SC now. They had a tech from the factory come out to diagnose/fix the truck - they’ve had it a few weeks. They returned my truck and will bring it back in once they fix the other one as “they’re certain it’s the same issue”. The noise and vibration are unacceptable for a truck at this price. This seems to be more of a design/function flaw than a poor assembly issue considering the number of impacted vehicles. Feels like a recall issue to me.

 

[Eticket99]

Had this issue crop up around 4k miles on the odometer. Very noticeable under hard acceleration (have 22"s), center console vibrates like an airplane. Also developed those loud creaks and noises under slow speeds from the suspension as well. Put in a ticket, see what they come up with.

Anyone have any recent experiences with this and/or success solving it?

 

[evhelphub]

On the 21s they listed it as a known issue without a fix when I took it in.

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