Any one else totally dissatisfied with the locking / unlocking experience?

[ozziegt]

We took delivery on Saturday and I must say the locking / unlocking is even more annoying than I anticipated. Why couldn't they just have installed a touch sensor on the door so you could lock / unlock by touching it? My 2015 Porsche has this feature and it works great and reliably, 8 years later!

1. There is only one fob, so my wife and I each can't have a fob. Therefore, we must use phones or the cards.
2. We have turned off passive lock / unlock at home because I go in and out of the garage a lot and I am always carrying my phone. Having to pull out my phone and open an app every time I want to unlock my vehicle is absolutely absurd for an $80k vehicle in 2023.
3. Phone proximity unlock isn't working for my wife at all
4. Sometimes we park in the driveway and not the security of our garage. Since we have passive locking turned off at home, there is no way to lock the vehicle without stopping to take out my phone or fob. Again totally ridiculous.

I needed to vent. I am wondering if anyone else is as frustrated as I am.

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[Donald Stanfield]

No. My phone as a key works pretty well and even the one fob is a waste of money for me because I don't use it. I keep my truck unlocked at home since its in the garage anyways. It lags occasionally when it unlocks but it has gotten better in the time I've had it.

 

[Glongo]

We took delivery on Saturday and I must say the locking / unlocking is even more annoying than I anticipated. Why couldn't they just have installed a touch sensor on the door so you could lock / unlock by touching it? My 2015 Porsche has this feature and it works great and reliably, 8 years later!

1. There is only one fob, so my wife and I each can't have a fob. Therefore, we must use phones or the cards.
2. We have turned off passive lock / unlock at home because I go in and out of the garage a lot and I am always carrying my phone. Having to pull out my phone and open an app every time I want to unlock my vehicle is absolutely absurd for an $80k vehicle in 2023.
3. Phone proximity unlock isn't working for my wife at all
4. Sometimes we park in the driveway and not the security of our garage. Since we have passive locking turned off at home, there is no way to lock the vehicle without stopping to take out my phone or fob. Again totally ridiculous.

I needed to vent. I am wondering if anyone else is as frustrated as I am.

It annoyed me the first few days, but now that I’ve owned it for about a month I’m getting used to its personality in reading my phone. All that said, can’t you order another FOB for your wife nd then use the two of them exclusively and not the phone? Then it’s just like any other car. Unless I’m missing something.

On a related note - Rivian if you’re listening, it would be super cool to at least have the lock unlock feature on an app on my Apple Watch. Up until the Rivian, I had not carried my phone or wallet with me for months. Apple Pay , text, and occasional calls all from the watch.

 

[ozziegt]

It annoyed me the first few days, but now that I’ve owned it for about a month I’m getting used to its personality in reading my phone. All that said, can’t you order another FOB for your wife nd then use the two of them exclusively and not the phone? Then it’s just like any other car. Unless I’m missing something.

Hmm, I don't see a fob in the gear shop. But after searching it seems they are $250.

 

[NineElectrics]

Agree. Passive unlock is turned off at home because of proximity problems, and so the entire experience becomes annoying. The fob is designed terribly; one must fumble with it in order to find the very poorly marked unlock button.

Even when passive unlock is in use, half the time it doesn’t work with my brand new iPhone.

 

[KRo]

I don’t really have this issue either. We have a Model 3 and my R1T, and I find them both identically as responsive/occasionally sluggish at the same time, same behavior. Many of the PAAK issues actually stem down to your mobile device performance and settings, and not the car. If your FOB is working like it should, your phone connects to the vehicle in the same relative fashion. If the experience is different, it’s your phone. iPhones appear to be more responsive generally than Android phones by unscientific gathering of information from forums, groups, etc.

I second the request by @Glongo for a basic Apple Watch app for quick access to lock/unlock/storage access, that has been on my short list as well.

 

[hekhl00]

Seems to much worse for me since that latest software update. But it's also random in that sometimes it unlocks very quickly and at other times I feel like the whole world is watching me stand there and wait for it to unlock.

 

[ozziegt]

She has an iPhone 14. Is there a setting in the iPhone somewhere to make it more responsive?

 

[MIG]

My wife and I only use our iPhones for the Rivian and keep proximity on all the time. Works flawlessly 99% of the time. So it unlocks once or twice as we enter the garage to get something. Not a big deal.

 

[sd250]

@ozziegt totally agree with you. We've had our Rivian for 9 months and still find the whole lock/unlock experience unsatisfactory. Frankly I'm pretty surprised at how poorly implemented it is. Hoping Rivian gets around to improving it.

Ended up turning off PAAK because ours was locking and unlocking from about 150 feet away! So we only rely on the fob which is always slow to unlock/lock.

Our Lightning uses the touch of the door handle to lock/unlock and it's worked flawlessly whether I'm carrying the fob or my phone, can even use the pin pad if I don't have the fob or phone on me.

 

[Redline]

No issues with our phones so far.

 

[tcole]

Hmm, I don't see a fob in the gear shop. But after searching it seems they are $250.

Yeab you have to call the service number and ask for a 2nd fob. It may require a service visit to program it, or they might be able to mail it to you.

I also find the lock/unlock situation annoying. Somewhat worse than the Volvo C40 I had before. Touch the door handle to lock, put your hand in the handle to unlock. Rivian could have done proximity plus touch for cases where you don’t have proximity unlock / lock on, like at home. Would have been much nicer.

 

[Count Orlok]

no

 

[SDH]

The thing i find annoying is when I get into the car and then it seems like it doesn't recognize me and I have to hold my card against the driver door - which never works.

I agree with others about the it probably being more the phone thing. I notice walking up to the car first thing i have to open and fire up my phone for the car to pick it up and open.

Like a lot of cars these days, too much unnecessary complication in the pursuit of being all "fancy high tech". That's why I love my Jeep.

 

[Rivdog]

I only use PaaK and it works well about 95% of the time. In some rare instances it will unlock the truck but won’t allow it to start. Other times it will unlock when I’m away from the vehicle and then lock right as I get there - it did it with the handle literally in my hand last week. It’s minor enough that it’s worth the tradeoff for PaaK functionality.

Rivian should consider a software update that forces the truck search for a key if you push the gear tunnel/tailgate button or manually try to open the door.

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