Gear Tunnel Door stuck; DON'T USE emergency button!

[Dark-Fx]

Pulling the manual string was able to open the gear tunnel door AND the alarm was terminated! good thing, it is 9 weeks until my service appointment was able to get on the calendar... I sent my 9 year old in and showed her where to pull. Safety disclaimer, I left the other door and the back seat access open while she was in there! (someone needed that disclaimer).

Rivian might fix it faster without that disclaimer (or the fire department will total your truck)

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[rickstertrixter]

My driver side gear tunnel door latch will not release. The motor whirs, but the door doesn't budge. I thought it a bright idea to crawl in the tunnel (the passenger side still works) and push on the door while pressing the emergency release button. Bad idea. Now the truck thinks there's a living being in the tunnel and will not stop sounding an alarm when I drive. And I mean will not stop; it's been days. The sound system is disabled to make sure I'm hearing the alarm. Over-the-phone technician says nothing he can do. Next week I'll get a visit from a mobile tech--I hope still to be among the sane when s/he arrives!

Geez I had the same catastrophe... I tried to drive with. the alert going, and after about 2 min I thought I was going to have a stroke and went back home. Luckily you guys fixed it, driveable, with the emergency string release. I didn't even damage the trim piece over the latch ! Thanks mucho !

 

[Augurre]

Same issue with the motor whirring but no movement from my drivers side gear tunnel today. What was the fix for your original issue?

 

[Rawb Carnage]

Same issue with the motor whirring but no movement from my drivers side gear tunnel today. What was the fix for your original issue?

Rivian service fixed it by replacing motor. Was pretty quick once I got there.

 

[Augurre]

Rivian service fixed it by replacing motor. Was pretty quick once I got there.

Just got my motor (actuator) replaced yesterday. He had to access the manual release to open the door. From there it was a pretty quick swap.

 

[Ed Hartouni]

I had the same problem recently, whirring motor on the gear tunnel door, which didn't open.

Taking all of the stuff out of the tunnel, I crawled in, pushing the button inside which set the alarm. The alarm sounded once the R1T was unlocked and one of the driver or passenger side doors were opened.

The mechanical release was hidden behind the interior trim.

Calling Rivian roadside service didn't resolve the problem. Basically executed all the versions of shutting off the R1T and turning it back on.

Apparently the alarm can only be reset by opening the associated door. It would seem that opening either door would satisfy the safety aspect, and/or a timeout (like 24 hours?).

Thankfully the R1T was parked for my visit and on the last day I crawled back into the tunnel (thanks Mike!) and found the mechanical release, once the door opened the alarm was reset.

Plan B was to get some ear-plugs to drive the 6 hour return to home...

Rivian has an appointment to come out and fix the latch.

This is a reliability issue that worries me as I actually do take my R1T on adventures where there is no cell contact. The thought that both tunnel door latches could fail, with important/critical items stored within, and no way to access the tunnel has me rethinking my packing strategy.

 

[PhatDaddy]

…
This is a reliability issue that worries me as I actually do take my R1T on adventures where there is no cell contact. The thought that both tunnel door latches could fail, with important/critical items stored within, and no way to access the tunnel has me rethinking my packing strategy.

Hmm… Also makes me wonder what those of us installing an aftermarket gear tunnel slide or camp kitchen would do in this situation... where physical access to reach an opposite-side emergency release cable/latch would almost certainly first require removal of the (bolted-in) 3rd party hardware… which might well be impossible without access to BOTH open gear tunnel doors.

 

[atebit]

I didn’t realize that our trucks have a Jeffries Tube. Just the place for uttering Scottish oaths under your breath while diagnosing a 12V issue!

 

[AllInev]

There's a physical pull release for those doors too, it's hard to get to though, you either have to remove the upper trim or pry down on it enough to get access.

I don't have the interior trim in my gear tunnel currently, so pretty easy to demonstrate it.

Ha! Nice braided cord!!!

 

[AllInev]

I didn’t realize that our trucks have a Jeffries Tube. Just the place for uttering Scottish oaths under your breath while diagnosing a 12V issue!

You know what they say, “If it’s not Scottish, it’s crap!”

 

[Gen(R3)Xer]

Pulling the manual string was able to open the gear tunnel door AND the alarm was terminated! good thing, it is 9 weeks until my service appointment was able to get on the calendar... I sent my 9 year old in and showed her where to pull. Safety disclaimer, I left the other door and the back seat access open while she was in there! (someone needed that disclaimer).

Reminds me of when my Grandparents were babysitting us at our house while my parents went out for the evening. They accidentally locked us out of the house, so they boosted me through the back window and told me to unlock the front door. I was 5. I didn’t understand the difference between the deadbolt and the regular twist lock. Luckily your 9 year old was a little more with it.

 

[R1TruKaLa]

I didn’t realize that our trucks have a Jeffries Tube. Just the place for uttering Scottish oaths under your breath while diagnosing a 12V issue!

?

 

[Ed Hartouni]

I had the same problem recently, whirring motor on the gear tunnel door, which didn't open.

Taking all of the stuff out of the tunnel, I crawled in, pushing the button inside which set the alarm. The alarm sounded once the R1T was unlocked and one of the driver or passenger side doors were opened.

The mechanical release was hidden behind the interior trim.

Calling Rivian roadside service didn't resolve the problem. Basically executed all the versions of shutting off the R1T and turning it back on.

Apparently the alarm can only be reset by opening the associated door. It would seem that opening either door would satisfy the safety aspect, and/or a timeout (like 24 hours?).

Thankfully the R1T was parked for my visit and on the last day I crawled back into the tunnel (thanks Mike!) and found the mechanical release, once the door opened the alarm was reset.

Plan B was to get some ear-plugs to drive the 6 hour return to home...

Rivian has an appointment to come out and fix the latch.

This is a reliability issue that worries me as I actually do take my R1T on adventures where there is no cell contact. The thought that both tunnel door latches could fail, with important/critical items stored within, and no way to access the tunnel has me rethinking my packing strategy.

This has turned into quite an adventure in its own right...

on April 30th, two weeks after returning from my road trip, Rivian came out on a mobile service. The guy was great, but alas, the part he had for the latch was the wrong one. His comment "I didn't know they had different parts." He even tried to cannibalize the one off of his R1T service vehicle.

He apologized and said he'd try to make sure the service was prioritized, and that the proper parts were available. I had an appointment setup for later that week to rotate the tires, May 2. When I got to the San Jose service center they said they'd have to order the part... so much for priority.

I setup yet another appointment for today, May 21, took the car in and guess what, they need to order parts to get it fixed.

There seems to be a notable lack of communication for services, and parts. I imagine that every part on my R1T is known in the assembly process and exists in some data server at Rivian. That information is available for service planning, and in particular, once a technician has diagnosed the problem the required parts, specific for the build, would be waiting at the service center for the appointment.

That isn't so...

The service reps also tend to "under promise" on service duration, typically quoting 3 days. This initially seemed ridiculous to me, but given the difficulty they apparently have in obtaining parts (including knowing what parts) and in the need for each service to independently diagnose the problem (in my case, the first service tech did the diagnosis, which was not used in planning the followup?) 3 days covers the time...

Perhaps I should be happy that they are projecting end of day tomorrow... except for the fact that I'll be driving home in rush hour traffic from San Jose... probably take me a couple of hours to make the 40 minute ride.

Designing and building cars is fun, no doubt, but a car company should also figure out how it's going to service them.

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