Snow Mode fail - costly result

[Rudylake]

Trying shifting to neutral when sliding on snow.

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[mickeymammoth]

When you say "resist steering," what do you mean? I thought you should always turn in the direction you are sliding so as to gain traction. That sounds terrifying.

 

[narmstrong79]

.... I will manually turn off regen whenever there are slippery winter conditions...

There is no regen "off"

 

[Nixapatfan]

Such an easy fix to offer an off setting for regen, no idea why Rivian is so stubborn about it.

 

[Jonger1150]

Cincy doesn't get enough snow to form a muscle memory on driving in this stuff.

I think my road has been snow covered all but 1 week since Jan 1st.

 

[TdsT]

When you say "resist steering," what do you mean? I thought you should always turn in the direction you are sliding so as to gain traction. That sounds terrifying.

I was sliding straight, the road was turning 90 degrees. Also wasn’t sure how deep the ditch would be and didn’t want to hit it sideways and risk rolling. Maybe not likely in a Rivian but we have some steep hills and creek banks near me. It was dark and I couldn’t tell what was beyond the brush I was going into.

 

[TdsT]

That sucks. You didn’t say but I assume everyone was alright. Sounds like you did everything you could to prevent it. I didn’t know the video showed the wheels or braking. My only recommendation would be to put it in neutral when going down hill in those conditions. I did this in my Ram and do it now with my R1T. Hope everything works out for you.

Thanks. My kids were with me but we were all fine. No airbags, just a gentle crunch against the tree.

In the video you can see the brake lights brighten in the animation.

 

[mickeymammoth]

I was sliding straight, the road was turning 90 degrees.

Yeah, that sounds tricky! Glad you're OK.

 

[TdsT]

I would not blame the car. Or the driver. It is the tires.

What kind of tires were you wearing? Was it the factory "all terrain" tires? In comparison tests those have shown to perform really poorly on snow and ice. They should really be called "all terrain other than snow"

https://www.tire-reviews.com/Tire-Tests/2023-Best-All-Terrain-Tires-In-Snow.htm

Yes, factory ATs. Will definitely get something snow rated by next winter. (I’m assuming snow will be long gone by the time repairs are finished…)

 

[Sidney]

Not being able to turn off regen in snow mode is my biggest safety concern with my rivian. Maybe there are laws preventing this, but I would prefer if the car would coast when I'm off both pedals, and that when hitting the brake pedal it would use regen unless I was braking 'too hard' for pure regen, in which case it would blend in regular braking.

The rivian already blends regen and regular braking, so this should be possible.

I live somewhere with snow/ice on the roads ~100 days a year, and although I prefer one pedal driving in summer, I'd switch back to two pedal driving to retain the ability to coast when driving on snow/ice

Also, it bugs me that I can't have snow mode use low regen and other modes use high regen. I have to manually change the regen setting each time

 

[HaveBlue]

What's deceptive too is that the Rivian is really nimble and handles very flat on dry roads. It doesn't feel like 7000lb. However under emergency braking I really feel how heavy and poorly it stops. There's a lot of hidden physics in that thing. Then again, I've come up to intersections and slid right through them in other cars. Sometimes the Ice just says, "nope."

 

[Rivdog]

Such an easy fix to offer an off setting for regen, no idea why Rivian is so stubborn about it.

Yep, this is the only inexcusable issue I have with my truck. I bought it as an early adopter and expected issues - I can deal with some annoying stuff for arguably the best family-capable vehicle under like $300k. It’s still the best vehicle on the market for the money. I know Rivian has reasons for mandatory regen at all times but they simply aren’t good enough to outweigh the safety concerns in the snow. Yes, if you are a trained rally racer then I bet you could maneuver the truck relatively safely in such conditions, but the other 99% of us lack the skill to do so. Porsche and Ford can do it in their EV’s, (not sure which other manufacturers do), and I know Rivian could do it too.

 

[CrazyOne]

Rivian should have implemented Regen using brake pedal as an option. That ship has sailed. As others have said, Regen off is an easy solution

 

[TdsT]

It’s counter intuitive… but I figured out you have to feather the accelerator to keep the wheels from locking up.

I had a similar experience going down an iced up hill a few weeks ago (I didn’t know it was iced up until I was on it)… luckily it was wide and there were no other cars on it with me. I was able to recover before hitting a guard rail.

Retraining 30ish years of driving muscle memory in a panic situation is not easy.

Rivian should add the ability to turn off regen temporarily in snow mode. Even if it requires pushing a button on the steering wheel (like for trailer brakes) to do it.

I was thinking about the feathering approach, too. Especially if there isn’t an “off” option for regen. I’m pretty good doing controlled “power slides” from years of ripping around on ATVs and driving 4x4s in the back 40 where I grew up. I think I could try that next time if that’s the only option. I just don’t see my wife doing that and I’ve been urging her to drive the R1S in poor conditions because it’s “the safest option” for handling bad roads. Now I’m not too sure I want her dealing with this type of scenario…

 

[Glembi2]

I was thinking about the feathering approach, too. Especially if there isn’t an “off” option for regen. I’m pretty good doing controlled “power slides” from years of ripping around on ATVs and driving 4x4s in the back 40 where I grew up. I think I could try that next time if that’s the only option. I just don’t see my wife doing that and I’ve been urging her to drive the R1S in poor conditions because it’s “the safest option” for handling bad roads. Now I’m not too sure I want her dealing with this type of scenario…

I’m sorry about your truck. I’m glad no one was hurt.
Your comment about encouraging your wife to drive the truck and now, for some conditions, have second thoughts. That is me exactly.

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