Rear Shock Leak - Warranty Denied

[Lmoore101]

I noticed my 2024 R1S with 10k miles was leaking a small amount of oil on the ground and turns out the right rear shock is leaking from the top and is bad. Just heard from the Burbank SC (in SoCal) they will not cover under warranty due to seeing scrapes on the lower control arm and my aftermarket rock rails. Nothing is physically broken or bent and yes I have done some rock crawling. After muck back and forth with the local manager via email, a small discount was offered but still not covered under warranty.

Very disappointed that cosmetic marks on the underside of my very capable “adventure” vehicle invalidates the warranty. Makes me reconsider using this vehicle in the dirt in the future.

Has anyone encountered something similar? Any luck speaking with corporate or other support channels?

Pictures from the SC:

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[DuoRivians]

How did you get this one? That’s pretty far up.

 

[DayTripping]

I noticed my 2024 R1S with 10k miles was leaking a small amount of oil on the ground and turns out the right rear shock is leaking from the top and is bad. Just heard from the Burbank SC (in SoCal) they will not cover under warranty due to seeing scrapes on the lower control arm and my aftermarket rock rails. Nothing is physically broken or bent and yes I have done some rock crawling. After muck back and forth with the local manager via email, a small discount was offered but still not covered under warranty.

Very disappointed that cosmetic marks on the underside of my very capable “adventure” vehicle invalidates the warranty. Makes me reconsider using this vehicle in the dirt in the future.

Has anyone encountered something similar? Any luck speaking with corporate or other support channels?

Pictures from the SC:

That is seriously lame. If any usage would have likely killed the shock it would be highspeed washboard running. I killed a few shocks that way in my buggies and offroad race trucks.

 

[DayTripping]

There's obvious damage to the linkage that may be contributing to the shock strut failure. You could replace the shock but it might fail again if there's an underlying alignment issue. It looks like you've done some good rock crawling! I would be surprised if any OEM covered that. I'm not an expert but they have a callout on their exclusions on page 17 for:

Reckless driving of the vehicle over hazardous surfaces, including but not limited to, curbs, potholes, debris, vegetation, or other obstacles

https://rivian.com/support/article/new-vehicle-limited-warranty-guide

I would get the whole corner checked out. Might be worse than you thought. Maybe try to file an insurance claim if they have off road coverage, but again most companies don't...

That is a pretty broad exclusionary cause. I agree with checking it out, but still, that is very much subject to interpretation as to what constitutes reckless driving.

Given the cost of a shock, I'd get an attorney involved if you don't get any satisfaction. A few hundred bucks to write you a letter might get it covered. Assuming you legitimately didn't damage anything enough to take out the shock. A few scraped really shouldn't matter that much. Not like you did a Dukes of Hazard jump.

 

[Lmoore101]

How did you get this one? That’s pretty far up.

No idea, guessing got hung up on a rock while crawling. Based on some other posts, good for everyone to check their shocks/dampers for leakage as it seems to be a known issue.

 

[Lmoore101]

That is a pretty broad exclusionary cause. I agree with checking it out, but still, that is very much subject to interpretation as to what constitutes reckless driving.

Given the cost of a shock, I'd get an attorney involved if you don't get any satisfaction. A few hundred bucks to write you a letter might get it covered. Assuming you legitimately didn't damage anything enough to take out the shock. A few scraped really shouldn't matter that much. Not like you did a Dukes of Hazard jump.

Yea the SC sent the same to me after I pushed back. Read it everyone and hope you don’t have a marks or scrapes near a failed part!

No jumping, just crawling, does ok but sure is heavy.

 

[DayTripping]

No idea, guessing got hung up on a rock while crawling. Based on some other posts, good for everyone to check their shocks/dampers for leakage as it seems to be a known issue.

I think a fair amount of people will have issues with them, even if no serious offroading. I base that on reading the tea leaves here. Enough people have started having issues that it is definitely on my radar of things to look out for.

 

[jjswan33]

Sad day for Rivian as an 'adventure' brand... I guess only if the adventure is driving it to the shopping mall with the kids.

I'd suggest an email to RJ and possibly [email protected] as possible escalation paths, not sure it will work but worth a try.

 

[tobacco]

I noticed my 2024 R1S with 10k miles was leaking a small amount of oil on the ground and turns out the right rear shock is leaking from the top and is bad. Just heard from the Burbank SC (in SoCal) they will not cover under warranty due to seeing scrapes on the lower control arm and my aftermarket rock rails.

Has anyone encountered something similar? Any luck speaking with corporate or other support channels?

I’ve had my truck in 1x for suspension abt 6 months ago and 2x over the last 5 months to fix a charging issue. They (Burbank) worked on the charger locking pin and damaged the paint right next to the charge port they worked on. They then had the nerve to blame it on body work from the right rear quarter panel. After three horrific service experiences and abyssal QC Burbank’s ridiculous position put me over the edge. I threatened to sue them and still may.

Burbank SC seems more aggressive than SD SC in pushing back, but there is a ~6 month difference in my SD vs Burbank experience, so it could also just be the company is tightening its belt on instructions from corporate.

Frustrating to say the least and a real turn off.

 

[DayTripping]

I figured the tightening would come regarding warranty claims since they have bled so much cash. Pretty soon many issues will be "within spec" since they all do it, even if they are all broken. I feel they might be following in the footsteps of Tesla.

@Lmoore101 - ping me offline if you want some additional insight on how to handle this. I used to work for a very large manufacturer adjudicating warranty claims like these early in my career. I doubt things have changed much over the past 20 years.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I can see both sides of this. Rivian shouldn't have to pay for it if your off-road driving broke the shock. At the same time, if your driving did not break it they should cover it, and Rivian is marketed as capable of going off-road. The arm has scrapes and gouges in that picture, so I can see how it looks to Rivian.

I don't know enough about suspensions and off-roading to have my own opinion as to whether or not the OP caused the shock leaking based on the damage presented, so I'll leave it there.

 

[Nixapatfan]

It's a BS excuse a little scrape like that isn't going to cause it to leak. There are many cases where the shocks have prematurely failed on this forum so I'd lean more towards a defective shock. Though this is considered a wear item so fighting it might be an uphill battle.

If enough people that had a failed shock file a complaint with NHTSA it might eventually get a recall.

 

[R1Thor]

Sad day for Rivian as an 'adventure' brand... I guess only if the adventure is driving it to the shopping mall with the kids.

I'd suggest an email to RJ and possibly [email protected] as possible escalation paths, not sure it will work but worth a try.

I hate to agree. But I verily do, and hope that you are successful as this shouldn't be precedence.

In this instance, these vehicles are advertised and sold as adventure vehicles with dedicated modes FOR off-roading. They should be engineered to withstand the demands of off-roading. In this instance, it could easily be argued that a manufacturing defect or design shortcoming led to the failure (as you were using the truck as it is intended to be used).

If escalation doesn't bear fruit (I would escalate it as far as possible), I'd check in with your insurance if you don't want to pay for it. A dude on Discord had an off-roading incident where his battery pack was punctured and while Rivian refused to honor fixing it under warranty, his insurance took care of it for him (at least, that's what I interpreted from his reporting).

Best of luck to you. I hope it's resolved to your satisfaction and you can get back out there!

 

[EVTrukHog]

what is the cost to replace the defective shock?

 

[tcole]

Ive had both my fronts replaced under warranty, one of them twice, about a year apart.

But no off roading for me. Just a fair amount of Tahoe potholes.

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