Pet Mode SoC Limited

[Riviot]

We started a camping trip to Waterton National Park today and stopped in a state park outside Spokane for the first leg. We got some beers and pizza for dinner and left the doug in the car as the patio was full and no dogs were allowed inside at the bar . When trying to activate pet mode at 13% SoC, it denied and said Battery too low.

I get it, you don't want folks to accidentally drain their battery for their pets and not be able to get to a destination. But why not add a "warning" and make it a second selection to enable instead of completely denying?

Here's the rub that really gets me: I could activate AC remotely and keep the truck cool. The Doug kept moving about when people walked by and "set off" the alarm AKA sent a notification to my phone, flashed brake lights once, and make no sound.

30 minutes waiting for a pie and drinking 1.5 beers with the AC running and "alarm going off" led to... No less miles at the end. I'm confident the pet mode would've consumed the same, or less, but I'm no Wassym...

Did I miss a memo?

Sponsored

 

[Dave Cundiff]

Did I miss a memo?

Yes, as I recall, the Owners Guide is very clear about minimum charge levels for Pet Comfort mode.

We are all surprised sometimes by something we didn't yet know. That's life.

I'm sorry your experience was unpleasant. You have helped a lot of people on this forum.

Very best wishes!

 

[Magicbus]

I love pet mode but people don't know about it and think the dogs are suffering. My Rivian description and plate # was paged in a store and another time I came out to a well meaning guy talking on his phone to the police. Next trip I'm making a sign for the dashboard because I'm afraid someone will smash a window.

 

[COdogman]

I would much rather have beers and pizza with Doug than most of the humans who are allowed to take up space on a restaurant patio (Doug’s family can stay)

 

[Riviot]

Yes, as I recall, the Owners Guide is very clear about minimum charge levels for Pet Comfort mode.

We are all surprised sometimes by something we didn't yet know. That's life.

I'm sorry your experience was unpleasant. You have helped a lot of people on this forum.

Very best wishes!

As our senior chief likes to say, there are two types of people in this world; those who are humble, and those who are about to be. Thank you for reminding me no matter how much you think you're the former, there's always room to be the latter.

I still find it weird that its start is limited though, when you can do other things to drain the battery. It even says it'll let you completely deplete the battery with it if you start it.

 

[electruck]

Yeah, I also think presenting a second warning while still allowing the driver to make a conscious decision to enable Pet Comfort would be a better option.

Pet Comfort disables the alarm's interior motion sensor but if you can't turn on Pet Comfort, it's advisable to turn off the Alarm.

 

[Swezey]

Definitely kinks all the way around when you think about the UX as a whole.

The nanny systems, I understand to a degree. But to your point - you could activate the system remotely. But now how to deal with the alarms/notifications.

They need to lower or make the safety margin user adjustable. This is our battery pack. Let us take the risks with prior acknowledgement/acceptance.

 

[bigsky]

Thank you for the tips!

Tesla's Dog Mode will not turn on if 20% or less SOC, either. Neither will Sentry Mode.
Would it have helped to lower your windows some instead? Have seen a few ICE owners do just that. Not for me and my dogs.

Have learned that getting down to and past 20% SOC is always a warning that my EVs may start shutting things down and to start planning accordingly.

What I do not understand is why the Rivian app does not have the Pet Mode option. C'mon, Rivian.

 

[mikehmb]

IMO this feature limitation makes a lot of sense.

It's not about protecting the battery. It's about protecting the living creature inside of the vehicle from accidental death if the battery does in fact run out of juice to keep the feature running.

Which is, you know, counter to what the feature is designed for in the first place.

It's very much a nanny, but one that protects people/pets from the stupidity or inattentiveness of the owner.

13% seems perhaps too conservative, but I get it.

 

[emoore]

IMO this feature limitation makes a lot of sense.

It's not about protecting the battery. It's about protecting the living creature inside of the vehicle from accidental death if the battery does in fact run out of juice to keep the feature running.

Which is, you know, counter to what the feature is designed for in the first place.

It's very much a nanny, but one that protects people/pets from the stupidity or inattentiveness of the owner.

13% seems perhaps too conservative, but I get it.

that's exactly what I was thinking. It's for the animal inside so 50 miles of range is actually a lot of energy, over 20 Kwh. I'm sure you can run the AC/heat for a long time on 20 Kwh so maybe they can lower that requirement. I do agree with depleting the battery if it's enabled. Going to do anything you can to save the animal inside.

 

[Swezey]

If only the car was GPS aware and knew if it was located further than X miles from home/nearest charger...

Then prompt the user with a warning.
But ultimately let us decide if we want to risk it.

But that's too sensible. I understand

 

[ndmiller]

People in our area are directed by signs in most strip centers and shopping centers to call 911 for any pet or child left in a car alone regardless if it's on or not.

Too many hot car deaths to put the onus on bystanders to make a judgement. This leaving pets and toddlers in a car should become leaving toddlers/pets at home.

 

[hammick]

People in our area are directed by signs in most strip centers and shopping centers to call 911 for any pet or child left in a car alone regardless if it's on or not.

Too many hot car deaths to put the onus on bystanders to make a judgement. This leaving pets and toddlers in a car should become leaving toddlers/pets at home.

So people shouldn't take their dogs on road trips? Our pup says you suck

 

[Donald Stanfield]

With a lot of these features, Rivian is going to piss off someone no matter what. Make a SOC minimum, and someone comfortable running their car down low will be upset that the software doesn't let them. Have no limit, and someone not paying attention will wind up cooking their dog and they will blame Rivian for letting them put on pet mode when they didn't have enough power.

I think adopting a slightly more nanny-like approach is probably a good idea for Rivian. You might have had it handled just fine, but someone else would screw that up and wind up killing their pet.

 

[emoore]

People in our area are directed by signs in most strip centers and shopping centers to call 911 for any pet or child left in a car alone regardless if it's on or not.

Too many hot car deaths to put the onus on bystanders to make a judgement. This leaving pets and toddlers in a car should become leaving toddlers/pets at home.

People need to change. Just like they need to change about charging vs gas on road trips.

Sponsored