R1S rear ended today

[No_Name5330]

Wife was driving up Parleys Canyon to Park City today when a truck dumped a bunch of black smoke, and the whole highway lost visibility. Everyone in the left lane slammed on their brakes, but a 16-year-old behind her didn’t stop in time. Thankfully everyone’s fine, but the Rivian got a little kiss.

She said part of the undercarriage is damaged and and they assumed that it was the battery, but there were no errors on the dash. The cop on scene told her not to plug it in at home and would get it to the shop ASAP. Not sure what to make of that—my guess is it’s just the underbody protection that got banged up. If it were me, I probably would have just driven it home and charged like normal until the shop could take a look so it’s not out for too long. Instead, it ended up getting towed in. Hopefully it isn’t too long before it’s back on the road.

She didn’t get any pictures of the other car, but it was a newer Mustang.

Any tips for handling the rental? I’m guessing a Rivian loaner isn’t an option.

Probably totaled if you ask me…

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[COdogman]

Damn, that really sucks. Obviously the important part is she is ok.

It’s possible the damage isn’t as bad as it looks. Too early to say. I hope they can get it figured out quickly for you.

 

[VSG]

The battery pack is in front of the rear wheels. That damage didn't touch the battery.

 

[majorfriend]

Wife was driving up Parleys Canyon to Park City today when a truck dumped a bunch of black smoke, and the whole highway lost visibility. Everyone in the left lane slammed on their brakes, but a 16-year-old behind her didn’t stop in time. Thankfully everyone’s fine, but the Rivian got a little kiss.

She said part of the undercarriage is damaged and and they assumed that it was the battery, but there were no errors on the dash. The cop on scene told her not to plug it in at home and would get it to the shop ASAP. Not sure what to make of that—my guess is it’s just the underbody protection that got banged up. If it were me, I probably would have just driven it home and charged like normal until the shop could take a look so it’s not out for too long. Instead, it ended up getting towed in. Hopefully it isn’t too long before it’s back on the road.

She didn’t get any pictures of the other car, but it was a newer Mustang.

Any tips for handling the rental? I’m guessing a Rivian loaner isn’t an option.

Probably totaled if you ask me…

I highly doubt that did any damage to the battery, especially if there no errors in the truck.

 

[CharonPDX]

Definitely no rental from Rivian, that is the at-fault-party's insurance's responsibility. Also make sure that their insurance pays you for "lost value due to accident".

I don't suppose you have dash cam footage of the truck that spewed smoke? One could easily argue that they are responsible for the accident if their smoke was due to illegal modification. (Utah does have an anti-rolling-coal law.)

As others have said, battery should be fine, hopefully no more than a few thousand dollars.

 

[majorfriend]

Definitely no rental from Rivian, that is the at-fault-party's insurance's responsibility. Also make sure that their insurance pays you for "lost value due to accident".

I don't suppose you have dash cam footage of the truck that spewed smoke? One could easily argue that they are responsible for the accident if their smoke was due to illegal modification. (Utah does have an anti-rolling-coal law.)

As others have said, battery should be fine, hopefully no more than a few thousand dollars.

Good note here, also you can get a payment for loss of use if it's out for a few weeks.

 

[Rivian Owner]

Glad your wife is fine. The damage looks cosmetic but the repairs quickly get expensive with all the tech. Report it to your insurance and let them fight with the other insurance company. You should be provided with a loaner at no cost since clearly the accident wasn't your wife's fault. It might be wise to grab any GearGuard footage that is stored on the vehicle just in case someone gets wierd!

As for the battery, another example of a cop who has biased opinions about EVs without knowing what they were talking about. All the hype about EVs catching fire and electrocutions have been over hyped and totally politicized, and this is a perfect example of it!

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

As for the battery, another example of a cop who has biased opinions about EVs without knowing what they were talking about. All the hype about EVs catching fire and electrocutions have been over hyped and totally politicized, and this is a perfect example of it!

Lol what a jerk cop for being safe and assuming the worst until you get the car checked out. Suggesting you don’t plug it in — bias!

 

[Supratachophobia]

The battery pack is in front of the rear wheels. That damage didn't touch the battery.

Lol what a jerk cop for being safe and assuming the worst until you get the car checked out. Suggesting you don’t plug it in — bias!

This, due to the space limitations with the 3rd row footwell, the rear of the battery is in front of the rear axle. I'm not saying you shouldn't have caution, but there's a lot of disinformation inside LEO, and even FD, with regards to EV's. There's a subculture that believes they are just ticking time bombs waiting to go off. Now, both those groups do see the worst of EV damage, so of course they will have skewed data, but they also see a lot of ICE engine fires. It's just that the EV news spreads faster amongst them because it's more sensational and it lends to confirmation bias.

I'm not saying don't have it checked out, just don't let your first/only analysis be the officer on scene.

 

[No_Name5330]

To all you guys who said that the battery’s fine, I agree with you, unfortunately I wasn’t there to share that opinion and it was already on a tow truck.

 

[Rivian Owner]

Lol what a jerk cop for being safe and assuming the worst until you get the car checked out. Suggesting you don’t plug it in — bias!

So, whether an EV or a ICE vehicle there is crash structure around the fuel component (gas tank or battery) to protect them from a crash. The battery management systems today are much more sophisticated than 10 years ago, and would flag damage to the battery; what technology monitors the integrity of a gas tank?

So does the cop warn every ICE driver to not go fill up until they've had the fuel tank inspected; I suspect the answer is no. Considering gasoline fumes in an enclosed garage could be very explosive shouldn't the cop warn drivers to check their ICE vehicle fuel system after a crash?

I'm all for safety and doing the prudent thing, but being reasonable factors into the equation too. The damage to the back of the R1S isn't that significant that the quarter panels are buckled or the rear glass broken. Clearly the impact wasn't that significant for an ICE or EV. With the volume of EVs on the streets and no greater reports of fires after a collision than ICE vehicles the cop was showing their lack of knowledge and giving advice not based on real world experience. So I stand by my post.

 

[No_Name5330]

Definitely no rental from Rivian, that is the at-fault-party's insurance's responsibility. Also make sure that their insurance pays you for "lost value due to accident".

I don't suppose you have dash cam footage of the truck that spewed smoke? One could easily argue that they are responsible for the accident if their smoke was due to illegal modification. (Utah does have an anti-rolling-coal law.)

As others have said, battery should be fine, hopefully no more than a few thousand dollars.

I need to go get the hard drive at some point but with a gen 1 cameras the chances of identifying the truck are pretty low… that’s good to know about the coal rolling that it could be their fault. Thanks for the input!

Edit: it was a ford bronco that put out thick gray smoke, so definitely not a diesel unless it’s swapped which seems unlikely. I’m assuming the coal rolling bill isn’t applicable then.

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

So, whether an EV or a ICE vehicle there is crash structure around the fuel component (gas tank or battery) to protect them from a crash. The battery management systems today are much more sophisticated than 10 years ago, and would flag damage to the battery; what technology monitors the integrity of a gas tank?

So does the cop warn every ICE driver to not go fill up until they've had the fuel tank inspected; I suspect the answer is no. Considering gasoline fumes in an enclosed garage could be very explosive shouldn't the cop warn drivers to check their ICE vehicle fuel system after a crash?

I'm all for safety and doing the prudent thing, but being reasonable factors into the equation too. The damage to the back of the R1S isn't that significant that the quarter panels are buckled or the rear glass broken. Clearly the impact wasn't that significant for an ICE or EV. With the volume of EVs on the streets and no greater reports of fires after a collision than ICE vehicles the cop was showing their lack of knowledge and giving advice not based on real world experience. So I stand by my post.

I see where you are coming from, but ICE cars don’t sit in you driveway or house while they activity fill up. Anyway, I really don’t have a problem with first responders saying to be extra careful, especially when they have to battle these very difficult to extinguish fires.

The cop may not have had the knowledge, but he was just giving conservative advice. Which is exactly what you want if you don’t understand the situation.

FWIW - when a colleague was rear ended in his ICE car a couple years ago, the police indeed did tell him to not park it inside and to have it TOWED to the collision center just in case. The car was not showing any undrivable errors.

I try not to assume the worst intentions

 

[jbssfelix]

Glad your wife is fine. The damage looks cosmetic but the repairs quickly get expensive with all the tech. Report it to your insurance and let them fight with the other insurance company. You should be provided with a loaner at no cost since clearly the accident wasn't your wife's fault. It might be wise to grab any GearGuard footage that is stored on the vehicle just in case someone gets wierd!

As for the battery, another example of a cop who has biased opinions about EVs without knowing what they were talking about. All the hype about EVs catching fire and electrocutions have been over hyped and totally politicized, and this is a perfect example of it!

To add on, at least here in Colorado, the other party must provide you with a reasonably comparable vehicle when requested....obviously, you're not going to get another Rivian (or really any large SUV)...but for example, we needed something with 3 rows because kids, so we were offered the likes of Highlanders, minivans, and Tahoes. I have no idea how Utah operates in that space, but I would still at least try to make an argument for why you need a certain vehicle (I tow trailers for work, I shuttle kids, I haul a bunch of crap in the back, etc etc)

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