FM Radio "Could Not Connect" error

[matt21484]

I'm not sure if this is a me thing, but I've had periodic issues with the FM radio where it refused to "turn on" and I'm curious if this has happened to anyone else.
I've gotten this error multiple times in my ownership of ~4 months. Since this happens while I'm driving, I can't perform the soft reset (opposite steering buttons), and there's no way to correct it mid drive that I've been able to find. The soft power button on/off doesn't resolve this and there's no ignition to turn off/back on again at a stoplight like you can with an ICE vehicle. It's not an end of the world issue, but it's frustrating none the less when it happens. The only resolution, is park and walk away when I get home or to work. Car goes to sleep (assumingly) at some point and when I go back to it, it's magically resolved.
So long story longer, is this a known issue, bug, defect, etc and is there a similar known fix?

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[Polar]

Known issue. As well the phantom tuning issue where it changes the station to something else - super annoying.

 

[captainjp]

Been getting the same with mine. Minor inconvenience that’s resolved with an infotainment (soft) reset.

 

[matt21484]

Well I’m glad it’s not just me, but super frustrating that it’s a thing. I went ahead and scheduled a service apt, but that’s not till January, lol.

 

[brenex]

Same issue here. This is a new 2026 r1s I picked up a few weeks ago. It was working previously. A soft, infotainment reset did not fix it. Maybe it’s a more prominent bug after the most recent update.

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[CO Riv]

I have a 2025 Gen 2 R1S that is 11 months old. I never had this issue until a couple of months ago. It is very intermittent, but very frustrating when it happens. Usually, a soft reset will fix it for me—definitely a software bug. I doubt a service appointment will do anything for you.

It's an FM radio. How can Rivian not get something that simple right and have it persist for months?

 

[Dasoss]

I'm not sure if this is a me thing, but I've had periodic issues with the FM radio where it refused to "turn on" and I'm curious if this has happened to anyone else.
I've gotten this error multiple times in my ownership of ~4 months. Since this happens while I'm driving, I can't perform the soft reset (opposite steering buttons), and there's no way to correct it mid drive that I've been able to find. The soft power button on/off doesn't resolve this and there's no ignition to turn off/back on again at a stoplight like you can with an ICE vehicle. It's not an end of the world issue, but it's frustrating none the less when it happens. The only resolution, is park and walk away when I get home or to work. Car goes to sleep (assumingly) at some point and when I go back to it, it's magically resolved.
So long story longer, is this a known issue, bug, defect, etc and is there a similar known fix?

Mine saints available

 

[matt21484]

It's an FM radio. How can Rivian not get something that simple right and have it persist for months?

This pretty much sums it up perfectly. I really just want them to know this is an issue. Maybe I’ll get something out of it, maybe not. But it’s ludicrous to think this is acceptable in a 100k car.

 

[Matchbox]

Sometimes the radio works, Sometimes it does not. When it does, frequently takes a minute or two to come on. Like I told the survey when I bought the truck - I have been driving for over fifty years and the radio always worked when the vehicle was turned on. Not in the most expensive vehicle I ever bought.

 

[jimboski93]

Similar issue, and I'll note that when I get in the car and it boots up, the radio works 100% of the time. When I hit the brake pedal, that's when the radio will turn itself off. Sometimes, it won't turn back on and I have to do a soft reset. Very frustrating.

2025 R1S Dual Max

 

[Dasoss]

I'm not sure if this is a me thing, but I've had periodic issues with the FM radio where it refused to "turn on" and I'm curious if this has happened to anyone else.
I've gotten this error multiple times in my ownership of ~4 months. Since this happens while I'm driving, I can't perform the soft reset (opposite steering buttons), and there's no way to correct it mid drive that I've been able to find. The soft power button on/off doesn't resolve this and there's no ignition to turn off/back on again at a stoplight like you can with an ICE vehicle. It's not an end of the world issue, but it's frustrating none the less when it happens. The only resolution, is park and walk away when I get home or to work. Car goes to sleep (assumingly) at some point and when I go back to it, it's magically resolved.
So long story longer, is this a known issue, bug, defect, etc and is there a similar known fix?

Here is a guess. The radio screen displays a selection of stations. It gets this from the a server over the internet, using GPS location information. The cannot connect and unavailable messages arise from the list not being available. This could be from problems with the internet, Wi-Fi, location data, or the server. Unfortunately, it won't let you use the radio, if it can't populate the station display. The problem may be that the aspects of HD radio hardware and firmware are proprietary and patented. HD radio, AKA "in band on channel" (IBOC) uses digital signal processing to squeeze both analog and digital channels into the same radio channel allocation. The technology is tightly controlled by the developer. Rivian has to buy their chip set under license. licensees are not allowed to fuss with the embedded firmware. The upshot is that rivian has little leeway to fix this.

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