Battery and Failed Drive Unit

[aimandbean]

I was almost in a horrible accident when my R1S decided to fail on a highway. I was barely able to get to shoulder when car was dead. Very scary incident. Car was towed to service center and I was told after a few days that the drive unit (I guess this is the inverter and all motors) failed. They ordered parts and replaced, but then found out the battery was destroyed in the incident. They had to replace the entire battery pack. I have a large pack quad R1S. Needless to say I do not want to even get in the car again. Has anyone experienced such an event. Rivian will not buy the car unless I buy a new one. Well I was a pre-order and now my car is 127K as built. Any recommendations on how to move forward? This is apparently not within the lemon law umbrella. I will never feel safe driving that car again on a highway. How do I sell and not disclose basically all of the car has been replaced!

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[COdogman]

Sorry that happened to you. It’s worth noting that any vehicle could potentially fail and not make it to the shoulder, depending on what went wrong. That isn’t unique to Rivian, but I absolutely understand not feeling safe after an incident like that. It rattles you.

My HV battery failed after about 9 months, they replaced it and I’ve gone over a year now without any issues, so I can speak to that being repair being successful and I know others have had drive unit failures and not had future issues. So it is possible.

This seems to be more about whether you can put it behind you and move on and only you know if you can do that. I encourage you to try since as you said, you got such a great deal with the early pricing.

 

[Great Gatsby]

I was almost in a horrible accident when my R1S decided to fail on a highway. I was barely able to get to shoulder when car was dead. Very scary incident. Car was towed to service center and I was told after a few days that the drive unit (I guess this is the inverter and all motors) failed. They ordered parts and replaced, but then found out the battery was destroyed in the incident. They had to replace the entire battery pack. I have a large pack quad R1S. Needless to say I do not want to even get in the car again. Has anyone experienced such an event. Rivian will not buy the car unless I buy a new one. Well I was a pre-order and now my car is 127K as built. Any recommendations on how to move forward? This is apparently not within the lemon law umbrella. I will never feel safe driving that car again on a highway. How do I sell and not disclose basically all of the car has been replaced!

I'm really sorry to hear that and can't blame you for wanting to jump ship. Unless you filed an insurance claim, you don't have to disclose anything - to my knowledge. I'd sell it to Carmax or Carvanna and move on if that is the route that you want to take. Not sure what your needs are, but plenty of options out there, though as @COdogman said, this could happen with any vehicle.

 

[Time2Roll]

New drive unit, battery and the rest would make me feel like I had a brand new vehicle.
I would assume it is now more reliable than original. The defect is now gone.

While your feelings are valid.... best to face your fears and move forward.

Best of luck on what ever you decide.

 

[SwampNut]

How do I sell and not disclose basically all of the car has been replaced!

As a buyer, this would be great info to know and a real positive. I don't think anyone is going to assume it's a negative and have no idea why you would.

 

[zefram47]

FWIW, the Gen1 quad motor vehicles have an inverter per motor, so 4 inverters. There are two drive units (front and rear) that each have two motors and two inverters. I'd be really surprised if they had to replace more than one drive unit and if it was undrivable, I'd guess it was the front drive unit that failed since there are axle disconnects for the rear drive unit. On this forum there have been a few rear drive unit failures, but I can't recall seeing many front drive unit failures resulting in disabled/undrivable vehicles. Traction batteries have been replaced, but so far it seems that most fail pretty early in their life. As others have said, you've basically got a newish vehicle again assuming the battery is a new unit and not used/remanufactured, which means zero battery degredation and full range as well as a new drive unit with all the line improvements they've made over the past 4 years. Any vehicle can let you down, but Rivian appears to have made things right. Many buyers likely wouldn't be bothered by the replacements as it wasn't the result of an accident.

 

[ndmiller]

I was almost in a horrible accident when my R1S decided to fail on a highway. I was barely able to get to shoulder when car was dead. Very scary incident. Car was towed to service center and I was told after a few days that the drive unit (I guess this is the inverter and all motors) failed. They ordered parts and replaced, but then found out the battery was destroyed in the incident. They had to replace the entire battery pack. I have a large pack quad R1S. Needless to say I do not want to even get in the car again. Has anyone experienced such an event. Rivian will not buy the car unless I buy a new one. Well I was a pre-order and now my car is 127K as built. Any recommendations on how to move forward? This is apparently not within the lemon law umbrella. I will never feel safe driving that car again on a highway. How do I sell and not disclose basically all of the car has been replaced!

Just go to Carvana, Carmax and get rid of it. No-one discloses anything on used cars anymore.

 

[aimandbean]

It was the front drive unit and apparently they put in a refurbished battery. I am not ok with a refurbished battery and now dealing with that.

 

[Dark-Fx]

It was the front drive unit and apparently they put in a refurbished battery. I am not ok with a refurbished battery and now dealing with that.

You should read the warranty terms.

 

[Zoidz]

It was the front drive unit and apparently they put in a refurbished battery. I am not ok with a refurbished battery and now dealing with that.

ALL car manufacturers can and do use refurbished parts for warranty repairs.

 

[COdogman]

It was the front drive unit and apparently they put in a refurbished battery. I am not ok with a refurbished battery and now dealing with that.

What's the difference? It's still under warranty. And it was your original (not refurbished) battery that failed.

Your Rivian broke down, which sucks, but they fixed it. It seems like you are looking for a reason to get rid of it, so trade it in or sell it if it will make you feel comfortable.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

I was almost in a horrible accident when my R1S decided to fail on a highway. I was barely able to get to shoulder when car was dead. Very scary incident. Car was towed to service center and I was told after a few days that the drive unit (I guess this is the inverter and all motors) failed. They ordered parts and replaced, but then found out the battery was destroyed in the incident. They had to replace the entire battery pack. I have a large pack quad R1S. Needless to say I do not want to even get in the car again. Has anyone experienced such an event. Rivian will not buy the car unless I buy a new one. Well I was a pre-order and now my car is 127K as built. Any recommendations on how to move forward? This is apparently not within the lemon law umbrella. I will never feel safe driving that car again on a highway. How do I sell and not disclose basically all of the car has been replaced!

Can you post the work order etc, It will give better context as to the issue and the replaced components.

Also, supper shitty, but 127,000 miles isn't anything to sneeze at, and they've done everything seemingly to fully repair your vehicle. Any vehicle can fail, I'm not here to say Rivian is the shining example of perfection, but even established high quality vehicles from any and all OEM's can break down and leave you stranded.

 

[DaveA]

Can you post the work order etc, It will give better context as to the issue and the replaced components.

Also, supper shitty, but 127,000 miles isn't anything to sneeze at, and they've done everything seemingly to fully repair your vehicle. Any vehicle can fail, I'm not here to say Rivian is the shining example of perfection, but even established high quality vehicles from any and all OEM's can break down and leave you stranded.

I think he means $127k for a new one as configured, not miles?

 

[aimandbean]

127k miles before a major issue...sounds not bad to me. FWIW, the Gen1 quad motor vehicles have an inverter per motor, so 4 inverters. There are two drive units (front and rear) that each have two motors and two inverters. I'd be really surprised if they had to replace more than one drive unit and if it was undrivable, I'd guess it was the front drive unit that failed since there are axle disconnects for the rear drive unit. On this forum there have been a few rear drive unit failures, but I can't recall seeing many front drive unit failures resulting in disabled/undrivable vehicles. Traction batteries have been replaced, but so far it seems that most fail pretty early in their life, but your R1S is one of the higher mileage ones...based on Rivian Roamer data I'd guestimate you're in the top 5-10%, so there's not a ton of data to go off of. As others have said, you've basically got a newish vehicle again assuming the battery is a new unit and not used/remanufactured, which means zero battery degredation and full range as well as a new drive unit with all the line improvements they've made over the past 4 years. Any vehicle can let you down, but Rivian appears to have made things right. Many buyers likely wouldn't be bothered by the replacements as it wasn't the result of an accident.

It only has 13k miles on it. But a new one like mine would be 127K

 

[MountainBikeDude]

It was the front drive unit and apparently they put in a refurbished battery. I am not ok with a refurbished battery and now dealing with that.

That's standard practice. They are obligated to replace a damaged or degraded battery pack with a pack of equal or greater state of health.

I think he means $127k for a new one as configured, not miles?

Ah, I see that now.

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