Four years, four R1Ts. An adventure and a bitter-sweet cautionary tale.

[Husky]

You're welcome. It's been a long time coming, and honestly I've been putting it off because of the sheer exhaustion of rehashing and sorting out all the failures, trips to service centers, etc. It's literally hundreds of pages of documents at this point (thank you Claude!). If I wasn't such a fan of so many aspects of these vehicles, I surely wouldn't bother to take the time and energy to keep us in them, let alone posting a novel on a forum about it

I understand your excitement about R2—I think they've made a much better vehicle. I've seen one in person, and spoken with multiple technicians about them who had direct insight into the improved repairability, modularity, field repairability, simplifying measures (especially with the suspension), etc. I'm sure they will have teething pains, but I hope they really did learn from all we the early adopter ones and design a more durable, repairable, dependable vehicle. Time will tell. I have my R2 reservation on ice (I've been offered to get one of the early ones, but have declined so far—my partner is happy with her Volvo XC40 Recharge, and it has been very reliable... knock on wood ).

To your questions:

1. Brake wear has mostly been due to pads wearing down to minimums on the insides of the fronts. The rears have been due to rotor pitting or uneven wear as well, but not seemingly following a trend of it always being the insides. Also, my father's truck had a seized rear caliper that they totally missed on an appointment and then it lost all braking function a week later (we had reported a grinding sound among other things it was down there for, they "couldn't replicate," then it came back sounding worse, and they couldn't see it for weeks until it became undriveable). They did end up replacing the calipers and rear pads/rotors that time due to the failure.

2. I believe they are made by Monroe Solutions. They are awful—I basically expect them to be slowly leaking even months after being replaced. They really should have redesigned them ASAP to at least have proper debris exclusion from the main piston seals. The same mobile tech who explained his theory on the brakes also said these resemble road car dampers rather than off-road or many truck dampers that are more protected. It's concerning that they just keep spending the money to slap the same crappy ones on rather than eat the inventory of them, redesign, and solve the problem for people...

Which brings me to another point I didn't even bring up in the post, but have some speculative theories about: I think that Rivian as a new manufacturer trying to release a vehicle in the supply-chain shit-show that was 2020-'21 likely got a fair share of shoddy components. I also wonder if they had to make massive commitments to specific components to have suppliers agree to make them when they were already struggling to meet demand (remember how hard it was to get new vehicles around then?). I suspect a lot of corners were cut due to the larger macro factors, likely by Rivian directly but more importantly their network of newly established supplier relationships. I have no specific data/proof on this, but it seems like a sound theory that could explain some of these things. What I don't understand is how these trucks could fail like this for me, but then there are people on the total other end of the spectrum with the "I've got 100k on my early Launch Quad in a rural wintery state and all I've done is rotate my tires!"

It's genuinely confusing how both realities can exist simultaniously.

Good luck. I could understand you going either way—I was very eager to get one as soon as I could, personally, and in spite of all of this I don't even know if I regret doing so. It was fun to be on the early wave of them, though I do think my dad should have sold his for the $140k or so they were going for when his was first delivered

Thanks. Monroe
I hear you about the supply chain issues a while back. They really messed up the car market.

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[Gen(R3)Xer]

Thanks for all the great info.

In regard to your concerns about the R2 sharing the same suspension and brake components as the R1, it doesn’t have the same air suspension as the R1 models; instead, it features a more traditional suspension system.

The R2 doesn’t use the same half shafts as the R1 either; it features upgraded components that are designed to address issues found in the earlier models. The R2's half shafts are part of its new design, which aims to improve performance and reliability.

Additionally, while specific brake details are not mentioned, the R2 is designed to be more affordable and may have different components compared to the R1.

 

[onesoil]

Thanks for all the great info.

In regard to your concerns about the R2 sharing the same suspension and brake components as the R1, it doesn’t have the same air suspension as the R1 models; instead, it features a more traditional suspension system.

The R2 doesn’t use the same half shafts as the R1 either; it features upgraded components that are designed to address issues found in the earlier models. The R2's half shafts are part of its new design, which aims to improve performance and reliability.

Additionally, while specific brake details are not mentioned, the R2 is designed to be more affordable and may have different components compared to the R1.

Oh yeah, they’ve majorly simplified things and honestly I don’t think R2 shares many parts directly from what I’ve seen/heard/read. The field tech’s I’ve spoken with about R2 both mentioned that Rivian flew a bunch of technicians in to HQ to have a couple days of feedback about which ways R2 needs to be different than R1 from a mechanical/repairability perspective. The two techs I spoke with said they implemented most if not all of the feedback, which is a good sign.

 

[Zorg]

Air suspension is great... if it's reliable. For those that live in the mountains, turn off the Regen brake blending feature. It overheats the brakes on long downhills and warps the rotors.

 

[FutureTruck]

Great writeup, very interesting data. The Air Suspension, or "hydraulic dampers" as you call it is a huge failure point (failed in both my R1s and my buddys) so we knew that would be getting cut out of R2. It's the same for Range Rover and every other vehicle with air suspension. I hope someone comes out with a R1 Coilover spring replacement.

The brake issue is bewildering to me...I don't even use the brakes on my truck...one pedal driving for me. Really, really rare.

Key for R1...lease, lease, lease.

 

[Gen(R3)Xer]

Oh yeah, they’ve majorly simplified things and honestly I don’t think R2 shares all that many parts directly from what I’ve seen/heard/read. The field tech’s I’ve spoken with about R2 both mentioned that Rivian flew a bunch of technicians in to HQ to have a couple days of feedback about which ways R2 needs to be different than R1 from a mechanical/repairability perspective. The two techs I spoke with said they implemented most if not all of the feedback, which is a good sign.

I truly believe that Rivian wants to become a mainstream automaker. They also don’t want to lose their adventure branding and will take everything they’ve learned from the R2/R3 and throw it back at the R1T/R1S. In many ways the R1 line was over-engineered and a lot more cost can be pulled out of it.

I’d say a Gen 3 R1 will become a reality within the next few years. Maybe after the Georgia Plant gets up and running (late 2028/early 2029?) Either that or they double down on the R2 and just focus on making variants, like the R2X/RAD or R2T if small EV trucks, like Slate and Ford’s ground-up EV truck, do well.

Just my two cents, of course.

 

[strykerwsu]

I dont understand why you needed brakes so fast. I have 40k and 30k on ours and barely signs of wear.

Understand you say you rode hard and put away wet so that must be the difference. 7 total years between our 2. 1 half day service visit and 1 msu to home garage to fix pinched windshield washer fluid. Daily drivers but mostly paved roads.

 

[DB-R1SGEN2]

I debate this currently myself. We very much were "believers." My father reserved his in 2018, and I got mine as soon as Demos became available. For my truck, I may try to hold out (and perhaps get extended warranty to buy more time) for Gen 3 and Scout. At this point, I hope there will be some other midsize electric offerings, though that's not looking promising.

It probably fits within Einstein's definition of insanity to even consider another Rivian, but I do hold hope that they are improving their hardware and that early Gen 1 is likely a low point from a reliability standpoint. I hope that by Gen 3 they significantly improve suspension compenentry quality and design to withstand more daily use. We shall see... And with 44k miles, I'll have to make a decision within the next year or so whichever way I go (for my truck, anyway).

For our employees, there's just about no way we will get more Rivians for our two employee trucks (or any of our other EVs we provide other employees, though I might consider R2 depending on how reliability pans out with early owners).

Your article made me glad that I traded my Gen 1 R1S Launch Edition for a 2025 Gen 2 R1S Tri-Motor. My wife and I took the vehicle on a cross-country camping trip from Virginia to California and back between December 2024 and January 2025. So far, we've had four warranty service visits, but none of the issues were critical or left the vehicle undrivable.
I've already paid for the autonomy package, so the plan is to keep the vehicle for the long haul. Based on your ownership experience, I'll definitely consider extending the warranty.
Speaking of your experience, I'd like to think that if Rivian corporate leadership were aware of both your commitment to the brand and the issues you've experienced, they would make things right and perhaps even use your story as an example of their own commitment to customers and the product.
One more thought I'd like to share. On July 2, during my commute home from work, I was using Driver+ as I normally do when a car in the lane to my right abruptly merged into my lane without enough speed or space. I steered aggressively to avoid a collision but still ended up hitting the other vehicle's rear quarter panel.
I'm still trying to understand what should be expected of the ADAS in that situation and whether it performed as designed. I may post more details about the incident later. For now, the part that stuck with me came when I took the vehicle to a Rivian-certified collision shop. After examining the damage and listening to my description of the warnings I received, the manager told me that EVs are essentially showroom cars and aren't meant for real-world use.
I don't believe that's true.

 

[TTedP]

I have higher hopes for the R2 as some of the most common failure points on R1 don't exist on R2.

Important context here. Different suspension designs and time will tell on what they did for the HVAC.

 

[Husky]

Oh yeah, they’ve majorly simplified things and honestly I don’t think R2 shares many parts directly from what I’ve seen/heard/read. The field tech’s I’ve spoken with about R2 both mentioned that Rivian flew a bunch of technicians in to HQ to have a couple days of feedback about which ways R2 needs to be different than R1 from a mechanical/repairability perspective. The two techs I spoke with said they implemented most if not all of the feedback, which is a good sign.

That's great to hear. It's the kind of thing companies need to do more of.

 

[BanditTA]

Sorry to hear about all of your issues. New car company, complicated vehicle, all emerging at COVID time probably isn’t an ideal combo.

Hoping my 2026 gen 2 R1T Tri Max has most of these gremlins figured out. I’ve only had the truck for a week but I love it. My favorite aspect of it is the suspension too, so crossing my fingers it holds up.

I didn’t buy mine to be a work truck though. Just wanted a truck that was actually fun to drive and handle the occasional trip to Home Depot or Lowe’s.

 

[onesoil]

I dont understand why you needed brakes so fast. I have 40k and 30k on ours and barely signs of wear.

Understand you say you rode hard and put away wet so that must be the difference. 7 total years between our 2. 1 half day service visit and 1 msu to home garage to fix pinched windshield washer fluid. Daily drivers but mostly paved roads.

The "rode hard, put away wet" thing is what various SC managers have leaned on, but this actually isn't really the case for at least two of our three trucks. My truck gets washed frequently and drives most of its miles on blacktop. I am actually pretty careful with my vehicle and try very hard not to abuse it. I don't slow to a crawl over washboards or potholes (which are numerous in our area), but I don't think I should have to with this vehicle. I am director of operations in our business, so my truck ends up mostly performing as a mobile "office," people carryer, and tool box for me. I probably put it through more "abuse" while doing personal things than while at work.

Our builder occasionally uses his to haul lumber, but other than that it's primarily commuter transport for him and he lives on blacktop. VT has a lot of salt in the winter, muddy roads in the saddle seasons, and our sites have well maintained gravel roads (we have to be able to receive triaxle dump trucks and live-bottom tractor trailers throughout the year to fairly remote areas of our site, so roads have to be well maintained and capable of carrying way more weight than these trucks).

My father is pretty rough on his since he has increasingly limited mobility and uses it like a UTV sometimes, but it's mostly cosmetics that have suffered at his hands—the mechanical stuff seems to fail due to defective quality/poor design, not how it's used. I can say that the exterior is surprisingly fragile and poorly designed for wear and tear of work or off-road use—the trim panels and bumpers are very fragile, the underbelly and wheel wells aren't designed to shed mud/debris well, and the bed liner retains whatever you put in it if not tarped. I never haul dirt in mine, but we load compost and potting soil into all sorts of pickup trucks (occasionally other people's Rivian's). I always tell anyone with a Rivian that they better tarp their bed first, or they will never get all of what we put in out...

I think one of the things that frustrates me is actually the disparity between how these trucks are marketed and how fragile the have proven to be—sure, they aren't marketed as a "work truck," but the kind of "work" we subject them to is very light duty compared to how genuine "work truck" pickups are often used by contractors or on job sites and mainly involves transportation of ourselves and some light tools. A so called "adventure" vehicle that is designed to go off-road and do all the things Rivian markets their vehicles to do shouldn't have so many fail points in basic day-to-day operation as a primarily on-road commuter vehicle.

I brought this up to the Hudson Service Manager on one of our many return trips for some failed item and he had the nerve to explain that "these trucks aren't really intended to live in an environment like you have up in Vermont—they're intended to go on an adventure in a place like where you live and then come back again" (not verbatim, but very close). I couldn't believe that response! My reply was, "So I guess we just live the adventure then because of where we live? That's ridiculous... Especially for a company who frequently uses the slogan 'Keep the world adventurous forever' "..Our heavy equipment service manager has a service truck with a crane, compressor, welder, and all his tools for any real field mechanic work.

I'm glad that some (maybe most, even) have not experienced the levels of component failure and reliability issues that we have, but I don't think it should be explained away as "well, you just live in too rough an environment to expect your vehicle not to be falling apart in the first couple years of use." I'm not saying that's what you're implying, but I have heard some imply as much when I've brought up my experiences. All sorts of other brands can have reliability issues, likely tested more in our context, but we've never seen anything close to this level of consistent unreliabiliity—and as a group we have experience in Vermont with a wide variety of other manufacturers to compare.

I do have to wonder if the people who have no issues with their Rivians are mostly just using them as grocery-getters in the suburbs—which is fine, and no judgment on those who's reality that describes, but given how Rivian markets their vehicles, it would be dissapointing if this is the extent of use-case that allows them to remain reliable.

 

[onesoil]

Important context here. Different suspension designs and time will tell on what they did for the HVAC.

HVAC is totally different on Gen 2 and R2 since it is a heat pump. I haven't heard of any issues with Gen 2 HVAC, fortunately.

 

[onesoil]

Push for buybacks. Push hard.

I was past the NY state Lemon Law time limits and consulted an attorney on mine when I finally hit the wall. Lawyers basically said arbitration is as good as you're going to get because of the situation. I escalated within Rivian through my local service center. Basically said "I need to escalate this to management and start discussing what a buy back looks like". They assigned a regional employee to walk me through the process. The process was pretty straightforward, and if you approach them with the same level headedness of these posts, I think you'll get some traction. I never yelled, and never raised my voice, just presented facts, disappointment, and asked for a resolution.

I gave them options; buy it back with no cash out of pocket. Lease me into a Gen2 with no cash out of pocket, or extend my warranty to 100k and throw in a performance upgrade for free. Those were all "roughly equitable" when compared to the number of days in the shop, the time I spent getting it there, and my cash out of pocket. They went and talked it over internally, and investigated as well. and came back with a "Cash and keep" strategy. Rivian initially offered to move me to a G2 lease, but declined after they saw the negative I was carrying (I offered to cover that portion of unpaid negative flip and they still declined). The final result was that Rivian cut me a $7k check in exchange for me not pursuing arbitration or Lemon Law return on this vehicle for any existing open items. I agreed at the time, but in retrospect I should have chosen arbitration, as the same problems continue to be problems much as you've experienced.

To be clear, they told me at every single step of that process that I had the right to go to arbitration if I didn't like the way things were going. They didn't hide behind it at all, and honestly almost welcomed it. They were exceptionally easy to work with, although very hard negotiators, were generally pleasant to speak to on the phone, and were never condescending or rude. For as many ways as either of the parties could have derailed it, it remained remarkably civil and solution oriented.

Much like you, I would consider another Rivian because of how they've handled my issues alone. I can't imagine this level of shit show of vehicle/service with Ford or GM. I had a lemon of a Focus back in '12, and Ford customer service was closer to a carnival than a company, while Rivian has been overwhelmingly easy to deal with......even if we shouldn't have had to.

Who did you first reach out to kick off the negotiation?

I have been thinking of going this route, but frankly dreading the process. I've been through a lemon law negotiation that resulted in a buyback with another manufacturer and it was a very long drawn out process, but ultimately worth it.

Would you be willing to discuss this in a little more detail? (off-the forum). If so, DM me and I can give you my number.

 

[onesoil]

I dont understand why you needed brakes so fast. I have 40k and 30k on ours and barely signs of wear.

Understand you say you rode hard and put away wet so that must be the difference. 7 total years between our 2. 1 half day service visit and 1 msu to home garage to fix pinched windshield washer fluid. Daily drivers but mostly paved roads.

Also, I just noticed you're in Kansas. I've never been, but my understanding is that it's flat as a pancake. We are constantly going up/down hills and mountains in VT, so I think it's just not apples to apples.

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