2023 R1T - Sagging front end?

[Robin]

I recently noticed that the front right corner of my Rivian sags when it has been parked for a few days. (A 2023 R1T that I bought new in July, it has about 5k miles now.) Has anyone else seen this issue?

While I do enjoy channeling the 90's lowrider truck vibes, I'm guessing it's a suspension issue or leak in the air suspension.

I had to have my whole front replaced this year. It was sagging. It was on the tires and I called and said it was unsafe to drive so I took it into the shop in San Francisco and they replaced everything under warranty. I had it towed cause I could not drive it.🥸 mine is also a R1T, I picked it up in March ‘23

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[MountainBikeDude]

I might agree if it wasn’t such a frequent occurrence on our two ‘22 quads (VINs 5852 and 10264). The former just got back from its 5th or 6th trip to the SC, with a combined several months away. The latter is on its 4th trip to the SC in a few months over a year (it was a demo I got with 10k miles). If we lived near a SC and always got loaners, I guess I wouldn’t feel as inconvenienced by our ownership as I do. The time suck and expense (for us and Rivian—one can only imagine how much this and their service logistical inefficiencies has cost them on our units ) have gotten pretty ridiculous.

If we weren’t 3+ hours away from the nearest SC, and/or if they guaranteed transport and loaners every time, I’d also be less unhappy with how often these trucks have needed significant work for vehicles with any miles, let alone under 30k….

• I’ve had rear dampers replaced and they are both leaking again. My dad has had all four dampers done.
• We’ve both had half shafts replaced, at least once.
• Full air suspension system on one, part on mine (can’t remember which components exactly.
• My dad’s truck was just bricked due to HVAC drain plug failing which backed up water causing a HVCH fault, fried 12V batteries and a bricked truck. His carpets, HVAC system, and 12V batteries needed to be replaced.
• My truck is in now with wet mats and no radar/proximity sensors (likely AXM module failure, which I actually suspect may be related to the HVAC condensation backing into the cab).
• Too many “small” items to count for both of ours (front drivers seat, center console, trim pieces, door handles, triangular front side glass, multiple tonneau covers, alignments, jounce lines, prematurely worn tires, etc. etc.)
• Full brake jobs on both trucks under/around 20k miles.

This is just off the top of my head, I’m sure I’m forgetting some things. Our third truck (which we lease for an employee, VIN 30585) has had front dampers, jounce lines, alignment, and a few other odds and ends, but so far has been much less trouble in the first year, though it has wet carpets now and will need HVAC work ASAP. Our 4th (also for an employee, VIN 33523) has been the most reliable. It just needed jounce lines and an alignment.

I can’t really imagine how these trucks could be any less reliable, honestly. It does seem like they are getting better, but it’s still shocking how many reports there are of significant warranty issues due to poorly designed/manufactured/executed parts/systems.

If we didn’t love many aspects of them, we surely would have tried for lemon law/buyback or traded in for something else (my dad might after this last bricking incident).

As an early preorder holder who had previously experienced awful Tesla service with no SC in his state, my dad was promised transportation and loaners for any warranty issue that couldn’t be fixed remotely. They stopped giving us transport long ago (though a service manager who is no longer with the company tried his best to literally meet us in the middle on many occasions, sending loaners/drivers to meet us in West Lebanon to exchange trucks). We also have had several tows for drivable issues in the past, but that seems to be truly a thing of the past now.

But I applaud your optimism—I suppose it is on some level impressive how much work these SCs have cut out for them to make good on these vehicles. Maybe you’ve had a more reliable experience overall?

My 2023 R1T hasn't been perfect by any means, but I've been fortunate that I live within 15km of the Richmond BC service Center. So I suppose if there has been an issue, it's a matter of a 20 minute drive.

I've had rear dampers replaced, a problem front passenger damper that caused a 85km/hr limp mode. Fortunately on that one I was able to drive it the on and off a ferry and on to the service center. Brakes had stuck pistons around 20,000kms, they ended up replacing calipers, some of the lines, pads and rotors. When they did the front passenger suspension, they swapped it with the Gen 2 damper and air spring, along with the halfshaft and hub assembly on that side. Swapped jounce lines for Gen 2 because I asked. Swapped front subframe for Gen 2 cast due to a failed weld.

So not unscathed, but treated quite well throughout the processes. Again, I think my proximity to the SC makes these easier to overall but also the personnel at the SC are always pretty thorough in finding any issues. Which was the reason for my comment above.

Also, as you touched on, it's hard to see beyond Rivian ownership because of its breadth of capability. I am hopeful that my trucks issues along the way, have more reliable, proven components used when those original parts fail, which is seemingly the case.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

🥸 mine is also a R1T, I picked it up in March ‘23

March '23 was a good month!

 

[onesoil]

My 2023 R1T hasn't been perfect by any means, but I've been fortunate that I live within 15km of the Richmond BC service Center. So I suppose if there has been an issue, it's a matter of a 20 minute drive.

I've had rear dampers replaced, a problem front passenger damper that caused a 85km/hr limp mode. Fortunately on that one I was able to drive it the on and off a ferry and on to the service center. Brakes had stuck pistons around 20,000kms, they ended up replacing calipers, some of the lines, pads and rotors. When they did the front passenger suspension, they swapped it with the Gen 2 damper and air spring, along with the halfshaft and hub assembly on that side. Swapped jounce lines for Gen 2 because I asked. Swapped front subframe for Gen 2 cast due to a failed weld.

So not unscathed, but treated quite well throughout the processes. Again, I think my proximity to the SC makes these easier to overall but also the personnel at the SC are always pretty thorough in finding any issues. Which was the reason for my comment above.

Also, as you touched on, it's hard to see beyond Rivian ownership because of its breadth of capability. I am hopeful that my trucks issues along the way, have more reliable, proven components used when those original parts fail, which is seemingly the case.

Well it sounds like you’ve had your fair share of major warranty items too! It really would make a difference being close to the SC. I have mostly had good experiences when problems arise, it just becomes more time consuming and logistically complicated when we have to take a day to get to and from the SC or try to get transport (something that we have mostly achieved to some degree, but are increasingly unlikely to get from Rivian).

It was also somewhat of a gamble to buy/lease these as work vehicles (that are also used as primary personal trucks). The two employees we leased these for as a part of their compensation packages sold their own trucks as part of the deal, so I feel an additionally strong responsibility to keep them on the road as they use them as their means of getting themselves and their families around in addition to the work use.

We did go into ownership knowing that to some degree we are beta testers—and that we certainly feel like we have been!

I appreciate that they’re improving failure-prone components to be more reliable, and I hope to basically have all of the improved revisions of all major parts installed by the time my truck goes off warranty (though I will seriously consider trading for something new, likely another Rivian at that point, since I don’t really want to roll the dice on after warranty cost of ownership for one of these trucks).

Perhaps we were foolish in diving head on into having four of these for work/personal use as primary vehicles so far from an SC, though we did so with the assurance on multiple occasions from multiple people on the sales side that transport to and from the SC with loaners would be provided for all warranty work. Unfortunately these were not promises they should have made, since over time that has basically been diminished to towing only of the trucks aren’t drivable and loaners when available (which they often aren’t). That’s the part that stings—the lack of upholding the promises made at various points which were central in our decision making process to trust these vehicles for the use-case we got them for.

Overall, I think they are headed in the right direction in our area (a few service centers will be coming online this year that will help reduce backlog, and put more loaners into our area, and by next summer I hope to have a SC in Vermont—a state which seems to have a disproportionately large number of Rivians compared to many others, but a very small population, so probably lower numbers overall than many adjacent states).

May your truck continue to bring you happiness, I know mine will as long as we decide to keep it (probably another 30k miles and a few more years, at least). I have free RAN charging until Dec 2027, so I hope to have my truck until then at least. The next few years will be interesting, and I’m thinking Gen 3 may be what I aim to trade into (or maybe lightly used/demo Gen 2) when the time comes, but for now my hope is that I can get a year long run without needing to go in for weeks/month+ at the SC after this stint getting my HVAC/carpets and rear dampers sorted

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