Air Suspension Failure / Malfunction

[RivianMatt]

We picked up our R1S a little over a month ago, on September 16th. We've loved the car so far, except for one critical issue. On the drive home from picking the R1S up, we noticed that when the air suspension adjusted the ride height, there was an extremely loud swoosh/whoosh/hiss sound that we could hear in the cabin whenever the suspension was being lowered. After a few days, we turned off Kneel Mode because people outside the car could hear it kneeling from it seemed like 100 yards away. I started searching these forums to see if this was normal, and I was somewhat surprised that I couldn't readily find the answer.

Fast forward to two week later, on September 30th. I had a drop in appointment at my local service center to pick up some gear that I had ordered (cargo cross bars, all weather floor mats and a few other odds and ends). I was planning on mentioning the noise issue to the person who I ended up seeing, who proved to be (I believe) the service center manager. Before I even mentioned it to him, though, he asked me to pull around to a loading dock so he could load up my gear. I decided to re-activate Kneel Mode so he could hear it for himself, and as I parked, I could see a little look of concern on his face. He said that the noise was not normal at all and that I should get it checked out. He speculated that a noise muffler might have been installed incorrectly, and he suggested that I make an appointment with a mobile technician.

My appointment with the mobile technician was today. We went through a couple of cycles together in which he asked me to switch between the highest suspension height (Off-Road All Purpose, Highest) and the lowest suspension height (Sport, lowest). What he seemed most surprised at after going through these cycles was that we *hadn't* to this point received any "Suspension Malfunction" or "Service Air Suspension" error messages, because from his perspective, the air suspensions was having a big problem. He said it was not a simple muffler issue and that the devices to muffle the sound were installed correctly.

We then put it back up to the highest suspension height, and he crawled under to take a look. He was under there for a while, and all of the sudden, instead of the loud swoosh/whoosh/hiss, imagine the sound of large balloon that has just been popped, and air is rapidly leaving. That is basically what happened to my suspension, as it literally failed as the technician was working on it. He scrambled to make it out from under the car in time as it was lowering down. At that point, we finally got the Suspension Malfunction error codes, which he was immediately able to upload.

He said that on one hand, the R1S remains technically drivable at its lowest suspension height, but that it'd be a very rough ride (I took it out for a drive around the block after he left, and from my perspective, it's undrivable - I don't want to damage it any further). He's getting in touch with his service advisor and said he'd whatever he can to expedite my repair, and he says it's likely that they are going to want to tow my car in. At this point, though, I'm basically sitting around waiting with only one car. And my family of four definitely needs two cars. Ugh.

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[KBabione]

I can't imagine your frustration, but good for you to think of re-enabling kneel mode to ensure that it was heard by the SC manager (or anyone else). Hopefully they'll give you a loaner to meet the 2-car family needs. My twins (now 17) are both driving so we became a 3-car family with the arrival of the Rivian (which they haven't yet driven).

 

[RivianPioneer]

So sorry to hear what you’re dealing with. When my R1S suspension adjusts I can hear a low level ticking noise, which I have not minded but I’m (amongst other things) planning on having them look at when I have my appointment (they scheduled me for about 2 months from now).

When a Rivian is working, it’s great, when it’s not I’m reading so much on this forum and others that seem to point to the fact that it can be a major headache. They do not yet have infrastructure to adequately support repairs and replacement. That’s why I’m hoping nothing major happens with my R1S or pushing for a sooner appointment as my issues are not critical and I know others need access to these limited repair resources more urgently.

Hopefully within the next 12 to 24 months, Rivian will expand their repair facilities nationwide. If they don’t, that will result in a lot more complaints and negative press. That will mean a lot less people considering Rivian vehicles.

Having lived through the evolution of Tesla, I believe the current issues with the repair chain are to be expected but I also think Rivian can and will get to a better place in the next 12-24 months.

 

[sierraskier]

I think you made the right call. While you theoretically could drive it, that's bad advice and I absolutely would NOT drive it without the airbag suspension. It is likely just resting on the bump stops and driving it would be transferring all of the road forces and stress of a 7k lbs vehicle to all the other components in the system (exterior and interior) which are surely not designed for that.

 

[sfvR1S]

Hmmm, now I feel like I should try out the suspension to make sure it works ok. I was going to wait until the off-road shakedown run after I install rock sliders, but probably should make sure the suspension works before heading out.

 

[RivianMatt]

Thanks for your comments! The mobile technician that I worked with was very proactive, contacting me three separate times this morning. In his last call, he told me that he just finished inputting all of his field notes, that he had gotten nowhere with his back channel service center contacts relative to getting my service appointment scheduled, so he recommended that I schedule service by calling the nationwide service number, while pushing hard for Rivian to cover a rental.

I immediately called the nationwide service number after we hung up, and I found them to be fairly proactive as well. I'm getting towed on Monday for a service appointment on November 30th - which frankly is earlier than I was anticipating - and they immediately offered up a car rental on their dime without me having to ask. I just got back home from picking up that rental.

That all being said, my wife's confidence in our new Rivian has really taken a big, big hit. It's primarily her car - what she uses to haul my 13-year old and 14-year old sons and their friends in - and she's not liking such a major issue a month into ownership (nor am I, for that matter).

 

[sierraskier]

Thanks for your comments! The mobile technician that I worked with was very proactive, contacting me three separate times this morning. In his last call, he told me that he just finished inputting all of his field notes, that he had gotten nowhere with his back channel service center contacts relative to getting my service appointment scheduled, so he recommended that I schedule service by calling the nationwide service number, while pushing hard for Rivian to cover a rental.

I immediately called the nationwide service number after we hung up, and I found them to be fairly proactive as well. I'm getting towed on Monday for a service appointment on November 30th - which frankly is earlier than I was anticipating - and they immediately offered up a car rental on their dime without me having to ask. I just got back home from picking up that rental.

That all being said, my wife's confidence in our new Rivian has really taken a big, big hit. It's primarily her car - what she uses to haul my 13-year old and 14-year old sons and their friends in - and she's not liking such a major issue a month into ownership (nor am I, for that matter).

That sucks, and I can't blame her. But the on the flip side of that coin, my total experience after 1.5yrs of ownership and 15k miles is so completely different and better than any than other vehicle I've owned (first EV) that I will probably never consider buying another ICE vehicle (for daily driving). I just just did not fully understand how much better it is than owning an ICE vehicle without experiencing it daily over an extended period

- taken it to a service center 1 time, was given premium rental
- no oil changes, no service whatsoever other than that
- not one fill up at a gas station
- driving experience and capabilities lightyears ahead of any other vehicle I've driven
- OTA software updates with new features/capabilities/fixes/improvements regularly

We need to replace our other ICE vehicle and it's either going to be R1S (1st choice) or possibly a Polestar. Ultimately everyone has to make their own decision, but you could replace it... and just as easily have another major issue with any other vehicle.

 

[NineElectrics]

Ultimately everyone has to make their own decision, but you could replace it... and just as easily have another major issue with any other vehicle.

Based on my experience, I would say Rivian is less reliable than almost all other vehicles. Consumer Reports predicts that as well, simply because it’s a new car from a new car company.

 

[sierraskier]

Based on my experience, I would say Rivian is less reliable than almost all other vehicles. Consumer Reports predicts that as well, simply because it’s a new car from a new car company.

And based on my experience, it's more reliable than any other vehicle.

Consumer Reports "predicts" that because it has no data, so that is based on nothing.

So, in summary, there is zero new information here.

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