Fun "Critical Battery Issue" on vacation

[technerd]

Last day of a vacation out of state, went to pack up and leave and "Critical Battery Issue." Did a hard restart and nothing but a lot of incessant dinging. Been praising Rivian for the last 2.5 years but in the last month I had the entire front suspension replaced and door handle replaced and now this. To their credit the roadside person was very helpful and found a rental car big enough to get everyone and everything back home, even though it was at Avis and not Enterprise, but now I'm left waiting for an answer, and will have to make a 5 hour round trip drive to Richmond to pick it up when it's ready. Pretty frustrating.

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[dradam]

Can only empathize. Sorry you’re going through this. I’m at 14 K no issues. But I hate hearing stories like yours. I do hope that Rivian will make everything right and that you will continue to love your vehicle.

 

[COdogman]

Ugh. I think anyone would be frustrated in that situation. Hope they get it back to you soon.

 

[technerd]

Well 10 days later and service is still "investigating." They have it alive again, but I guess they just have the 12v on a charger, because they said the Critical Battery issue persists. Definitely not what I like to hear.

 

[Tony de Veyra]

oh god, I had the same "critical battery issue" report after a "possible electrical hazard" warning while L2 charging. Put my R1S into the Service Center last thursday. It died on the lot. Made another thread about it with a video that included the warning I was getting, complete with the annoying ding ding ding...but I am also 2K miles away from home on a van-life style adventure. So I was living out of the R1S and am now...living out of an enterprise chrysler minivan.

the fact that after 10 days they still haven't assessed your problem...nightmare juice for me. Ack.

 

[technerd]

Well after 2 weeks with no communication other than "we're still investigating" I started getting more stern with them about providing an update. Sounding like the Gen 1 HVAC, although all he said was an "internal issue with the front HVAC box," whatever that means. So parts arrive Friday and then they will give me a better estimate. We're at 2 weeks in so far, so sounding like another week until I can expect it done, and then I need to figure out how to get 5 hours back to pick it up.

 

[technerd]

Well, doing the 5 hour trek (each way) to pick it up tomorrow, took 3 weeks to diagnose, order parts and fix it. Communication has been terrible, but they finally sent me the techs notes as to what the issue was.

"Vehicle came in with critical battery error, and caution when driving through water tell tale. Was able to run a few procedures and drive, but caution alert stayed. Performed isolation test on all high voltage components based off dtcs that were present, and found the ptc heater to be bad. Replaced whole hvac case with new heater inside, performed all calibrations, cleared safe states and verified proper functionality of vehicle"

Is this the same hvac issue I've seen posts talking about?

 

[MidnightRivian]

Well, doing the 5 hour trek (each way) to pick it up tomorrow, took 3 weeks to diagnose, order parts and fix it. Communication has been terrible, but they finally sent me the techs notes as to what the issue was.

"Vehicle came in with critical battery error, and caution when driving through water tell tale. Was able to run a few procedures and drive, but caution alert stayed. Performed isolation test on all high voltage components based off dtcs that were present, and found the ptc heater to be bad. Replaced whole hvac case with new heater inside, performed all calibrations, cleared safe states and verified proper functionality of vehicle"

Is this the same hvac issue I've seen posts talking about?

I believe the campaign goal is to catch it before it get's to the level you have hazard lights on your dash.

Here is an example where member @1stPlace had electrical hazard message appeared on their dash screen. The fix as seen below was to replace the HVAC.

PSA: Make Sure to Check Your Driver Side Mats and Passenger Side Mats for Moisture after HVAC drain Plug Campaign RCA-26-24-002-1

I just posted in the other thread about this... here was my work order.

 

[1stPlace]

It is possible this issue could reappear again even after the service center installed an "updated design" in my vehicle. I'm not cynical--I just want to be prepared. The original chilewich mats that came with the R1S are nice, but they are not waterproof and it is easy to place blame of wet carpet on that. I am thinking of just using the all-weather mat in the drivers side from now on and doing spot checks for any wet carpet underneath once a month during the warm seasons.

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