Keep or Cancel Mobile Service Appointment?

[Yossarian]

About a week ago, the driver display on my R1T showed the tailgate down, when it was not. After dropping and reclosing the tailgate several times to no effect, I did both a soft and hard reset, also to no effect. In addition to the warning on the driver display, the tailgate button on vehicle menu in the main display was greyed out and inoperable. I phoned Rivian service who set up a mobile service appointment (my first) for me for tomorrow.

In the interim however, things have returned to mostly normal regarding the tailgate display. The warning disappeared and has not returned, but the control button remained greyed out and inoperable until this past Weds. At first, the error would return if the tailgate was opened and closed, but as of yesterday, the display is normal and the button active. I'll also add that neither error impacted the ability to operate the vehicle.

I don't want to tie up a technician for no reason, and am wondering if I should cancel the mobile service appointment since I can't reliably get the error to recur. Or is the case that service tech can see in the electronic log what had been happening and address what I guess could be a software glitch or sensor problem?

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[mcarver316]

About a week ago, the driver display on my R1T showed the tailgate down, when it was not. After dropping and reclosing the tailgate several times to no effect, I did both a soft and hard reset, also to no effect. In addition to the warning on the driver display, the tailgate button on vehicle menu in the main display was greyed out and inoperable. I phoned Rivian service who set up a mobile service appointment (my first) for me for tomorrow.

In the interim however, things have returned to mostly normal regarding the tailgate display. The warning disappeared and has not returned, but the control button remained greyed out and inoperable until this past Weds. At first, the error would return if the tailgate was opened and closed, but as of yesterday, the display is normal and the button active. I'll also add that neither error impacted the ability to operate the vehicle.

I don't want to tie up a technician for no reason, and am wondering if I should cancel the mobile service appointment since I can't reliably get the error to recur. Or is the case that service tech can see in the electronic log what had been happening and address what I guess could be a software glitch or sensor problem?

The random tailgate error happened to me a few times, then disappeared for a bit. Good thing I kept the appointment, because the tailgate error came back eventually. Yes the tech should be able to see the electronic log.

Better safe than sorry.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

It will be easier for the tech to find the problem now with the trouble log being sooner. I would keep the appointment.

 

[SwaziCAR]

I suggest keeping it in case the tech decides to replace the latches and/or adjust the gate.

 

[sub]

I would wait until the day before your appointment to consider cancelling it

Even if the tailgate is really fixed, something else will probably fail between now and your appointment. You can add the new problem to your existing appointment without restarting the clock.

 

[Yossarian]

Thanks to all for the replies.

The appointment is for tomorrow afternoon and I think I'm going to keep it. Based on what folks have indicated, the tech ought to be able to see the fault in the vehicle log even if it cannot be reproduced in real time.

 

[Riviot]

About a week ago, the driver display on my R1T showed the tailgate down, when it was not. After dropping and reclosing the tailgate several times to no effect, I did both a soft and hard reset, also to no effect. In addition to the warning on the driver display, the tailgate button on vehicle menu in the main display was greyed out and inoperable. I phoned Rivian service who set up a mobile service appointment (my first) for me for tomorrow.

In the interim however, things have returned to mostly normal regarding the tailgate display. The warning disappeared and has not returned, but the control button remained greyed out and inoperable until this past Weds. At first, the error would return if the tailgate was opened and closed, but as of yesterday, the display is normal and the button active. I'll also add that neither error impacted the ability to operate the vehicle.

I don't want to tie up a technician for no reason, and am wondering if I should cancel the mobile service appointment since I can't reliably get the error to recur. Or is the case that service tech can see in the electronic log what had been happening and address what I guess could be a software glitch or sensor problem?

Keep it! Ask that they replaced both tailgate latches and adjust the tailgate closure.

 

[jfmuva]

I would definitely keep it. Have them give the vehicle a once over. They found a leaking half axle when they did a tire rotation for me and helped get a quick repair at the SC.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

A known problem. It began intermittently on our R1T, with periods of normal function, but eventually wouldn't close at all.

Portland SC took care of us. Let Rivian take care of you too, @Yossarian.

Very best wishes!

 

[RivAW]

Keep it.
Also, learn how to create a diagnostic log and write down the time/day so they can pull specific info. I can’t remember off the top of my head but think the truck does it when you do a full reset (again, mark the date/time for reference which seems to save lots of diagnostic time (so they tell me)…

 

[Yossarian]

Follow-up to mobile service visit.

I was not able to re-create the errors that prompted the service call, however the tech was able to see the error codes in the vehicle log. That was good news, but the bad news was that the tech was unable to determine the root cause of the tailgate error. The best guess was that latch receivers were improperly torqued at the factory. Apparently, there are two types of receivers used, and though both appear to be identical, one is supposed to be torqued to 15 N-m and the other 20 N-m.

In my case, I had the 15 N-m version torqued to the higher setting. The tech did not see any damage and did not replace any of the parts, just backed out the bolts, inspected the receivers , replaced them and then torqued the bolts to the proper setting. Of course, it's not possible at this point to determine if that fixed the issue and I'll just have to wait and see if the error re-appears in the future.

It's also worth mentioning that the fit of the tailgate appeared to be a bit off after the tech removed and re-torqued the receivers. The tailgate alignment was poor when the truck was delivered last June, something that I noted at the time and that Rivian service mostly fixed in November when the truck was at the Trenton SC for tonneau cover installation. The tailgate was not perfect even after that fix, but the mis-alignment was very small and almost unnoticable. After the work yesterday, the tailgate is no longer flush with the driver side body panel when closed. The skewed fit is quite noticeable, and now when the tailgate is open, you can see visble slack at the cable on the driver's side. While the tech was not able to handle re-alignment during the visit, he did set up an appointment at the Service Center for the work.

I'm now wondering if the tailgate misalignment is what brought about the error codes in the first place. I should know more after the SC visit, scheduled for early next month.

 

[Glembi2]

Thanks for the update. Let us know what the SC does to fix it.

Panel alignments are weird. I’m convinced they are more of an art form than a skill.

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