New vehicle pickup issues

[vlocci]

Soliciting advice after a less than ideal first day with my 2025 R1T. Is this semi-normal? First EV for me, so I'm trying to adjust my expectations

Picked up at the Boston service center and upon switching to drive immediately got a "brake failure" notification. Service manager confirmed it and did a hard reset. Was told this occasionally happens with newly put in service vehicles.

Drove 20 miles home without issue. First trip of the afternoon I received a slew of warning lights and notifications while pulling away from a light. Brake failure/Suspension failure/No regen/4wd/etc. Speed limited to 19 mph which was dangerous as I was on a 50MPH road.

Managed to get to the shoulder and did another hard reset. Made it home, charged to full and then unplugged for the night.

At this point the vehicle has 40 miles on it, 25 of which were mine.

This morning another round of notifications. No regen, rear passenger door inoperative, etc etc. Another hard reset per service advisor on the phone. Local service center is closed as it is a Sunday. I've been recording these failures using this hazard light switch, and documenting them in the rivian App along with pictures.

Phone service department suggested parking the vehicle as it was clearly not driveable. They offered uber credits and informed me they can send a tow truck to pick up but the first service slot was January!

My questions:

-Has anyone had a similar experience and do you have any idea what it may point to? Failing 12v batteries seems to cause all sorts of headaches per my 1 hour of internet research! but this is a new vehicle. (albeit from available stock so I have no idea when it was built and how long it is sitting)

-What is a reasonable expectation for service given I have a whopping 45 miles and 12 hours on a brand new vehicle. I come from German cars, where the service department would have a similar (or nicer!) loaner at my home and would haul away the faulty vehicle in the most seamless manner possible. They would most certainly prioritize repair and do a fair amount of sucking up and apologizing. Reasonable to expect this? The Boston service center is 20 miles from my home so not unreasonable to expect them to come get this.

-return of the repaired vehicle would be the reverse. Drop it at my home and take away the loaner. Reasonable to expect this or am I taking time off from work to handle this.

Leased vehicle so here in MA there is no opportunity to unwind the deal.

How best to handle as this is a pretty disappointing introduction to the Rivian product lineup.


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[dmsandahl]

Wow, that is such a bad start. My lease began in may and I had minor issues and then some driver assist warnings, etc. They pushed my service date twice all the way to October (Chicago) for those items which I felt were serious. It spent 21 days there to get fixed. Team at the service center was very professional and actually communicated well while my vehicle was there. Unfortunately Rivian service centers are just way too backed up. My experience has put me off and I traded it in, at a massive loss to me, but I can’t deal with months of waiting to get things fixed. My other mfg service experiences are like your where they bend over backwards at a moments notice, that is not what I experienced with Rivian. For a 85k+ vehicle that’s not going to cut it for customer satisfaction. I wish you the best and hope they can fix you up soon. I’d be very courteous to them in the phone but firm in insisting they your vehicle gets fixed ASAP.

 

[Rae11]

I wish they would just stop selling 2025 models and fix these stupid issues first:

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

Really hard to tell how long it will take. I’m sure they will be very professional. But, having to wait a few weeks is not out of the picture.

Keep us updated!

 

[RivAW]

Soliciting advice after a less than ideal first day with my 2025 R1T. Is this semi-normal? First EV for me, so I'm trying to adjust my expectations

Picked up at the Boston service center and upon switching to drive immediately got a "brake failure" notification. Service manager confirmed it and did a hard reset. Was told this occasionally happens with newly put in service vehicles.

Drove 20 miles home without issue. First trip of the afternoon I received a slew of warning lights and notifications while pulling away from a light. Brake failure/Suspension failure/No regen/4wd/etc. Speed limited to 19 mph which was dangerous as I was on a 50MPH road.

Managed to get to the shoulder and did another hard reset. Made it home, charged to full and then unplugged for the night.

At this point the vehicle has 40 miles on it, 25 of which were mine.

This morning another round of notifications. No regen, rear passenger door inoperative, etc etc. Another hard reset per service advisor on the phone. Local service center is closed as it is a Sunday. I've been recording these failures using this hazard light switch, and documenting them in the rivian App along with pictures.

Phone service department suggested parking the vehicle as it was clearly not driveable. They offered uber credits and informed me they can send a tow truck to pick up but the first service slot was January!

My questions:

-Has anyone had a similar experience and do you have any idea what it may point to? Failing 12v batteries seems to cause all sorts of headaches per my 1 hour of internet research! but this is a new vehicle. (albeit from available stock so I have no idea when it was built and how long it is sitting)

-What is a reasonable expectation for service given I have a whopping 45 miles and 12 hours on a brand new vehicle. I come from German cars, where the service department would have a similar (or nicer!) loaner at my home and would haul away the faulty vehicle in the most seamless manner possible. They would most certainly prioritize repair and do a fair amount of sucking up and apologizing. Reasonable to expect this? The Boston service center is 20 miles from my home so not unreasonable to expect them to come get this.

-return of the repaired vehicle would be the reverse. Drop it at my home and take away the loaner. Reasonable to expect this or am I taking time off from work to handle this.

Leased vehicle so here in MA there is no opportunity to unwind the deal.

How best to handle as this is a pretty disappointing introduction to the Rivian product lineup.


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You are incorrect about unwinding the lease….contact a lemon law lawyer if that’s the way you want to go…

 

[vlocci]

Thanks all. I really want to like this vehicle so I'm not looking to get out of this lease so long as they can fix things in a timely and relatively painless manner. My only reference to unwinding things was to a MA law around vehicle purchases that has a few days where you can entirely back out with little penalty beyond cents/mile.

I hope to hear from the service center tomorrow (Monday) and sincerely hope they take customer service seriously and push to get me in and out quickly.

I'll keep everyone updated, but sincerely welcome any suggestions or feedback on how best to get things handled. The "we can give you uber credits until a January service date" was not exactly awe inspiring.

Fingers crossed

 

[Thedude]

I hope to hear from the service center tomorrow (Monday) and sincerely hope they take customer service seriously and push to get me in and out quickly.

The problem with that is they have to then push aside people who have been waiting before you. Rivian service is polite and tries but there’s no getting around the backlog of broken vehicles and limited service centers to do the work.

 

[DeafPug]

OP, you can tell the build date on your vehicle by looking for the date code on the label in the frame of the driver's door. This label has the VIN, vehicle weights, tire pressure, and the build date. The build date is in the form MM/YY and is located right below the bar code in the top-right of this label.

Since the vehicle is a 2025 model, it's going to have been built relatively recently. Sitting idle "on the lot" shouldn't have caused an issue in your case.

 

[Brad Foster]

Unwind the lease.

 

[krb1183]

@vlocci I too have a 2025 R1S, purchased, that i picked up August 17. It is my first EV as well. I'm trying to keep the 'early adopter' mindset and give Rivian some grace as a young company. But I align with your concerns. My vehicle is at the SC now, for the second time. First time was 3 weeks, and this time it's been there two weeks so far with no update as of yet. So in the 3 months i've owned it, it has spent 5 weeks at the SC and counting. I'm about 2 hours from my closest SC so it's not convenient, but doable. First time i had a Rivian R1T loaner, now i have an enterprise rental. The SC is very polite and accommodating to my schedule (if i need to drop off early or pick up late) as I travel a lot for work so am not always around. Good luck with your service, and i hope we both have better luck in the future with our vehicles!

 

[johnj2803]

I think it is reasonable to ask for a loaner vehicle while your car is in service. So sorry you have to deal with this,

 

[md2023]

Soliciting advice after a less than ideal first day with my 2025 R1T. Is this semi-normal? First EV for me, so I'm trying to adjust my expectations

Picked up at the Boston service center and upon switching to drive immediately got a "brake failure" notification. Service manager confirmed it and did a hard reset. Was told this occasionally happens with newly put in service vehicles.

Drove 20 miles home without issue. First trip of the afternoon I received a slew of warning lights and notifications while pulling away from a light. Brake failure/Suspension failure/No regen/4wd/etc. Speed limited to 19 mph which was dangerous as I was on a 50MPH road.

Managed to get to the shoulder and did another hard reset. Made it home, charged to full and then unplugged for the night.

At this point the vehicle has 40 miles on it, 25 of which were mine.

This morning another round of notifications. No regen, rear passenger door inoperative, etc etc. Another hard reset per service advisor on the phone. Local service center is closed as it is a Sunday. I've been recording these failures using this hazard light switch, and documenting them in the rivian App along with pictures.

Phone service department suggested parking the vehicle as it was clearly not driveable. They offered uber credits and informed me they can send a tow truck to pick up but the first service slot was January!

My questions:

-Has anyone had a similar experience and do you have any idea what it may point to? Failing 12v batteries seems to cause all sorts of headaches per my 1 hour of internet research! but this is a new vehicle. (albeit from available stock so I have no idea when it was built and how long it is sitting)

-What is a reasonable expectation for service given I have a whopping 45 miles and 12 hours on a brand new vehicle. I come from German cars, where the service department would have a similar (or nicer!) loaner at my home and would haul away the faulty vehicle in the most seamless manner possible. They would most certainly prioritize repair and do a fair amount of sucking up and apologizing. Reasonable to expect this? The Boston service center is 20 miles from my home so not unreasonable to expect them to come get this.

-return of the repaired vehicle would be the reverse. Drop it at my home and take away the loaner. Reasonable to expect this or am I taking time off from work to handle this.

Leased vehicle so here in MA there is no opportunity to unwind the deal.

How best to handle as this is a pretty disappointing introduction to the Rivian product lineup.


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Sorry, that is frustrating.
My experience with the Chelsea service center has been very positive so hopefully they get this fixed for you (though I haven't had any major issues) ASAP. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a loaner or nice rental.

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

I wish they would just stop selling 2025 models and fix these stupid issues first:

If they did that, rivian would cease to exist very quickly!

 

[vlocci]

Well sadly little progress to report. The Chelsea service center has been open for 3.5 hours and no word from them. I've called support hourly, who then put me on hold to talk to the service center, and come back with "Chelsea will call shortly". No loaner, no tow, no return call, nothing.

I'll keep holding my breath for a reply.

The last guy did offer $40.00 in uber credits, which is enough to get me to any number of local auto dealers who recognize what customer service is and how problems like these should be addressed.

Fingers crossed someone at Rivian wakes up and turns this mess around, but this is so far a comical way to start a 36 month relationship.

 

[vlocci]

Failed to ask:

I left the vehicle unplugged at the end of my driveway last night with 185 miles of range remaining. I was fearful of burning my house down.

Woke up this morning 8 hours later with 170 miles of range remaining.

Weather is chilly in the mid 40's overnight but far from cold.

Is this to be expected. (A 15 mile range drop nightly if left unplugged)?

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