R1S Rear, Driver-Side Door Very Difficult to Close

[PepperoniBall]

I noticed when I accepted delivery that the rear, driver-side door was extremely difficult to close—it needs to be slammed shut. Not even remotely close to any of the other doors on the vehicle, or any other vehicle I’ve ever had experience with in my life. The guy at Rivian told me it’d break in.


Nearly 1,500 miles later, it’s not any different to the point I think it probably needs to be addressed, as my eight-year-old can’t close it without multiple attempts, people at drive-through dry-cleaners leave it partially open, and people at my kids’ elementary school can’t close it during drop off (where they have cars line up and get your kid out of your car).


I understand I probably need to put in a service ticket (unless there’s some DIY way I can adjust it?), but I’m curious if anyone else has had this issue? If so, can it be fixed by mobile service or will I need to bring it in? If I need to bring it in, does anybody have any experience with how long of a job it is to fix? I ask because the nearest service center is nearly two hours away, and I won’t have time in the foreseeable future to deal with that. But if it’s a mobile service fix, I can put in a ticket right away.

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[Dark-Fx]

Doors on my R1T were difficult to close when I first got it but they are way better now 2 years later. They can definitely make adjustments but it will be at the expense of fit and finish.

In the mean time, I find if I have a window cracked then the doors close much easier. The cabin pressure is definitely one component of the difficulty.

 

[SANZC02]

Mine has always been harder to close than the other doors as well, I find if a window is down or another door is open where air can escape there is less pressure and it closes easier.

I assume the latch needs a Small adjustment it just has never been enough of a concern for me to look at or make an appointment for.

 

[ndmiller]

I let all the passengers close their doors before I close my drivers door. Passenger rear is difficult if that's the last door to close.

 

[PepperoniBall]

I let all the passengers close their doors before I close my drivers door. Passenger rear is difficult if that's the last door to close.

This seems to be an effective workaround while I figure out how much this bothers me.

 

[BrentInCO]

I had the same problem. I ended up adding it to the list for a service center to address all at one time. They said there wasn’t much they could do, thought I was crazy, but spent some time on it anyway, and it’s a bit better now. My kids and I can close it easier.

 

[Nikhiluor]

That was my only and biggest issue with Rivian and caused me too many service center visit. The only solution to this is to slightly open the window and it will get close fine. Rivian should add that thing Tesla has when windows rolls down slightly when you open the door and they roll back up when doors are closed.

 

[HarCo S]

We had the same issue with the same door where the handle itself sounded like it was under a lot of pressure and the door had to be slammed a few times. While at the service center for something else I included that but they said it was "within spec." Once I got home I took a look and since I didn't like the panel gaps anyways I just adjusted it all myself. There are 4 bolts to the frame and when loosened it lets you move the door left/right and up/down. There are two bolts on the door itself that let you move it in and out. Once you look at the bolts the paint will just flake right off of them so you can see if any of the bolts have been touched before you adjust it. If you take a piece of paper it can be helpful to see what you need to do. Our door was not aligned across the top so the top right corner above the glass was low and I had to push the bottom hinge to the right while keeping the top hinge mostly tightened where it was this alone took the pressure off the striker and kept the door lines where they were supposed to be. I used the passenger doors as my baseline for the panels gaps since they were almost perfect to me, I just had to adjust the striker in a little on the rear door.

It's a lot of back and forth getting the door hinges right then adjusting the striker again too (I loosen the striker just enough to wiggle it and used a rubber mallet to move it around, other cars the striker was easy to move when loosened but this one isn't). If the door is out too far at the latch side the striker goes in, ours was also forcing the door up which is where the pressure was coming from, if I raised the striker to take the pressure off then the door lines were really bad. I had the driver's side rear door perfect where it closed smoothly with one finger but then it stuck out from the front door at the hinge side so I had to adjust the driver's door then back to the rear door again. It can get pretty annoying to get it just right only to have it not match the next panel then start over. In the end I got it close enough to the passenger side and none of the doors are hard to close now.

Good luck!

 

[KeithPleas]

@HarCo S is clearly more "hands on" than most on this forum, including myself. I've had this issue since delivery and at my first visit a technician _opened_ the door and looked at how it moved - he said "door drop". It's hard to see the misalignment on close - much easier on open.

That said, each of my visits I've asked them to address the worst door alignment or panel gap. The folks in the SCs are getting better - you just have to be patient, be happy with things getting less bad, and (ultimately) accept that it's not going to be as perfect as other cars you've owned. Maybe they'll get better at the factory, or maybe the R2 will be better <fingers crossed>

 

[HarCo S]

"Door drop" is a much better way of describing what was going on with ours, it just took changing the door angle to fix it. When the door would open it dropped down on the striker side and when shut the striker was having to push it way up to meet the body lines.

 

[3121]

I noticed when I accepted delivery that the rear, driver-side door was extremely difficult to close—it needs to be slammed shut. Not even remotely close to any of the other doors on the vehicle, or any other vehicle I’ve ever had experience with in my life. The guy at Rivian told me it’d break in.


Nearly 1,500 miles later, it’s not any different to the point I think it probably needs to be addressed, as my eight-year-old can’t close it without multiple attempts, people at drive-through dry-cleaners leave it partially open, and people at my kids’ elementary school can’t close it during drop off (where they have cars line up and get your kid out of your car).


I understand I probably need to put in a service ticket (unless there’s some DIY way I can adjust it?), but I’m curious if anyone else has had this issue? If so, can it be fixed by mobile service or will I need to bring it in? If I need to bring it in, does anybody have any experience with how long of a job it is to fix? I ask because the nearest service center is nearly two hours away, and I won’t have time in the foreseeable future to deal with that. But if it’s a mobile service fix, I can put in a ticket right away.

The door is not installed properly. I was probably not set up correctly in the factory and the delivery center or end of line team just hammered the door catch up or down to force the door and body lines to come together.

Regardless there is metal fatigue happening on the door or hinges. At some point somethings going to start squeaking or seals will stop working.

So disappointed potinign this quality control half-ass fixes are still coming out of Rivian.

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