R2 emergency door opening sanity check

[dubthedank3st]

Most of the discussion is focused on internal electronic latches. Personally, I’m less worried about those, as long as there’s a true mechanical override (and thank god it looks like it can at least be used in the R2's back doors - I don't think its possible to use the mechanical override in the rear doors of the gen2 R1 unless it is already open - please someone make a video proving me wrong).

What concerns me more is the loss of mechanical exterior handles.

Historically, you could:

• Enable child locks
• Leave the doors unlocked
• Always open the rear doors from the outside mechanically

That gave you a predictable fallback. Even if kids couldn’t exit, an adult outside could always open the door, no power or software involved.

With Rivian:

• Gen 1 had mechanical exterior handles, but software auto-locks at ~15 mph (with no way to disable) , so you could still end up locked out.
• Gen 2 moved to electronic exterior handles that are basically switches. No mechanical override.
  • R2 appears to follow the same approach.

That’s the real regression in my view - things went from bad to worse. I still bought three of them - so clearly not enough to stop me, but I don't like it.

Interior overrides can be improved with better labeling and ergonomics. But removing mechanical exterior actuation eliminates a long-standing layer of redundancy. Now exterior access depends entirely on vehicle power and software state.

That’s a bigger architectural shift than most people seem to be discussing: the new Chinese regulations ban the R1 Gen2 exterior handles just as much (if not even more) than the interior ones.

It seems only really Volvo have managed to get electronic latching right AFIAK both the exterior and interior handles have two positions - pull them to the 1st and you active the electronic mechanism, pull them hard and they open further and active the mechanical.

I am more worried about access from the outside and if that is a no-go in the event of an electrical failure for whatever reason - accident, software bug, low charge, etc.

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[macb00kemdanno]

I never claimed they were the first, only that they had a justification for doing so, unlike Rivian.

I understand that. I'm just pointing out that frameless windows that drop automatically don't require Tesla-style electronic door releases.

Yes, they did it, but there's no "justification."

 

[NY_Rob]

Everyone who's concerned about this issue should email Rivian and let them know it's a "no-sale" item for them. If enough people make their concerns known, Rivian might be forced to make changes (it was unclear from the reviews yesterday if what we saw was the new improved design they are supposedly working on).

 

[ElGuano]

Tesla had a technical reason for moving to the electronic door releases: the windows on the model 3 and model Y are frameless. The electronic door latch allows them to drop the window by a fraction of an inch before unlatching the door. This allows for the window to be driven further into the weatherstripping around the window when the door is closed (to reduce road noise) while dropping out of it when the door opens to prevent damage to the window or seal.

I've heard this as well but don't really buy it (and we have a refresh Model S). There is a well-integrated, easily accessible manual release on the front doors. But not the back. So apparently its OK to risk the front windows/weatherstripping, but not the rear windows.

I've also tested the Model S's mechanical rear door releases (which is a bicycle brake cable directly under the rear seats, almost like a fighter jet ejection seat), and our most frequent passengers, who are 80+yo elderly parents, 100% cannot pull the cables hard enough to trigger the release. I had to extend them with a pull-tab on a keychain.

 

[Noplacelikeloam]

Has anyone asked anyone at all that has been involved in a serious accident if they were able to critically think through these kind of steps in the moment.

Or as a friend in the military told me: "We are all action heros until shots are fired in your direction".

 

[CharonPDX]

Zack covered the emergency latches on the R2 in his review.

I’m not too thrilled with this supposed redesign. The rear still requires removing a panel and pulling on a cord for emergency release.

I just want a manual release with manual handles.

Either Rivian should figure out how to allow manual handles to override child locks in an emergency situation, or just leave things as-is when it comes to child locks—more people have child locks disabled.

For R2, this feels like extreme extra complexity. They have to have the mechanical release for safety reasons, and they don't have frameless windows that would benefit from the electronic-activation doing the window down/up jig anyway.

So why not just have the mechanical release be the *ONLY* release? (Like on Gen 1 R1.)

Heck, Mach-E has "100% electronic popper only" on the exterior, but "100% mechanical" release on the inside.

 

[merkidemis]

Maybe the answer is that this is the cheaper way to do it if we assume unlocking from a phone app is required functionality.

Except locking and unlocking are often independent of actually opening the door, as every other car with remote unlocking via a fob can attest. So, I doubt this is it, especially since the mechanical releases are included anyway.

 

[DuoRivians]

FWIW, Wassym attempts to address this concern on Reddit. He basically claims Rivian is really confident the e-latches will never fail and will unlock in an accident. And that the manual releases are really only meant to be used by service center technicians. Hmm…

Full Reddit post and discussion here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Rivian/s/KWz1qNzXav

 

[CharonPDX]

I've heard this as well but don't really buy it (and we have a refresh Model S). There is a well-integrated, easily accessible manual release on the front doors. But not the back. So apparently its OK to risk the front windows/weatherstripping, but not the rear windows.

I've also tested the Model S's mechanical rear door releases (which is a bicycle brake cable directly under the rear seats, almost like a fighter jet ejection seat), and our most frequent passengers, who are 80+yo elderly parents, 100% cannot pull the cables hard enough to trigger the release. I had to extend them with a pull-tab on a keychain.

Yeah, my older Model S has mechanical interior handles, as did my BMW i3 before that - and both have frameless windows that lower/raise automatically when you open the door. They just both use a sensor that triggers the window mechanism before you pull the mechanical handle far enough to actually release.

 

[CharonPDX]

FWIW, Wassym attempts to address this concern on Reddit. He basically claims Rivian is really confident the e-latches will never fail and not unlock in an accident. And that the manual releases are really only meant to be used by service center technicians. Hmm…

Full Reddit post and discussion here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Rivian/s/KWz1qNzXav

In a severe-enough crash, HV should disable for safety, including the HV->12V converter. If the 12V also fails in the crash (for whatever reason,) those handles then become unusable. Unless each door has its own battery to allow for escape when both primary power systems have failed, I fail to see how "good safety systems" are enough. In the crash in China that was the instigating incident for China to ban "hidden door handles", (https://www.carscoops.com/2026/02/this-crash-is-why-china-banned-hidden-door-handles/) a similar freak set of events would disable R2's interior and exterior handles.

 

[ElGuano]

Wassym attempts to address this concern on Reddit. He basically claims Rivian is really confident the e-latches will never fail and not unlock in an accident. And that the manual releases are really only meant to be used by service center technicians.

So, it's actually good to know Wassym said this. BUT, in this case I have to disagree. it's clearly outlined in the user manual that this is an egress strategy in the event of power loss.

This isn't a service manual, this is an owner's manual.

And,

1) Why does service not have access to power the vehicle if they have internal and external access to the car already?

2) Why does the front door need such an elegant, robust, user-accessible manual release if it's only for service? Why not put that behind a one-time-use tear-away panel, like they do the rear door?

I hate to be the guy saying "Rivian is wrong about their own product," I just find it extremely hard to see that statement as more than post-hoc rationalization. /rant off

 

[DuoRivians]

So, it's actually good to know Wassym said this. BUT, in this case I have to disagree. it's clearly outlined in the user manual that this is an egress strategy in the event of power loss.

This isn't a service manual, this is an owner's manual.

And,

1) Why does service not have access to power the vehicle if they have internal and external access to the car already?

2) Why does the front door need such an elegant, robust, user-accessible manual release if it's only for service? Why not put that behind a one-time-use tear-away panel, like they do the rear door?

I hate to be the guy saying "Rivian is wrong about their own product," I just find it extremely hard to see that statement as more than post-hoc rationalization. /rant off

I generally don’t like the “trust us on this” tone. Show us, demonstrate why it’s fail safe.

 

[Just Passing By]

So just to play Devil's Advocate here.

What if Rivian and other manufacturers provide an internal release similar to the front doors as many advocate and a number of kids manage to fall out from a moving vehicle by using it to override the software driven child lock? There is a reason why child locks were implemented in the first place after all.

It seems the odds of a child falling out because they are messing around with a door latch on mass produced cars is going to be much higher than the very rare car fires that seem to be driving the expressed concerns about the current system.

I do notice that no R1S owners seem to have picked up on the third row egress issue I highlighted in the original post, so I'm curious if none of them ever put people in that third row because of the risk?

 

[DuoRivians]

So just to play Devil's Advocate here.

What if Rivian and other manufacturers provide an internal release similar to the front doors as many advocate and a number of kids manage to fall out from a moving vehicle by using it to override the software driven child lock? There is a reason why child locks were implemented in the first place after all.

It seems the odds of a child falling out because they are messing around with a door latch on mass produced cars is going to be much higher than the very rare car fires that seem to be driving the expressed concerns about the current system.

I do notice that no R1S owners seem to have picked up on the third row egress issue I highlighted in the original post, so I'm curious if none of them ever put people in that third row because of the risk?

You make the manual release not open when the car is moving. BMW had this figured out a long time ago. When the car is moving, the door stays locked. So the door handle won’t open the door. When the car is still, pull handle twice to open door.

 

[portdirect]

Don't want to be that guy, but here's the time stamp link: in case someone doesn't want to listen in the whole podcast for this specific topic.

Good podcast though, definitely recommend a full watch.

FWIW, Wassym attempts to address this concern on Reddit. He basically claims Rivian is really confident the e-latches will never fail and will unlock in an accident. And that the manual releases are really only meant to be used by service center technicians. Hmm…

Full Reddit post and discussion here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Rivian/s/KWz1qNzXav

BrayBay, thanks for the timestamp. That clip plus Wassym’s Reddit post are the two best Rivian statements I have seen, but they still do not address the core failure mode.

My concern is less interior egress: it is exterior access when power is compromised.

• Jeff says the exterior handles can be “forced.” That is ambiguous. On Gen 1, forcing the handle still mechanically actuated the latch (car wash mode proves the concept). On Gen 2, if the exterior handle is just an electronic switch, an unlocked door may still be effectively closed to someone outside if the vehicle is unpowered.
• Wassym focuses on crash unlock and child lock auto-release, and claims redundant power across HV and 12V keeps e-latches powered post-crash. That is still a power-dependent safety case. If 12V shuts down minutes after a crash (which there have been reports of by folks online following fender benders etc), “unlocked” does not matter if the only exterior actuation path is electronic. Also, his Top Safety Pick+ mention is a diversion in this context. IIHS does not assess post-crash door opening or emergency egress in that award.

Also, the child-lock safety benefit does not preclude mechanical handles. For example Hyundai documents the same behavior with electronic child safety locks while retaining conventional handles.

The question Rivian needs to answer directly for R2 and Gen 2 R1 is:

• Can an adult outside open a door, without tools, without power, assuming the doors are unlocked?
  • There is strong evidence to suggest this is not possible - leave a gen2 unlocked, and let it go to sleep - then pull a door handle; it will not release the latch the door until it's woken up even though the handles are 'presented'.

Edit:

I do notice that no R1S owners seem to have picked up on the third row egress issue I highlighted in the original post, so I'm curious if none of them ever put people in that third row because of the risk?

In our 30k miles in our R1S the rear seats have been used for two trips - both when taking my folks to and from the airport. Less because of the risk, though if we needed to regularly transport 6 people we would not have bought an R1S. The R1 (both formats) works great for us with one kid, and would also be awesome with 2 - three and I’d be looking at other options - yes of course possible but there’s better options when transporting that many people. Like most ‘three row’ suvs the third row is more of a jump seat than anything else.

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