Rear Seat Emergency Exit

[SH-MK]

Has anyone successfully tried and removed the rear armrest piece that allows access to the 2nd row emergency mechanical release?

I've casually examined it and to say I'm disappointed is an understatement. I'm not sure if I'm over-reacting, but as someone with young kids this hits me somewhere between "queasy" and "royally pissed-off". I know odds are good I (or a passenger) will never have to use this but wtf?

I'd be up for a 3rd party solution that replaces the OEM component that has an emergency handle built into the bottom.

Anyone else? Or am I just paranoid?

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[R1TandMe]

I haven’t examined the emergency release but it should be quick and simple for safety reasons.

 

[riv-e-in]

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...ck-your-emergency-release-access-panels.37489

 

[Dark-Fx]

I mean if you're using the physical child locks on a gen 1 vehicle, rear occupants can't get out, period.

Gen 2 does at least have a manual backup that overrides the child locks. I'd say the odds of having no power to the door, so the rear doors won't open, is probably pretty rare, even in an accident.

 

[beatle]

Nobody will find this in an emergency. I'm not saying the release needs to have hideous warning labels to draw attention to it, but it should be intuitive for someone who believes they are in danger and needs to get out immediately.

Rivian isn't alone on this though. Look how obscure the rear door releases are in a Model S:

 

[R1TandMe]

Nobody will find this in an emergency. I'm not saying the release needs to have hideous warning labels to draw attention to it, but it should be intuitive for someone who believes they are in danger and needs to get out immediately.

Rivian isn't alone on this though. Look how obscure the rear door releases are in a Model S:

That

 

[R1Tom]

I feel NHTSA should ban hidden door emergency release handles.

It puts people at serious risk of being trapped inside a vehicle on fire.

And even if not banned...it's still a crappy design that makes odds of survival in a fire situation where the powered releases are inoperative...something less than if the handles were visible and easily accessed.

 

[ElGuano]

This is a minor trigger point for me. I've made the points I wanted to make in that "Florida woman trapped in bricked R1S" thread so I won't get into it much here, but I do wish the second row emergency release was more easily accessed.

As I noted before, I asked my delivery specialist about this specifically, and they said the panel used one-time clips so they break permanently when you pull it off, thus he couldn't demonstrate it for me, and I can't demonstrate it for my kids.

On our Model S, the emergency release is immediately below the passenger seats between their legs (like a fighter ejection seat I think). That's at least more accessible, but it turns out neither of my kids, nor my in-laws have the hand strength to actually pull that modest cable to release the door, so I added a couple of keychain pull tags to it to make it easier to both see and pull.

 

[mpshizzle]

I'm not going to comment on whether this is a good idea or a bad idea but I would like to point out that this is not an EMERGENCY release. The location of the release is impractical at best or impossible to reach during an emergency situation and that is not lost on rivian's designers. It's not meant to be used in emergencies and they know that.

In the case of an emergency where the vehicle experiences a power loss, rear seat passengers are expected to exit through the front doors. This is the designed use case.

What it IS meant for is servicing (for example, opening the door to allow access to replace the electronic latch if it fails)

Again I'm not going to make any commentary on whether I think that's a good idea or a bad idea. But it is worth clarifying that the mechanical releases in the rear doors were never meant to be used in an emergency

 

[f1racer328]

In the case of an emergency where the vehicle experiences a power loss, rear seat passengers are expected to exit through the front doors. This is the designed use case.

My issue with this is not everyone can climb over and exit out front.

Have you seen the average American these days? It isn't happening.

Then add the roof being partially crushed and you're stuck. Great design Rivian.


Once again, no benefit to electronically controlled door latches. Rivian even said it was more expensive but couldn't even spit out a valid reason on the Gen 2 release videos (may have been the out of spec one that was over an hour long)

 

[beatle]

I'm not going to comment on whether this is a good idea or a bad idea but I would like to point out that this is not an EMERGENCY release. The location of the release is impractical at best or impossible to reach during an emergency situation and that is not lost on rivian's designers. It's not meant to be used in emergencies and they know that.

In the case of an emergency where the vehicle experiences a power loss, rear seat passengers are expected to exit through the front doors. This is the designed use case.

What it IS meant for is servicing (for example, opening the door to allow access to replace the electronic latch if it fails)

Fair enough on these not being emergency door releases, but asking rear seat occupants to exit through the front doors is just as equally counter intuitive when a presumably functional rear door exists.

 

[R1Tom]

I'm not going to comment on whether this is a good idea or a bad idea but I would like to point out that this is not an EMERGENCY release. The location of the release is impractical at best or impossible to reach during an emergency situation and that is not lost on rivian's designers. It's not meant to be used in emergencies and they know that.

In the case of an emergency where the vehicle experiences a power loss, rear seat passengers are expected to exit through the front doors. This is the designed use case.

What it IS meant for is servicing (for example, opening the door to allow access to replace the electronic latch if it fails)

Again I'm not going to make any commentary on whether I think that's a good idea or a bad idea. But it is worth clarifying that the mechanical releases in the rear doors were never meant to be used in an emergency

Ok...if that is the case....then the decision to expect the 2nd and 3rd row passengers to exit thru the front doors....is a straight up absurd decision.

In addition Rivian needs to make that very clear in the owners manual too. Hate to see people wasting time even trying to get out with those rear doors that aren't meant for exit in that case. That is is Rivian truly intends this as yoy have said.

I am definitely glad they stuck with the tradional rear seat passengers exit thru the.....rear doors... approach on G1 and hoping they bring that back to G2.1 asap.

 

[ElGuano]

I'm not going to comment on whether this is a good idea or a bad idea but I would like to point out that this is not an EMERGENCY release. The location of the release is impractical at best or impossible to reach during an emergency situation and that is not lost on rivian's designers. It's not meant to be used in emergencies and they know that.

In the case of an emergency where the vehicle experiences a power loss, rear seat passengers are expected to exit through the front doors. This is the designed use case.

What it IS meant for is servicing (for example, opening the door to allow access to replace the electronic latch if it fails)

Again I'm not going to make any commentary on whether I think that's a good idea or a bad idea. But it is worth clarifying that the mechanical releases in the rear doors were never meant to be used in an emergency

I don’t think this is correct at all. The owners manual explicitly instructs users to find and use these manual releases in the event the doors don’t regularly open.

While they don’t use the word “emergency,” the meaning is clear

Edit: fixed image links:

Also I’ll point out that this is the *owner manual* and not the *service manual.*

it’s absolutely intended and officially positioned as an alternative egress. I’ll note they nowhere does it mention climbing out to the front.

 

[mpshizzle]

I don’t think this is correct at all. The owners manual explicitly instructs users to find and use these manual releases in the event the doors don’t regularly open.

While they don’t use the word “emergency,” the meaning is clear

Also I’ll point out that this is the *owner manual* and not the *service manual.*

it’s absolutely intended and officially positioned as an alternative egress. I’ll note they nowhere does it mention climbing out to the front.

Sure, fair enough that it's referred to in the manual as such. But I suspect that's more of a legal/liability thing from the lawyers. The engineers aren't dumb. They know that nobody's going to find those releases. They know that's not helpful in the heat of the moment

 

[SH-MK]

I truly appreciate everyone's feedback. (really) As a parent of young kids, safety is the only thing on my mind.

While my R1S is a lease, if a third party were to offer a mod where a recessed handle could be added to the bottom of the "removable" 2nd row armrest and attached to the emergency pull... I'd seriously consider it.

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