rear window disintegrated on the R1S

[Galluprivian]

I took my three week old R1S out on a relatively rough road in the Zuni mountains of New Mexico. Went slow, was careful and the truck performed incredibly. Took everything in stride. I rode my bike and then hopped back in and had to go through two gates so I got a good look at the truck, no damage, everything looked great. Started back home and was crossing a bridge going about 40 on a dirt road and I heard a weird noise and looked in the rear view mirror and saw a huge hole had developed. I have a one up rack with a Kuat swing out arm so the bike couldn't possibly hit the vehicle. I can't think of anything but that maybe the torquing of the truck on some of those roads might have cracked it? The lower corners were broken off so maybe?

Which brings me to the next issue. I called rivian repairs and they said they can get me in Nov 3rd in Phoenix which is 4 hours away. Not super excited about making that trip. The woman I talked to at Safelite had never heard of Rivian but claimed they have a rear window. The person at Rivian told me that the rear window doesn't have sensors. She didn't think Safelite had access to Rivian windows. From what I see online, it appears that Safelite will claim they can fix it and then call and cancel.

Any advice? Safelite would be so much more convenient but I think it should be warrantable. Better to go with Rivian or is that in fact my only option?

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[supervlover]

Rock bouncing off rack/bike? Here's another
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/rear-gate-glass-spontaneously-shattered-r1s.19432/

 

[WSea]

Tires kick up rock and bounced off rack or bike? Check for any marks on rack

 

[Joe Hoffman]

It was not clear from your original post as to whether Rivian will pay Safelite if Safelite does the repair. Do you know?

if Safelite doesn’t cost you anything then that seems like a good way to go. If you do have to pay, do you know how much?

 

[Redline]

Rock bouncing off rack/bike? Here's another
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/rear-gate-glass-spontaneously-shattered-r1s.19432/

I was going to say, this is so similar to the other thread, I think we're discovering a trend.

 

[Whataboykie!]

Are you sure you didn't park it in San Fransico sometime?

 

[Galluprivian]

I was going to say, this is so similar to the other thread, I think we're discovering a trend.

I looked at the other thread and I think it's interesting that Rivian is disinclined to fix it under warranty and the speculative answer is that maybe a rock bounced off the rack and hit it but the glass they happened to have in the shop was flawed and they said that if they installed that it would break again. I know many people with bike racks that have suvs and I've never heard of rear windows spontaneously breaking.

I'm going to call Safelite again today and see if I can get a definitive answer.

 

[Redline]

Are you sure you didn't park it in San Fransico sometime?

That joke didn't land either time you tried it...

 

[Dark-Fx]

I know many people with bike racks that have suvs and I've never heard of rear windows spontaneously breaking.

I've heard of it at least twice now . One of the side effects of Rivian having really good departure angles is that there is a path to reflect rocks back into the rear window. I've heard a couple of pretty good sized rocks hitting my bikes on the bike rack that I don't remember hearing on other vehicles before. My 1-up definitely sticks below the body line on my Rivians at quite a high angle.

 

[SoCal Rob]

I've heard of it at least twice now . One of the side effects of Rivian having really good departure angles is that there is a path to reflect rocks back into the rear window. I've heard a couple of pretty good sized rocks hitting my bikes on the bike rack that I don't remember hearing on other vehicles before. My 1-up definitely sticks below the body line on my Rivians at quite a high angle.

Maybe just coincidence but in both posts there was a bike on a rear rack. If things are bouncing off the bikes as speculated, I wonder if putting a soft cover or tarp on the bike(s) would prevent this?

 

[Galluprivian]

I've heard of it at least twice now . One of the side effects of Rivian having really good departure angles is that there is a path to reflect rocks back into the rear window. I've heard a couple of pretty good sized rocks hitting my bikes on the bike rack that I don't remember hearing on other vehicles before. My 1-up definitely sticks below the body line on my Rivians at quite a high angle.

Hearing about it twice recently doesn't necessarily give more credence to the rock theory although hearing rocks hitting the rack is concerning. You can see in my picture that the lower corners are both broken off which makes be wonder if torquing the vehicle caused the metal to contact the glass or just twist the glass enough to break it.

I'll look at it and take some pictures. I guess I was talking about all the other vehicles out there but maybe Rivians are different enough that this is an issue. I have a oneup also but with a Kuat swingout arm which raises the rack up a couple inches. If this is truly an issue I'm going to have to come up with something to keep it from happening.

Here is a pic that I have now of my rack. It doesn't seem likely that a rock could hit the rack but maybe.

 

[WSea]

The angle from bottom of tire to rack is an easy straight line making a rock bounce possible. Did see in the other case if they also had AT tires. Aftermarket mudflaps would help

 

[FooF]

Hearing about it twice recently doesn't necessarily give more credence to the rock theory although hearing rocks hitting the rack is concerning. You can see in my picture that the lower corners are both broken off which makes be wonder if torquing the vehicle caused the metal to contact the glass or just twist the glass enough to break it.

I'll look at it and take some pictures. I guess I was talking about all the other vehicles out there but maybe Rivians are different enough that this is an issue. I have a oneup also but with a Kuat swingout arm which raises the rack up a couple inches. If this is truly an issue I'm going to have to come up with something to keep it from happening.

Here is a pic that I have now of my rack. It doesn't seem likely that a rock could hit the rack but maybe.

Look at the dirt spray line angle from your rear tire it looks like dirt and rocks are being directed to the rack.
If you draw a line from the bottom of the truck tire to the rack and another line from the rack to the back window it looks like a rock kicked up by the tire could hit the rack and bounce to rear window easily.

 

[RayzorBEV]

My buddy's Tesla M3's roof cracked when a rock was kicked up by the car he was following, it first hit the front leading edge of the hood where he has PPF but bounces off and landed on the leading edge of the glass roof and cracked it. The glass roof had to be replaced.

 

[iansriv]

Shouldn't an adventure vehicle be a bit tougher? I keep reading about the glass (windows, roof) cracking with minimal damage. Just to be clear, I'm not expecting a baseball-proof glass but it sounds like the glass overall is weak.

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