Request: Manual retractable tonneau cover

[iforbes]

I would love for one of our amazing 3rd party manufactures to create a manual retractable tonneau that utilizes the space that is in place for the mechanical cover.

This seems do-able, right? Why should it be necessary to remove one slat at a time when we could (theoretically) roll it into and out of the existing space?

Thoughts? Order links?

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[MileHigh]

Second this!

When they pulled Gen1 and I was only offered the manual cover, this is what I was hoping I’d get - auto type cover but without the motor operation.

I have the manual and while it works, the plastic edges will chip/break one of these days. There’s space to make a retractable one!

 

[MountainBikeDude]

Not to shoot this down, but the space where the powered tonneau retracts into is actually quite small and Rivians powered version is something above 90% efficient when it comes to utilizing the area. A roll up cover, like on the Hyundai Santa Cruz or even the Cybertruck, are only 70% space efficient which would mean either giving up the gear tunnel, or, in the case of the Santa Cruz, it would be more rearward of the cab, meaning it would take up bed space.

As someone that was forced by default into the manual tonneau over the powered one, I have a love hate relationship with it. I love the bag, It stores my Max Trax and tailgate pad perfectly. when the tonneau is on, it looks great, but dealing with the pieces can be a pain in the ass!.

 

[Dmartin]

Not to shoot this down, but the space where the powered tonneau retracts into is actually quite small and Rivians powered version is something above 90% efficient when it comes to utilizing the area. A roll up cover, like on the Hyundai Santa Cruz or even the Cybertruck, are only 70% space efficient which would mean either giving up the gear tunnel, or, in the case of the Santa Cruz, it would be more rearward of the cab, meaning it would take up bed space.

As someone that was forced by default into the manual tonneau over the powered one, I have a love hate relationship with it. I love the bag, It stores my Max Trax and tailgate pad perfectly. when the tonneau is on, it looks great, but dealing with the pieces can be a pain in the ass!.

Rivian's tonneau is also rather thick though, if you are willing to give up some load support I feel like a rolling cover could be a lot thinner even though it's less space efficient you could still make it fit.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

Rivian's tonneau is also rather thick though, if you are willing to give up some load support I feel like a rolling cover could be a lot thinner even though it's less space efficient you could still make it fit.

That's fair. I would like a roll up tamber style door, maybe 25% thinner than the current tonneau might make the difference? I wouldn't want to give up the rigidity however to facilitate that.

I've used it as a breakfast perch for my daughter while we were road tripping the west coast and into Yosemite. Can't give it up for her sake

 

[MileHigh]

Not to shoot this down, but the space where the powered tonneau retracts into is actually quite small and Rivians powered version is something above 90% efficient when it comes to utilizing the area. A roll up cover, like on the Hyundai Santa Cruz or even the Cybertruck, are only 70% space efficient which would mean either giving up the gear tunnel, or, in the case of the Santa Cruz, it would be more rearward of the cab, meaning it would take up bed space.

As someone that was forced by default into the manual tonneau over the powered one, I have a love hate relationship with it. I love the bag, It stores my Max Trax and tailgate pad perfectly. when the tonneau is on, it looks great, but dealing with the pieces can be a pain in the ass!.

There was a time when they pulled the auto tonneau since v1’s were sticking and only offered the manual option with no preview. Took a year or so to deliver too. It was a risk I willfully took but I’m still a little salty the auto came back and was offered as $500 upgrade vs the $1800 manual price. Definitely wouldn’t buy it these days , especially if it wasn’t covered under the bumper to bumper as factory installed equipment. The tonneau cover stores the tailgate bike pad, which is itself actually really nice! The cover though I hope holds up - would have expected a folio style slide in style because the abrupt curves the zipper makes already look a little sketchy after a year or so.

Regarding space for a retractable cover, engineers love a challenge, right? ? From Rivian’s perspective, I somewhat get it - sunk cost done with this version, no real need to re-engineer it.

 

[racekarl]

Not to shoot this down, but the space where the powered tonneau retracts into is actually quite small and Rivians powered version is something above 90% efficient when it comes to utilizing the area. A roll up cover, like on the Hyundai Santa Cruz or even the Cybertruck, are only 70% space efficient

It seems like it should be possible to use the same stacking mechanism as the powered tonneau without the motors providing the motive force. In the tear-down videos it seemed like the stacking and unstacking was entirely passive (driven by the tension of a leaf spring under the stack), and all the motors did was pull the top slat in or out. Why couldn't that motor be replaced by a person pulling on or pushing the rear-most slat? You might need some sort of brake or flywheel to make sure the user doesn't push or pull too fast, but to this lay person it seems doable, if complex.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

There was a time when they pulled the auto tonneau since v1’s were sticking and only offered the manual option with no preview. Took a year or so to deliver too. It was a risk I willfully took but I’m still a little salty the auto came back and was offered as $500 upgrade vs the $1800 manual price. Definitely wouldn’t buy it these days , especially if it wasn’t covered under the bumper to bumper as factory installed equipment. The tonneau cover stores the tailgate bike pad, which is itself actually really nice! The cover though I hope holds up - would have expected a folio style slide in style because the abrupt curves the zipper makes already look a little sketchy after a year or so.

Regarding space for a retractable cover, engineers love a challenge, right? ? From Rivian’s perspective, I somewhat get it - sunk cost done with this version, no real need to re-engineer it.

Trust me, I too am a salty mother.... because just as I was finally getting to delivery they pulled the powered tonneau and said "manual or no tonneau" so I was stuck with the manual and no real idea of what I was getting in the end. Getting the manual cover just as they reintroduced the powered one was also more salt in the old wound. Then to make it a $500 add on or a 3500+ retrofit... I fell into my salty little pile of tears and shriveled up....

 

[MountainBikeDude]

It seems like it should be possible to use the same stacking mechanism as the powered tonneau without the motors providing the motive force. In the tear-down videos it seemed like the stacking and unstacking was entirely passive (driven by the tension of a leaf spring under the stack), and all the motors did was pull the top slat in or out. Why couldn't that motor be replaced by a person pulling on or pushing the rear-most slat? You might need some sort of brake or flywheel to make sure the user doesn't push or pull too fast, but to this lay person it seems doable, if complex.

Assuming the after market tonneau is using a similar channel interface between each slat, you would have to pull or push at a dead even, perfectly centered rate for it to align correctly so the next one catches. That's a big part of why so many early tonneaus failed.

*edit
I think the manual cover has jaded my typical "I only see solutions" motto

 

[COdogman]

That's fair. I would like a roll up tamber style door, maybe 25% thinner than the current tonneau might make the difference? I wouldn't want to give up the rigidity however to facilitate that.

I've used it as a breakfast perch for my daughter while we were road tripping the west coast and into Yosemite. Can't give it up for her sake

 

[MountainBikeDude]

My daughter does love the wind.... This could be win win when she poops her diaper on a road trip.

 

[RivianRiverRat]

My suggestion from an old thread

slats of the PTC that are hinged so it folds up accordion "Z" style from the tailgate to the cab. Has lock points at each panel width and it stays attached to the bed slots and can be opened without dropping the tailgate."

if it could stored/forced into the PTC box would be great

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Watch Munro Assoc. tear down of the device. Physically impossible, unless you modify the tracks and are willing to sacrifice visibility out the back window (as well as bed space).

The factory compartment is no larger than the factory panels stacked, on top of one another. A manual retractable one would need to be a scroll and would require a larger volume of space. This means the cover would need to be made up of many and much shorter articulating segments, which means even more ingress points for water/rain. If you want to include weather seals because of that, your rolled-up size and storage volume requirements will also increase even further.

In short, it's a pipe dream. Rivian designed theirs the way it is for a reason: packaging limitations.

 

[PhatDaddy]

Oh how I remember the feeling of having the PTC yanked from my order… grrr. And so then putting my order on indefinite hold hoping they would resolve the issues… grrr. Finally deciding to pull the trigger before my early order deal was negated, accepting a manual cover instead. Luckily the issues with those started immediately and I was able to just say forget the cover altogether. But then to hear RIGHT after delivery that PTCs were available to order again… grrr!! Hard not to hold a grudge.
Moving on, bought an Interobang and very pleased.

The engineering IDEA for the slat stacking was great. Probably like many great engineering iDEAS, the testing, implementation and longevity was a step too far.

I had a rigid aluminum roll-up Retrax on my Ridgeline with a similar size bed which worked great. But a similar ‘roll up canister’ would be too big for the Rivian space. I assume the Santa Cruz models with an electrically retractable tonneau use the same roll-up canister I saw on a Santa Cruz with a manually retractable tonneau. It APPEARED to be smaller diameter (about 2” shorter bed), so something similar might POSSIBLY be made to fit? It appears for longevity, something that rolls up (rigid, soft, thin, whatever) is the most dependable solution. The ‘stacking’ mechanism just seems too error prone.

 

[COdogman]

I remember that I didn't want the PTC but then they said they were only going to deliver trucks that included the PTC so I added it to mine to improve my delivery time, then they removed the PTC from all orders, flipping that script again so I added the MTC again.

After all that, my order was being held up at the factory for 3 months waiting for factory PPF that was eventually removed from my order and I was taking delivery 3 weeks later

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