Rivian Air Suspension concerns?

[rpmtexas]

That stinks but is sadly part of the early adopter blues. I went through it with my early Model S. Glad you have another car to keep you rolling. I am not planning to rely on the Rivian as my only vehicle as I expect it to be in the shop from time to time being a first gen new ev product.

Wouldn't be so sure it is early adopter blues. Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge had this problem with their air ride system and never fixed it. If Rivian used the same system/components, the problem could be permanent. Looks like my concern about the air ride system was dead on. Unlucky owners should get ready for problems for the life of the vehicle.

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[zipzag]

The hope that with this suspension in all vehicles Rivian recognizes unreliability is a major risk to them. This system is likely by far to be what disables the vehicle.

Sensing smaller leaks and excessive compressor runtimes should be possible unless Rivian has neglected appropriate sensors for these functions.

Hopefully in older vehicles an inspection of the system can be meaningful. I had an air suspension failure on a four year old Ford that could have been predicted by inspection (burned out compressor motor).

I expect these systems to break long term, and I'm willing to pay to reduce that near certainty.

 

[rpmtexas]

The hope that with this suspension in all vehicles Rivian recognizes unreliability is a major risk to them. This system is likely by far to be what disables the vehicle.

Sensing smaller leaks and excessive compressor runtimes should be possible unless Rivian has neglected appropriate sensors for these functions.

Hopefully in older vehicles an inspection of the system can be meaningful. I had an air suspension failure on a four year old Ford that could have been predicted by inspection (burned out compressor motor).

I expect these systems to break long term, and I'm willing to pay to reduce that near certainty.

One major problem I have run into is the inability to determine which of the multitude of system components has failed, or more often, is failing/malfunctioning. This then leads to a wild goose chase of replacing parts and a parts failure cascade

 

[Max]

Does anyone have a good link that I can use to educate myself on how things work with Rivian suspension? And air suspension in general? People seem to get the overheated warning when they don’t expect much stress was put on the system. I like to understand under what kind of conditions / settings system is under stress, and when it is comfortable; in other words what kind of use and settings contribute to it’s longevity and what kills it fast, assuming there is no defect in design or manufacturing.

 

[opnwide]

@PoorDick please keep us in the loop as to what they “diagnose” and what components they replace, if any. When there is no air in the bags it will bottom out and bounce around like a low-rider—been there w LR.

 

[ironpig]

Wouldn't be so sure it is early adopter blues. Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge had this problem with their air ride system and never fixed it. If Rivian used the same system/components, the problem could be permanent. Looks like my concern about the air ride system was dead on. Unlucky owners should get ready for problems for the life of the vehicle.

No That’s not a conclusion that can be reached yet. I have a 2014 Model S with air suspension. It had multiple problems in the first year and then they replaced the rear components and I’ve had no problems ever sense. Millions of different cars are driving around on air suspensions right now. Time will tell, but no confident conclusion can be made when they’ve only produced a few thousand trucks.

 

[Zoidz]

For reference, here's a picture of an Rivian Air spring (MotorTrend article). If it's deflated, the bouncy ride is probably because it is acting like a mostly compressed soft spring.

 

[crashmtb]

Wouldn't be so sure it is early adopter blues. Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge had this problem with their air ride system and never fixed it. If Rivian used the same system/components, the problem could be permanent. Looks like my concern about the air ride system was dead on. Unlucky owners should get ready for problems for the life of the vehicle.

Why would Rivian be using the same components? The only commonality is air. Rivian’s system was purportedly entirely designed in house.

 

[Nermal]

Even having been bit as an early air spring adopter in a 2003 Audi Allroad, I'm not worried about the Rivian's at all. We're ~20+ years into mainstream air springs and I have to imagine much has been learned and applied. Sure there will still be some failures, though.

On the Audi, first air spring failure was covered under warranty (not nearly as long as Rivian's) and second failure I did with what I considered excellent Arnott units. Arnott doesn't go direct to consumer anymore but I bet they'll have a great (maybe even upgraded) replacement option through their reseller network should any of us need to fix these after warranty.

Maybe someone has pointed this out here so apologies if redux - look at many (maybe all?) tractors (as in tractor-trailer/18 wheeler). They've had air springs for many years in what I'd consider a much more demanding application than ours. I conclude air springs are not inherently failure prone but I get the phobia of an active, oft flexed rubber vessel vs. good old passive metal springs.

 

[Zoidz]

Why would Rivian be using the same components? The only commonality is air. Rivian’s system was purportedly entirely designed in house.

RIvian's system was designed in house. That's different from designing the components in house. According to multiple articles, Rivian chose existing components for their air suspension system.

MotorTrend:
"Rivian is rightly proud of the fact that its own engineers did 100 percent of the design, development, and tuning of this new suspension, utilizing components sourced from top-tier suppliers. The variable-orifice shock valves, for instance, come from Öhlins of Sweden, while the central valve body block is sourced from Tenneco, which supplies a similar unit to McLaren."

 

[zipzag]

Rivians suspension warranty is long for low mileage drivers. Too much adventuring burns through the 60K quickly.

 

[PoorDick]

@PoorDick please keep us in the loop as to what they “diagnose” and what components they replace, if any. When there is no air in the bags it will bottom out and bounce around like a low-rider—been there w LR.

It looks like she's sitting on top of the tires, so yeah, the bags must be air-free at the moment. Hoping to hear from Rivian first thing this morning, and of course I'll pass along whatever happens next. BTW, the "low rider" analogy is perfect...

 

[crashmtb]

RIvian's system was designed in house. That's different from designing the components in house. According to multiple articles, Rivian chose existing components for their air suspension system.

MotorTrend:
"Rivian is rightly proud of the fact that its own engineers did 100 percent of the design, development, and tuning of this new suspension, utilizing components sourced from top-tier suppliers. The variable-orifice shock valves, for instance, come from Öhlins of Sweden, while the central valve body block is sourced from Tenneco, which supplies a similar unit to McLaren."

Fair point, although I read it as they used components from established supliers built to their specs - I.e. the air struts are not identical to those of a Jeep Grand Cherokee, even if made by the same company.
Is the supplier for the air struts known? Presumably it’s tenneco since everything else is. And Tenneco has owned öhlins for a couple of years now.

Tenneco even owns Rancho.

 

[SANZC02]

Stuff breaks on occasion but way to early to claim the sky is falling.

Let’s get more units on the road and get some mileage on this system to see how robust and reliable it is or is not.

I’ve had the Jeep GC for more than 7 years and had zero issues with the air suspension.

 

[Zoidz]

Tenneco even owns Rancho.

DIdn't know that. I have Rancho 2" lift struts on the front of my Avalanche, no lift on the rear - levels it out. For some inane reason, Avalanches and Silverados had 2" rake for years. Stupidest design ever, especially if you have a snow plow. Rancho came to the rescue with a 2" drop in replacement. Here's a before/after pic I found online of a Silverado. You can see the difference in the wheel well and ground clearance. Thanks Tenneco/Rancho!

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