What are the legal and financial issues involved with using non-approved adapter and it causes damage?

[R1Thor]

The difference here is that USB-C is an accepted standard that you can meet. There's no standard at this point for NACS to CCS adapters.

Yeah my guy. If you read back 3 comments ago, I ...definitely pointed that out in spades...

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[Vantripping]

A question I ask is if the manufacturer of the adapter wants liability for a car or building fire? A reputable manufacturer most certainly will not take on that liability as it would surely fail the company. A fly by night off brand can take that risk but not an established brand that wants to sell many other products.

I also approach this from a pragmatic understanding that the conductors are most likely rated at 75 or 90C, possibly 105C (~220F). These wires are most often wrapped in a PVC insulation, which has a much lower melting point than ABS or HDPE plastic or similar that are most likely the plastic these adapters use, and with integrated temp sensors to open the charging circuit and thus stop power flow most likely at a very safe 120-150F or lower. I believe the UL and other specs require these to be safe to handle by human, so those that are setting, following and trying to receive these standards should be reputably safe. Operating temps have been tested by StateofCharge and others showing that they stay well below the safe temp per the standards. Finally, both Lectron and A2Z have said that their adapters are rated to 500 amps and 1000 volts, so both are designed to levels much greater than the power that will flow thru them from any chargers of today.

For these reasons, I am not worried about using these adapters and feel that if using good judgement, risk is small and liability to the operator not a concern. Use this example: if you use a high-quality, properly sized extension cord to run your garage heater or power tool and it melts, what is the risk of significant loss and would you be liable? Likely very small risk of fire and liability as you made good judgement in your approach. However, if you used a low quality and underrated extension cord that was also clearly damaged, and you ran it over a bunch of combustable materials like gasoline soaked rags, and it was plugged into an outlet that didn't meet code that was installed by the operator, then he/she would likely have liability for making several poor judgements. There is a sense of reasonableness that comes into the discussion of liability.

Use good judgment and do what you feel is safe and is known or proven to be safe. And motor on!

 

[djsider2]

Thank you all for the education on some of the finer details and the laws that may or may not apply here.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Circuit protection notwithstanding, things can go wrong. Does A2Z and Lectron test 100% EVERY thermal fuse? Probably not. Where are they acquiring them from? I bet somewhere in Asia. Is that the level of quality you're OK with?

They say they test every adapter. I don't think there is a fuse in the adapter but I could be wrong. It's designed to interrupt/disconnect the communications when temperature exceeds 85 C. It sounds good on paper, but I'd still rather just use the OEM one I'll be getting for free as some point in the future.

 

[Robin]

Using a non-OEM Adapter may - or may not - work. In the off-chance that it does not work, then you'll have countless hours and heartache trying to make your vehicle, the charging station, the parking lot, and maybe any helpless bystanders whole again.

All of this for a couple of months of convenience at a fast charger that a year ago we didn't even know we'd be able to use. Then when your Rivian charger is available, what're you going to do with the $150 paperweight you bought?

As Dirty Harry said, "Do you feel lucky, punk?"

 

[Robin]

If there were no legal risks, at all, Rivian would not have bothered to put this in writing: https://rivian.com/support/article/can-i-use-a-third-party-nacs-dc-adapter. And similar warnings are published elsewhere within the Rivian-sphere. I don't have links and documents handy, but you and everyone else have the means to find them. I believe even Tesla has published similar warnings.

Action and consequences. They warned you. You go ahead and do it anyway because it suits you. Things go wrong. What do you think happens next?

Similarly, the no-smoking sign on the airplane is turned on. You go to the bathroom and smoke one anyway. What would happen next?

I just don't see, outside of whishful thinking, how anyone can see room for ambiguity. Unless you're a criminal defense lawyer (Breaking Bad reference)?

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Using a non-OEM Adapter may - or may not - work. In the off-chance that it does not work, then you'll have countless hours and heartache trying to make your vehicle, the charging station, the parking lot, and maybe any helpless bystanders whole again.

All of this for a couple of months of convenience at a fast charger that a year ago we didn't even know we'd be able to use. Then when your Rivian charger is available, what're you going to do with the $150 paperweight you bought?

As Dirty Harry said, "Do you feel lucky, punk?"

And it could be more serious than working / not working. I kid you not, on reddit, I have actually seen people recommending adapters off of Alibaba with insufficient load rating—i.e. you could melt the adapter and start a fire. If one were to burn their car, Rivian and Tesla wouldn't care (not their problem). That fire burning their charger, charging site, causing damage to landowner and other customers' cars... Guaranteed there will be legal action against the selfish individual looking to enjoy a little convenience during an innocent spring break road trip (no-brainer take away: not worth it).

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