Worst fears came true. My R1T died at a light. Update today(8/18)

[ironpig]

I have my enterprise 2020 Dodge journey with 43000 miles and non working bluetooth as a replacement. It was a long drive home in silence and 53 dollars to fill up....Sounded like the technicians do not work on weekends and I have to wait for the lead technician at my SC and they had stuff in the way on Friday and Tuesday is the next day they work.

Yeah that's unfortunate timing. It seems like they should at least be working Saturdays right now while they are servicing and delivering these early trucks. When you are a new company with these kinds of issues you don't take 3 day weekends.

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[NYCPDK]

Yeah that's unfortunate timing. It seems like they should at least be working Saturdays right now while they are servicing and delivering these early trucks. When you are a new company with these kinds of issues you don't take 3 day weekends.

My truck, I got on Saturday, just died at a light on my way home from work. Had to hard reset the truck 4 times to move it 20 yards off the side of the road. Came to a stop at red light and when I hit the accelerator, it lurched forward and i heard a noise. It showed all the usual warning lights. After a reset, I could put it in drive. it would start to move calmly and then the truck would start shaking violently and cut off. Was told to leave it on the side of road and the tow truck would get it. I think it was going to be some time for the tow truck to get it. That was heartbreaking. They stayed on the phone with me for about 20 mins and offered an Uber and I go get my enterprise rent a car tomorrow.... In the future, I would always carry a nfc card with you so they can easily work on your truck. I had to run back to work and get mine and leave it with the truck. I guess now it's a waiting game....

Update this morning....it only took 9 hours for a tow truck company to pick up the truck. I was still taking calls from the tow truck driver and rivian roadside assistance past 1230am.fixes.? Missed work staying up so late with calls from the tow truck and roadside assistance. But my truck finally made it to the SC at 430am.

Spoke to my guide when he got into work. There are no loaners available and basically waiting to see what the SC says about the truck. Asked about the return policy and it he said it would take weeks to be refunded the purchase price. And probably only a new truck if the repairs are extensive.

My guide also said he did a zoom call with the SC manager and lead technician and they would get on my truck when it arrived.....i told him the thing is...my app and text received show the truck to be at the SC since 423am. He said they must have not done inventory....and would send them a message. This has not been a good experience thus far. Not sure what a reasonable expectation for making this right would be.

Last update today...they found the truck and blamed the tow truck driver for putting the truck some where else. They won't get to my truck on Tuesday to be able to diagnose the issue. They had other jobs infront of me taking up space. Again, just poor communication from my guide saying I would have that answer today amd they would diagnose that today. I understand stuff happens they may not be able to get to it. Just tell me that up front because he spoke to the service center right before calling me. Continued frustration with this service process on a 5 day old truck.

I just read this entire thread and now I want to sell mine.

 

[ironpig]

I just read this entire thread and now I want to sell mine.

It’s not good or justified, but it’s exactly what I expected from a new car company.

 

[TOCBoston]

The only enjoyable part of this thread is the color of the truck.

Please keep the updates coming. You have the ability to appease or crush dreams in the coming days.

Good luck to you. Bummed that you’re going through this.

 

[Akay07]

The only enjoyable part of this thread is the color of the truck.

Please keep the updates coming. You have the ability to appease or crush dreams in the coming days.

Good luck to you. Bummed that you’re going through this.

Thanks man. I will. It helps to talk to some one else about this mess. I fear what all will need to be replaced and the amount of time it will take to get the parts needed in a material shortage like we are in now. I should know more Tuesday at some point if they call and I have not pissed off my guide .

 

[sdemeester]

that is pretty scary, what would happen if this occurred at speed, like on a highway? Would the wheel free wheel with engine failure or seize up and create a potential disaster, especially if a front wheel engine? Any thoughts?
Also please update us on what they find with the truck, and how they manage the issue for you.

 

[JamesPolk24]

This sucks. I feel a big let down and it's not even my brand new $70k truck that left me stranded. Hope things get better for you.

 

[pc500]

When it's all done; the truck will be fine. I know the experience sucks; but I've seen new gas vehicle engines blow up with 40 miles on them.

 

[SeaGeo]

that is pretty scary, what would happen if this occurred at speed, like on a highway? Would the wheel free wheel with engine failure or seize up and create a potential disaster, especially if a front wheel engine? Any thoughts?
Also please update us on what they find with the truck, and how they manage the issue for you.

That reminds me, I had an Isuzu with what turned out to be a wiring harness issue but took about a year to diagnose. The damn thing would *completely* shut off randomly momentarily. It was an automatic. I'd have to quickly drop it into neutral and restart the vehicle, and then put it in drive again. Definitely did not let other people who weren't well aware of it drive on the highway.

 

[pc500]

Electric is far worse than this. Rivian knows what failed. It might be expensive... but fixable.

 

[RivianBowerbird]

For what it's worth, these kinds of failures can and do happen, but they are RARE. There are something like 6,000 of these trucks out there right now and this is the first instance of what appears to be motor failure. ICE vehicles can and do also have catastrophic failures of this nature. EVs are vastly less likely to have these failures, and motors are typically extremely durable and robust - unless defective.

 

[TOCBoston]

For what it's worth, these kinds of failures can and do happen, but they are RARE. There are something like 6,000 of these trucks out there right now and this is the first instance of what appears to be motor failure. ICE vehicles can and do also have catastrophic failures of this nature. EVs are vastly less likely to have these failures, and motors are typically extremely durable and robust - unless defective.

Hi. I’m curious about where you got the data to say this is the first one. Do you mean first on this forum or are you privy to some type of maintenance data. If so, that would be very reassuring.

 

[godfodder0901]

For what it's worth, these kinds of failures can and do happen, but they are RARE. There are something like 6,000 of these trucks out there right now and this is the first instance of what appears to be motor failure. ICE vehicles can and do also have catastrophic failures of this nature. EVs are vastly less likely to have these failures, and motors are typically extremely durable and robust - unless defective.

This is at least the third reported on this forum alone...

 

[opnwide]

This is at least the third reported on this forum alone...

Yep.

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/front-drive-unit-failure-at-40-miles.4710/

 

[P.S.Mangelsdorf]

As someone who has built two EV conversions and had failures in traffic, I figured I would offer a few theories on the potential failure based on how you described it.

A disclaimer first: I'm not an electric engineer or a vehicle engineer. I'm just a lunatic that can't leave well enough alone.

Ok with that aside, there are two groups of potential failures: mechanical and electrical.

Starting with mechanical, there could be a damaged axle or motor bearing. In either case, it's going to be difficult for the truck to turn the wheels, leading to clunks and/or shaking.

Going to electrical, there are several fault points. For a production vehicle, several are less likely but still plausible. First, a blown fuse may make a bang, but I think it's unlikely there are multiple fuses, so this is out. The next potential failure is an inverter power stage. This doesn't tend to make noise, but sudden loss of power may cause slack in the drive train leading to a bang. If one or more inverters failed, this could create drag from that motor, leading to the shaking. There could also be a failure in one or more sensors. When the Tesla Large Drive Unit (LDU) in my conversion lost encoder signal (telling the inverter the position of the motor) it lurched and shook and would barely move.

Since this occurred taking off from a light, my guess is a power stage failure. Because of the increased amp draw, if there was a faulty IGBT, this is the point where it would fail. I think there is also potential for a bad sensor or something else that shut down one or motor motors. Unless you were beating on it right before stopping at that light or you floored it on green, I doubt it was a mechanical failure. It'll be interesting to see what it was, if they tell you that is.

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