PSA: Careful Parking on ANY Incline...

[a76marine]

I came home from work today, just the same as I have every weekday since taking ownership of "Lenore" in September. Little bit of snow today but nothing compared to some of the other winter days around here.

The land in Chicago's suburbs is by no means "hilly" but, apparently, we LOVE building our suburban communities with inclined driveways. Nothing terrible, mind you, but it was enough today.

My R1T decided to roll itself down the driveway while it was plugged into my external Rivian wall charger. It yanked the charging handle out hard enough to break it pretty good.

Parking brakes did nothing here, as you can see in the video that the truck rolls down the driveway as opposed to sliding on the snow.

Fortunately, it looks like a new charging cable will get me back up and running, and I have the portable charger until then.

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[paariv]

Was it on? Parking brake? With the wheels rolling like that it looked like it hadn't actually been put in park.

 

[Marchin_MTB]

That is terrifying. I couldn’t seen it he video but was the car locked? Did you report this to Rivian?

 

[WattTruckMatt]

Am I seeing it wrong? Doesn't look like the rear tires rotated at all. Rear tires slid and no parking brake on the front, by design I imagine.

 

[jollyroger]

The back wheels were still

 

[a76marine]

Was it on? Parking brake? With the wheels rolling like that it looked like it hadn't actually been put in park.

I believe the parking brake is on the rear tires and automatically turns on when you put the car in park. If you look close enough, the front tires roll but the back tires slide on the snow.

That is terrifying. I couldn’t seen it he video but was the car locked? Did you report this to Rivian?

Car was locked, but a combination of the snow and weight of the vehicle on the incline appear to have been more than physics could withstand.

I did report it to Rivian, but I don't think it's totally the truck's fault. I just need to know how to get a new charger cable.

 

[WSea]

Am I seeing it wrong? Doesn't look like the rear tires rotated at all. Rear tires slid and no parking brake on the front, by design I imagine.

That's what I'm seeing

 

[jollyroger]

Might need something to block the wheels, sucks but I don't think most vehicles lock both the front and rear wheels in park (short of a 4x4 engaged)

 

[Marchin_MTB]

we have a very steep driveway that currently remains un-shoveled. This is a good PSA.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

This has happed to me many times with heavy ICE vehicles parked on an incline in the snow. Your rear tires were stationary and the front ones don't have a parking brake.

 

[Goose]

if you scrub the video quickly you can see the truck never actually settles. The front tires are rolling before you ever even get out of the truck. I think this is a case of physics boning you. I doubt even tire chocks would help in this case since there's so much snow/ice. You might need to pull the nose of the truck up extremely close to the house to try to get as flat as you can.

 

[a76marine]

You might need to pull the nose of the truck up extremely close to the house to try to get as flat as you can.

Which is exactly how it is right now. (Also on a salted and shoveled driveway)

 

[doit82]

This happened to me last weekend. Was stopped on our long steep driveway to pick up shovels from digging out a friends bolt who couldnt make it up after a slick layer of snow and subsequently slid off. Like an idiot i ran around the truck and jumped in the open drivers door and the truck slid off into the ditch just as i got in and slammed on the brakes. Back wheel was in about a foot of mud but it drove out like a champ. I will not be leaving it on an incline with any kind of snow from now on. I confirmed with the tracks after that it had slid as there were just skid marks in the snow/ice, as i was worried that it was some kind of failure with the parking brake.

 

[zipzag]

Do all EVs only lock the back wheels?

 

[jwardell]

This is true of any RWD car. The rears are not spinning but the fronts can spin freely. You parked on a slick slope with some temporary traction on top due to the fresh snow, but that quickly melts away due to pressure and you get wet ice which can't hold the truck. This is why in the old days we would put FWD stick shift cars in gear while also using the parking brake for the rear, so both wheels were somewhat locked. Just kind of bad luck with the surface conditions you parked on. These are not snow tires with a compound that can grip ice.
Also helps to turn your wheels toward the curb (which I know you don't have here..) But nothing unique to rivian here.

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