R1S second row seats are laughably hard to manipulate

[strangelove]

"Alexa, navigate to the gym"

"I've found a gym 356 miles away from your current location. Would you like to go to that one? No? How about this one that's 2,125 miles away in Nova Scotia? That's not right either? What do you mean I'm a worthless $*%@#? I should do what to myself? Try enabling that skill in the Alexa app."

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[Dark-Fx]

"I've found a gym 356 miles away from your current location. Would you like to go to that one? No? How about this one that's 2,125 miles away in Nova Scotia? That's not right either? What do you mean I'm a worthless $*%@#? I should do what to myself? Try enabling that skill in the Alexa app."

Don't know why people have so many issues with Alexa. Maybe you guys are being too hard on her so she's intentionally being a jerk back.

 

[strangelove]

Maybe you guys are being too hard on her

 

[gregtay]

4 weeks into my Rivian R1S adventure. traded up from a 2021 Explorer ST.

We had family come into town. 2 adults and 2 kids. Went paddelboarding, then up to Mt Rainier. Did some geocaching etc. Lots of getting everyone into and out of the R1S. Easy enough for the kids to get into and out of the third row, but good god man...sliding the second row back into place after loading them up. IT's ridiculous that it's as difficult as it is. I never realized this until we got into and out of the truck 4-5 times in an hour while searching for a geocache.

Push the button on the top of the seat to slide the seat forward and tilt the back of the seat forward. But to slide it back into place takes so much force. And then adjusting the seat to its prior location before tilting the back to a normal position.

I'm still shaking my head about it.

Other than that and lack of Apple Car play, I love the vehicle.

For what its worth... my new Escalade is exactly the same way. Seems like a dumb design. And it doesn't help that if you push the seat all to the back position... then the 3rd row can't come up or down because it hits the 2nd row seats, so you have to push it all the way back, then slightly forward. It's not a huge issue on the Escalade because I have captain's chairs, so 3rd row access doesn't involve moving the 2nd seats around, but I sitll run into the issue when I need to put the seats down to haul things. and on that point... the R1S needs a captain's chair 2rd row option.

 

[philofilm]

Also agree on this one. Should be much easier to manipulate.

 

[norivian]

Yup.

Not an exaggeration when I say these are the worst second-row seats of any 3-row vehicle I’ve ever sat in.

It’s an adventure climbing in and out of the second row (without running steps) and then having to manipulate those second row seats.

The adventure begins with the use of R1T/S. It’s an adventure vehicle. ?

 

[SoCal Rob]

I do not seem to notice that on mind curious the settings you have for lane keeping. Mine is pretty much off, just have the wheel vibrate to alert.

I didn’t do a great job describing it.

While stopped or at parking lot speeds the power assist is as strong as I’d want it to be: I can use a finger or two to move the steering wheel nearly effortlessly. I like this.

At highway speeds the power assist remains the same where, in my opinion, it requires too little effort to move the steering wheel given the speed. It isn’t lane keeping assisting me because when centered in a lane I have the same assist in both directions until I get to a lane boundary then it starts to require more effort to move to the edge of a lane and the low over-boosted effort to return to the center.

I think that if Rivian could implement (optional) variable assist power steering they’d solve a subjective issue where some of us think the steering effort is too low at highway speeds.

I think lower power steering assist at highway speeds would also solve an objective problem: I suspect the reason some people suffer from steering wheel shake at highway speeds is because the assist is too high. This allows minor movements of the wheels and/or suspension to be transmitted to the steering wheel more strongly because the power assist amplifies the movements whereas less assist would serve to resist the movements, effectively damping them.

However, I understand that the ADAS functions may preclude this type of change. It would be interesting to hear from Rivian why the power steering assist is as it is and if they ever considered reducing the assist as speed increases.

 

[ElGuapo]

Again, no vehicle is perfect. I will say, my kids enjoy reclining in the second row and the don't complain about not having a footrest (nod to the EV9)...

To the person who said "captains chairs and cooled like my Kia would be great" - sure, but your Kia was not designed to go off roading in any way and I think even the EV9 has a max of 8" of ground clearance and maybe 300 miles of range with one motor (2WD). R1S wasn't designed to just put your feet up (unless you want to put a mattress in it!).

Captains chairs - again, this would totally mess up the fold flat design of the seats and ability to haul stuff. As well, it's a manufacturing pain. The Model X was a mess with it's first 5, 6 or 7 seat configurations.

I don't disagree that at some point in the future, captains chairs would be nice, but I see no reason why Rivian would do it from an ROI perspective. They can and should focus on the R2 platform.

 

[usulio]

It might be easiest to swing the seat back to vertical (this is pretty easy, you don't need to press any buttons), then have the second row passenger scramble in and adjust the seat while sitting in it. It's a tight fit for them when the seat is pulled forward, but much easier to adjust from there.

 

[mkg3]

I share the OP's perspective. Why in the world didn't Rivian simply install memory sliding 2nd row seats?

This is not a new thing. Its been around for many years - many years!

Unfortunately this is not an over-the-air update kind of thing. Its physical thing...

 

[LoneStar]

Look at it this way... manipulate them on both sides 2 or 3 times and skip a day at the gym.

 

[CommonSense]

For an $80K SUV it’s as if the design team either A) doesn’t have more than 1-2 kids or B) have never ridden in another 3 row SUV. It‘s not a huge problem when you are settled in for an hour but if you’re running errands it’s a mess.

You're putting your finger on a broader pattern that I have seen with some Rivian design decisions - it's a younger person's perspective - for example:

There is no Odometer on the dashboard. If you grew up always using GPS, that makes sense. If you group up reading street signs and using your odometer to track when to exit, it's really annoying not to have it.

My favorite though is where they sited the Rivian Service/Delivery center for New York . It's in Brooklyn. Which is absolutely a cool, hip spot for young employees to live in NYC, easy commute. But it's basically one of the most difficult places to drive to for anyone that lives in a suburb of NYC that is not Long Island. (and the icing on the cake is they built it near a cement factory, so all the new cars come coated in a layer of cement dust.)

 

[Bruins06]

I read somewhere that the next OTA update should address this.

 

[rpmtexas]

2nd row seats are definitely the worst I have experienced. We have three little kids and it's a big issue. I have removed the headrest on the 40% seat and the current plan is to just leave it down and allow the oldest to sit in his booster in back. Was able to get two car seats installed on the 60% seat. When I try using the electric button to fold the 2nd row, my seats barely move and sometimes don't move at all when it is hot outside. Thinking maybe the seats are swelling in the heat?? Definitely should have memory sliding seats. Also wish there was an on/off button for the damn thing! Thing shuts off constantly when I open and close doors doing something like loading up, moving car seats, etc.

 

[usulio]

Also wish there was an on/off button for the damn thing! Thing shuts off constantly when I open and close doors doing something like loading up, moving car seats, etc.

In the middle of running the air compressor...

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