R1S Jarring Ride Driving Diagonally at Slow Speed

[Guards Red Car]

R1S Jarring Ride Driving Diagonally at Slow Speed



Wondering if this is unique to my R1S – Driving at slow speed (perhaps 3 – 10 mph) from main road and turning onto a driveway apron – or – driving diagonally (with steering input) across even subtle elevation in otherwise smooth pavement – This causes an unpleasant rocking and jarring experience for all passengers – causing their upper torso to jerk side to side due to the unyielding, non dampening suspension

Does anyone else experience this?

Is there a software fix (or perhaps a hardware fix) for this very disturbing suspension disorder?

Appreciate to hear of your experiences with your R1S ride behavior

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[RabidRat]

It's the same with my R1T. I have been hearing about it from my wife and MIL .

It feels especially jarring given how well-absorbed bumps are when approaching them head-on.

I had assumed this is an artifact of the fancy hydraulic cross-link in the suspension that makes the truck handle so flat in corners. It'd be nice if they could bypass that outside of Sport Mode..

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

It's the weight of the vehicle. When you approach at an angle a lot more weight is shifted to one side vs approaching head on where the weight is more evenly distributed.

 

[Tony R1S]

Yeah have this jerky (pitch/roll) motion for all sorts of bumps at all angles Wish there was a way to get "Ultra-soft" ride mode for low speeds. I've gotten used to it but whenever I switch to other cars, it's like driving through butter..

 

[Joe schmoe]

It's the weight of the vehicle. When you approach at an angle a lot more weight is shifted to one side vs approaching head on where the weight is more evenly distributed.

I think it’s less to with the weight of the vehicle so much as the height—for a given amount of roll (tilting side to side) you are much farther from the center of rotation than you would be in a car or in most “crossover” vehicles.

For example, if you are twice as far from the axis of rotation, you‘ll move twice as far when the vehicle tilts, and the acceleration will be twice as much.

the Rivians are very heavy vehicles , but most of the weight is low. They aren’t particularly “tippy” compared to other vehicles of similar size

 

[Meccanica]

I have completely changed the way I turn into my subdivision because of this issue, especially with passengers.

 

[Guards Red Car]

Jerky, jarring, poor ride quality

Is an OTA fix in the works?

My R1S is a February 2023 Build - Does anyone with a newer build have a smoother riding R1S ?

Our R1S is NOT being used off road, it is on duty as a family hauler on local suburban roads and some longer highway jaunts

The ride quality of this R1S is so unpleasant - definitely a tremendous disappointment

 

[SoCal Rob]

The technical term for this is head toss (seriously) and I think it is related to the suspension. I say that because we had a Jaguar XJ SuperV8 (long wheel base) which did exactly the same thing despite being much lighter and much lower than a Rivian. The Jaguar did have incredible handling related to an advanced suspension damper (shock absorber) setup, for its time. The Jaguar also had an air suspension but I don‘t think that’s the issue since our LR3 (much closer in size, shape, and weight to an R1S) had air suspension and definitely did not have this issue.

Try using Off-Road Rally mode and drive the same path to see if it’s any better. Based on the advice of another post on the forum, I tried it and I think it makes a difference. It would be great if whatever modification Rivian made to that mode which addresses the head toss issue can be made to All-Purpose at, say, under 15 mph. That would increase ride comfort at low speed but retain the handling above that threshold.

 

[Si.LE.R1S]

The technical term for this is head toss (seriously) and I think it is related to the suspension. I say that because we had a Jaguar XJ SuperV8 (long wheel base) which did exactly the same thing despite being much lighter and much lower than a Rivian. The Jaguar did have incredible handling related to an advanced suspension damper (shock absorber) setup, for its time. The Jaguar also had an air suspension but I don‘t think that’s the issue since our LR3 (much closer in size, shape, and weight to an R1S) had air suspension and definitely did not have this issue.

Try using Off-Road Rally mode and drive the same path to see if it’s any better. Based on the advice of another post on the forum, I tried it and I think it makes a difference. It would be great if whatever modification Rivian made to that mode which addresses the head toss issue can be made to All-Purpose at, say, under 15 mph. That would increase ride comfort at low speed but retain the handling above that threshold.

Agree with Rally mode from other post. Can also just disable stability in any mode and get same effect (without sacrificing forward collision warning), turn on soft ride, and keep at standard height. I do this if I have a lot of passengers in R1S. At the end of the day, though, this drives more like a truck than a “family” car.

Lastly, switching to 20” AT from 22” sport makes a tremendous difference in low speed ride comfort, as expected. Sport wheels look and handle great, but suck for your passengers lol!

 

[Zoidz]

Jerky, jarring, poor ride quality

Is an OTA fix in the works?

My R1S is a February 2023 Build - Does anyone with a newer build have a smoother riding R1S ?

Our R1S is NOT being used off road, it is on duty as a family hauler on local suburban roads and some longer highway jaunts

The ride quality of this R1S is so unpleasant - definitely a tremendous disappointment

Not wanting to sound like a dick, but you are driving a truck, not a luxury SUV. Rivian didn't design it to be the ultimate family hauler on suburban roads and highways. This seems to be the #1 source of complaints about Rivian ride quality - people expecting it to be something it isn't and wasn't designed to be.

I don't work for Rivian, but I can tell you with certainty this will not be "fixed" because nothing is broken.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Not wanting to sound like a dick, but you are driving a truck, not a luxury SUV. Rivian didn't design it to be the ultimate family hauler on suburban roads and highways. This seems to be the #1 source of complaints about Rivian ride quality - people expecting it to be something it isn't and wasn't designed to be.

I don't work for Rivian, but I can tell you with certainty this will not be "fixed" because nothing is broken.

Truck ride quality can be worse than car ride quality, for sure! I think, however, that Rivian is prioritizing handling at all speeds, sacrificing comfort at low speeds in the process, when the vehicles can be made to adapt dynamically.

I don't know if you saw my earlier post, but our Land Rover did not do this at low speeds (~6,000 pound SUV with air springs) while our Jaguar (~4,000 pound luxury sport sedan with air springs) did. This makes me think that the dampers on the Rivian are behaving a lot more like the Jaguar than the Land Rover.

If Rivian can add an option to change the damping to act more like the regular dampers on our Land Rover at parking lot speeds and the performance/handling dampers on our Jaguar above parking lot speeds then I think that would be a better compromise of low speed ride quality and on-road handling.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Not wanting to sound like a dick, but you are driving a truck, not a luxury SUV. Rivian didn't design it to be the ultimate family hauler on suburban roads and highways. This seems to be the #1 source of complaints about Rivian ride quality - people expecting it to be something it isn't and wasn't designed to be.

I don't work for Rivian, but I can tell you with certainty this will not be "fixed" because nothing is broken.

The more I think about it, the more I think the head toss issue is specifically caused by the aggressive anti-roll bar type action employed by Rivian. If the Off-Road Rally mode turns that down, kind of emulating an anti-roll bar disconnect, then that would explain why the vehicle ends up absorbing more of the side-to-side motion in Rally so our heads and necks absorb less.

While it's true that the suspension isn't broken, I'm pretty sure that an OTA update could add an optional setting to increase comfort for people who want less head-toss at low speeds. Maybe?

 

[dleepnw]

"suspension disorder"? pretty sure thats how it rides. youre gonna have to get used it it or get another vehicle.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Drive faster.

 

[Zoidz]

Drive faster.

Near where I live, there is a railroad crossing that runs diagonally (30 degrees or so) across the street. The rails are slightly above the road surface. Every vehicle I have driven/ridden in (R1S, X3, 330cic, X1, Avalanche, A4) does the head toss thing in varying degrees, due to the diagonal rails.

Yes, the faster I go, the less of a problem it is. The only drawback is that it's at the crest of a rise. Going too fast is fun or dangerous, depending on the vehicle!

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