R1S liftgate opened while driving and all luggage fell out! (Drive Cam video added)

[RockyRoad]

I don’t get it. The camera is in the top part (powered lift gate) of the tailgate assembly, but the camera angle didn’t change as your wife’s stuff fell out (indicating that it didn’t open). And the lower hatch can’t open if the top is closed, so… can you explain how this happened without the powered lift gate opening?

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[LevelHeaded]

I'm now scared to punch my accelerator pedal

As far as outcomes go, this one isn’t that bad. Good, even, for the safety of everyone else on the road! ?

in all seriousness, I hope this is a faulty rear latch or something

 

[shandel]

I'm sorry, but I kind of love this story.

 

[sub]

Ask and you shall receive.

When my liftgate is closed, I can see my license plate very clearly in gearguard footage. No license plate in your footage. So the liftgate (and probably tailgate) must have been partially open before you floored it.

Still, there should have been some sort of error message when you drove off with the back open.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I don’t get it. The camera is in the top part (powered lift gate) of the tailgate assembly, but the camera angle didn’t change as your wife’s stuff fell out (indicating that it didn’t open). And the lower hatch can’t open if the top is closed, so… can you explain how this happened without the powered lift gate opening?

There is a slight bump and a change in the angle of the camera. Wide angle lenses need a lot of deviation to show them moving. Of course it's night time here now so I can't even attempt to reproduce this, but I can add that the liftgate somewhat refuses to close completely if the tailgate is not closed completely.

If you are in the habit of manually closing the liftgate, STOP doing that. If the button on the liftgate appears to do nothing, it means the tailgate is not fully closed. There is no chime for the person closing the liftgate, but you should be informed about it up front when driving away.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

Too many oddities here. As @Dark-Fx pointed out, the lower gate is tucked inside the upper hatch. For either to open, the camera would have immediately gone skyward due to the nature of the hatch design not to mention, 3 latches would have had to fail (two on the top outer edge of the lower gate, and the central one on the upper hatch which can only lock into a closed lower one)

Because the camera didn't go skyward, neither hatch nor lower gate could have been closed at all. I'd hazard a guess and say the lower gate was fully down, and the upper was only hanging downward held in position by the power struts on the sides.

TLDR

"A" has to get out of the way for "B" to open. Camera shows no evidence of "A" happening.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Too many oddities here. As @Dark-Fx pointed out, the lower gate is tucked inside the upper hatch. For either to open, the camera would have immediately gone skyward due to the nature of the hatch design not to mention, 3 latches would have had to fail (two on the top outer edge of the lower gate, and the central one on the upper hatch which can only lock into a closed lower one)

Because the camera didn't go skyward, neither hatch nor lower gate could have been closed at all. I'd hazard a guess and say the lower gate was fully down, and the upper was only hanging downward held in position by the power struts on the sides.

TLDR

"A" has to get out of the way for "B" to open. Camera shows no evidence of "A" happening.

I hadn't considered that. Probably what happened. Wife is probably used to just closing the hatch by hand without regard for the tailgate portion since it's somewhat unusual.

What SUV did you guys have before this?

 

[RivianMatt]

No offense, R1S Man, but what I ultimately hope is that you were so friggin' excited to show your wife the R1S's amazing horsepower that you forgot both to close the back and didn't notice the warning indicators flashing and/or making noise telling you that the back was open when you floored it! I'd much rather this be a case of user error instead of faulty R1S design!

 

[kizamybute']

Genuinely don't know since I own the truck, no SUV, but how do you open the rear tailgate from inside?

Is it a button? If so, possibly the suitcase smashed into the button and opened the door? Just throwing out a guess. If it's a pull cord, same thing could have happened. Luggage hooked it and pulled the latch.

Or, the hatch simply didn't get closed all the way.

Obviously this isn't normal. Unless they discover a recurring issue, not necessary to issue a "recall" because it happened to ONE vehicle.

My guess is that this was likely caused by the user, either directly or indirectly. Doing a "launch" with the back full of luggage, probably not the best time for it. I've passed on many such opportunities because I knew I didn't have some things fully secure in the vehicle. Usually, good things don't happen when loose objects go flying around inside the vehicle.

 

[sub]

Genuinely don't know since I own the truck, no SUV, but how do you open the rear tailgate from inside?

Is it a button? If so, possibly the suitcase smashed into the button and opened the door? J\

There is no button. If you are sitting in the trunk and close the liftgate, you have 2 options. Climb over the seats and exit via the door, or get out your phone and use the Rivian app to open the liftgate.

The OP's liftgate was partially open before he floored it.

 

[kizamybute']

There is no button. If you are sitting in the trunk and close the liftgate, you have 2 options. Climb over the seats and exit via the door, or get out your phone and use the Rivian app to open the liftgate.

The OP's liftgate was partially open before he floored it.

Where is the camera located? On the lift gate that opens up or the tail gate that goes down? Camera didn't move in the video. I guess you could close the rear liftgate with the tailgate still open. Would be down and may appear closed, just wouldn't be latched. In that case, likely that the tailgate (lower portion) never got closed. The items came straight out. Not up first then down. So would appear that they exited at floor level, which would indicate the lower tailgate wasn't closed. Again, just guessing.

 

[samso003]

+1 to the tailgate being down upon launch.

 

[sub]

Where is the camera located? On the lift gate that opens up or the tail gate that goes down? Camera didn't move in the video. I guess you could close the rear liftgate with the tailgate still open. Would be down and may appear closed, just wouldn't be latched. In that case, likely that the tailgate (lower portion) never got closed. The items came straight out. Not up first then down. So would appear that they exited at floor level, which would indicate the lower tailgate wasn't closed. Again, just guessing.

The camera is on the liftgate(upper portion). The license plate is on the tailgate ( lower portion).

When everything is closed properly, you can see the license plate in gearguard footage. If the tailgate is open and the liftgate is closed, you can see the entire tailgate.

You can't see the license plate or the tailgate in the OP's footage, so the liftgate wasn't lowered all the way down.

 

[kizamybute']

The camera is on the liftgate(upper portion). The license plate is on the tailgate ( lower portion).

When everything is closed properly, you can see the license plate in gearguard footage. If the tailgate is open and the liftgate is closed, you can see the entire tailgate.

You can't see the license plate or the tailgate in the OP's footage, so the liftgate wasn't lowered all the way down.

Well, then I guess that leaves only one option, since the liftgate didn't move and you couldn't see the tailgate, then that means only that Star Trek used the "beam me up Scotty" feature to magically destabilize the material of the luggage so it could pass through a solid object!!

Without having an R1S to look at, I can only form guesses. There IS a logical explanation for it. Likely user error. But regardless, from what everyone is saying, there's a missing piece to the puzzle since nothing else was visible in the video when, apparently, there should have been.

 

[zeezz]

This is the type of content I come to this forum for!! Potential issue, FUD, video evidence, then real explanations as to why this might happen. Great stuff.

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