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Security of gear tunnel?

MStillman

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Does anyone know how secure the gear tunnel is? How does it open? Button inside the truck? Lock on outside of compartment? App?
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The button to open it is on the top edge of the bed above the gear tunnel, but the button won’t work if the car is locked.
 
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MStillman

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The button to open it is on the top edge of the bed above the gear tunnel, but the button won’t work if the car is locked.
Good to hear. I'm also curious how sturdy the closure is. I'm assuming you could take a pry bar and open it. Just trying to decide what I would trust keeping inside it.
 

C.R. Rivian

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Good to hear. I'm also curious how sturdy the closure is. I'm assuming you could take a pry bar and open it. Just trying to decide what I would trust keeping inside it.
Stuff there would be out of sight...similarly with the frunk. One advantage might be that tweekers might not know about gear tunnels. No car is secure from a crow bar, of course, but I'm going with the gear tunnel as secure.
 

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I would trust the gear tunnel more than the frunk or in the cab. Most opportunistic thieves won’t even know it’s there and if they smash and grab, they go for the windows. Prying open a gear tunnel hatch is going to be at least as difficult, probably more so, that prying open a door. The frunk is a lot more vulnerable as it still must be quickly accessible by first responders just like on an ice car. This is why Tesla has avoided the power frunk setup, to simplify access. The main power cut off and 12V access are in the frunk.

Gear tunnel has access through the opening in the rear seat. So I could see someone finding that and looking inside to see if they can grab something.
 

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MStillman

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The hell neighborhood do people live in that they're concerned about someone crowbar'ing into their gear tunnel?

Advice #1: MOVE OUT FROM NEIGHBORHOOD before buying that Rivian!

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MStillman

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My question had nothing to do with neighborhoods, rather the integrity of the closure. I was curious if it was closer to a gas cap closure door or something more substantial. I do travel a bit and you never know what you might encounter. But thanks anyway.
 

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The lock is equivalent to the door locks. Plenty strong although obviously not impervious to anyone with the motivation to get in.
I checked this out at the first mile event. They use the same exact latch mechanism as the doors. So just as secure plus no glass, although you can also access the tunnel through the little pass through from behind the armrest in the rear seats.
 

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KenJ

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My question had nothing to do with neighborhoods, rather the integrity of the closure. I was curious if it was closer to a gas cap closure door or something more substantial. I do travel a bit and you never know what you might encounter. But thanks anyway.
The closure looks to be very similar to a hood or trunk latch currently in use on lots of models. The opening panel (gear door) has a metal hoop that contacts a rotating pair of jaws on the fixed (gear tunnel) side along with the electric solenoid. I’d say the latch has to be of similar retaining strength.
 
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MStillman

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The closure looks to be very similar to a hood or trunk latch currently in use on lots of models. The opening panel (gear door) has a metal hoop that contacts a rotating pair of jaws on the fixed (gear tunnel) side along with the electric solenoid. I’d say the latch has to be of similar retaining strength.
Thank you.
 

kylealden

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I'd guess, in order, the most secure spaces on the truck are:
  1. Spare tire compartment (can't be opened with tailgate closed, which can't be opened with the truck locked, and is very unlikely to be crowbar'd open).
  2. Front trunk: Can be crowbar'd (must be accessible to first responders) but otherwise is not accessible from the cabin unless unlocked.
  3. Gear tunnel: Can probably be crowbar'd with extensive effort, also accessible via the passthrough if someone breaks into the cabin.
  4. Bed with tonneau cover closed (can likely be trivially cut open, but is at least opaque and not easy to smash).
  5. Cabin (windows are transparent and can be smashed).
In practice, just keep valuables out of sight (in locked storage or in the under-seat or armrest compartments) if you park somewhere sketchy, and you'll be fine. I don't think there's another vehicle on the market with as much secure, hidden storage as the R1T (pending the F150 lightning).
 

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  1. Spare tire compartment (can't be opened with tailgate closed, which can't be opened with the truck locked, and is very unlikely to be crowbar'd open).
Have we confirmed that? I know there's an emergency-release button, by law, so that a trapped human can get out. Is this disabled when the tonneau is open? Or could someone reach over the bed rail when the tonneau is open and push the button to drop the tailgate?

I agree that "out of sight" ultimately provides the most security compared to the limited deterrent of the locks. Locks simply keep honest people honest.
 

kylealden

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Have we confirmed that? I know there's an emergency-release button, by law, so that a trapped human can get out. Is this disabled when the tonneau is open? Or could someone reach over the bed rail when the tonneau is open and push the button to drop the tailgate?

I agree that "out of sight" ultimately provides the most security compared to the limited deterrent of the locks. Locks simply keep honest people honest.
Good question. My assumption is that the emergency release is disabled when the tonneau is open, but you're right that somebody could probably cut in and pop the tailgate to get access to the spare. Though that suggests an extraordinary level of both familiarity with the Rivian and suspicion that the owner has something valuable in the spare compartment ?

But yeah, at the end of the day, I feel good locking my belongings anywhere out of sight in this truck. At the end of the day you need a realistic thread model; nothing will keep out a determined thief with time, tools, and motivation, but you're pretty safe from smash-and-grabs as long as you don't leave a purse on your passenger seat:

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