Rivian (driver) blamed for death of a teen hit in school parking lot

[mike91tt]

I feel the need to reply about this for a few reasons First, unfortunately this was in my town and I have kids the same age that used to go to school with these kids that now go to that school so hits close to home.

So right when I saw it was a Rivian and in a school pickup line (which I do several times a day), I thought immediately that it was the "surging" problem, which most of you may not have experienced but I did look it up and it certainly does happen to some people. It has happened to me 3 times recently where I was basically like f*ck this car. For those of you that don't know what I mean, my recent example is I was driving around a somewhat winding road, punched it to like 60, let off the gas, (it lets off like usual) and then suddenly feels as it I floored it again and it takes off and it backs off when you hit the brakes. Another example is I was coming up fast accelerating to a green light to make a left and beat it before it turned red - coming in aggressive and when I let of the gas close enough to the light to just use a combination of regen and regular brakes, it takes off again as if I floored it again, and had to slam brakes in the middle of intersection. There was another example where I thought it was my imagination.

So of courseI had this checked out, but they never find anything. I see others say the same thing but not THAT many. Again this can't be EVERY Rivian or it would be a major issue. I just wanted to explain why this was my initial thought when I saw a Rivian caused this since I know how these pickup lines work in LA area, stop and go every few seconds for 20 minutes. Who knows if this is what happened, but believe me from someone with experience with this, it is entirely possible. Very tragic regardless.

Sponsored

 

[stormbreaker]

Its a accident unless proven otherwise. I feel for all involved and knowing the parents of victim having to burry their child. That's just awful.

Now for all the lowlifes to pile on.

 

[SoCal Rob]

While there are plenty of stories with ICE cars driving through store fronts by hitting the wrong peddle, I feel like this could be solvable with software. Like the first hard stomp of the accelerator from hold doesn't do anything and requires a double tap within a couple seconds before it engages (in case you actually do need to go).

I think this could be addressed by software but what you’re proposing wouldn’t necessarily solve the problem (what defines a hard stomp?) and would create new problems when the vehicle behaves in the way you’re describing. We don’t even know if the vehicle was stopped and in Hold or creeping forward slowly at the time. It seems unlikely that someone who is already stopped would try to stomp on a pedal to remain stopped. I suspect they were creeping forward and the driver had pedal confusion: stomping on the accelerator rather than the brake as they attempted to come to a rapid stop.

Perhaps a different behavior is triggered if the vehicle is moving below, say, 10mph and there is an object of any sort (detected by any system) which would be hit based upon the calculated acceleration called for. If that happens then the power requested by the driver is reduced so that the vehicle will stop just short of the object. Once stopped, it would go into Hold so that further movement would require the driver to release the pedal and then reapply power to take it out of Hold. I think pedal confusion is most likely at low speeds where people think they’re creeping forward by pressing the brake (like in an automatic ICE vehicle) rather than the accelerator.

People will occasionally get pedal confusion. I think we can all agree that modern vehicles should be able to keep a mistake like that from turning into a tragedy like this.

I feel the need to reply about this for a few reasons First, unfortunately this was in my town and I have kids the same age that used to go to school with these kids that now go to that school so hits close to home.

So right when I saw it was a Rivian and in a school pickup line (which I do several times a day), I thought immediately that it was the "surging" problem, which most of you may not have experienced but I did look it up and it certainly does happen to some people. It has happened to me 3 times recently where I was basically like f*ck this car. For those of you that don't know what I mean, my recent example is I was driving around a somewhat winding road, punched it to like 60, let off the gas, (it lets off like usual) and then suddenly feels as it I floored it again and it takes off and it backs off when you hit the brakes. Another example is I was coming up fast accelerating to a green light to make a left and beat it before it turned red - coming in aggressive and when I let of the gas close enough to the light to just use a combination of regen and regular brakes, it takes off again as if I floored it again, and had to slam brakes in the middle of intersection. There was another example where I thought it was my imagination.

So of courseI had this checked out, but they never find anything. I see others say the same thing but not THAT many. Again this can't be EVERY Rivian or it would be a major issue. I just wanted to explain why this was my initial thought when I saw a Rivian caused this since I know how these pickup lines work in LA area, stop and go every few seconds for 20 minutes. Who knows if this is what happened, but believe me from someone with experience with this, it is entirely possible. Very tragic regardless.

 

[SoCal Rob]

I feel the need to reply about this for a few reasons First, unfortunately this was in my town and I have kids the same age that used to go to school with these kids that now go to that school so hits close to home.

So right when I saw it was a Rivian and in a school pickup line (which I do several times a day), I thought immediately that it was the "surging" problem, which most of you may not have experienced but I did look it up and it certainly does happen to some people. It has happened to me 3 times recently where I was basically like f*ck this car. For those of you that don't know what I mean, my recent example is I was driving around a somewhat winding road, punched it to like 60, let off the gas, (it lets off like usual) and then suddenly feels as it I floored it again and it takes off and it backs off when you hit the brakes. Another example is I was coming up fast accelerating to a green light to make a left and beat it before it turned red - coming in aggressive and when I let of the gas close enough to the light to just use a combination of regen and regular brakes, it takes off again as if I floored it again, and had to slam brakes in the middle of intersection. There was another example where I thought it was my imagination.

So of courseI had this checked out, but they never find anything. I see others say the same thing but not THAT many. Again this can't be EVERY Rivian or it would be a major issue. I just wanted to explain why this was my initial thought when I saw a Rivian caused this since I know how these pickup lines work in LA area, stop and go every few seconds for 20 minutes. Who knows if this is what happened, but believe me from someone with experience with this, it is entirely possible. Very tragic regardless.

What you’re describing, the vehicle moving at higher speeds and surging forward when letting off the accelerator but stopping when you hit the brake, sounds like what would happen with cruise control set. Are you certain you didn’t have the cruise control on and set to a speed higher than you wanted when you let off the accelerator? Maybe you‘re like me and only use cruise control on highways, but if you tend to use it around town then it’s a possibility. This is just something to consider.

 

[mike91tt]

I know what you mean, but no I've never used cruise control before. It was for sure not on. If you experienced what I'm talking about you'd know it wasn't cruise control. Valid thought though.

 

[stormbreaker]

I know what you mean, but no I've never used cruise control before. It was for sure not on. If you experienced what I'm talking about you'd know it wasn't cruise control. Valid thought though.

WAIT A MINUTE.

Your assertion is that you never used cruise control in your vehicle before?

 

[mike91tt]

I wouldn't call it an assertion exactly ha, but no I haven't used cruise control on this car before. I never drive far and LA traffic is out of control. But certainly cruise control wouldn't work by seemingly giving full 850HP when needing to increase speed.

 

[SoCal Rob]

If you experienced what I'm talking about you'd know it wasn't cruise control.

What you’re describing is EXACTLY how adaptive cruise control (ACC) works: once a speed is set, using the accelerator temporarily overrides the set speed so you can go faster, like you’d do to pass. As soon as you let off the accelerator it will take over again and try to maintain the set speed.

I’m fairly sure IIRC, in our Rivians you can lightly apply the accelerator pedal so you’re actually slowing down from regen which overrides ACC and when you let off the accelerator it will accelerate to the set speed, provided there is nothing detected as an obstruction in front of you. In your racing to a left turn example, if it was engaged ACC probably wouldn’t detect any vehicles directly in front of you as obstructions so it would try to accelerate back to the set speed when you let off the accelerator.

If you have a Gen1 then pulling down on the drive stalk, as if selecting drive, will engage ACC. It’s probably worth taking the time to read up on it and at least try ACC once so you’re familiar with engaging it, the noise it makes when engaged, and how it behaves. Hitting the brake pedal will disengage it.

 

[mike91tt]

Yeah I totally understand what you mean and I will look into it more, but I am certain it is not cruise control in these situations. SC had ruled that out as well. I'm sure it will happen again and I plan on pulling over immediately this time to check any CC settings. Either way I have to drop it off soon for a scheduled maintenance so I am going to make a huge deal about it. Which in turn will mean they have it for a month but whatever

 

[Honey]

If he forgot which pedal is which, the driver could have done the same mistake in any vehicle. The fact that it's a rivian is irrelevant.

 

[mike91tt]

If he forgot which pedal is which, the driver could have done the same mistake in any vehicle. The fact that it's a rivian is irrelevant.

Well yeah of course agreed. I don't think anyone is, or can argue that.

 

[thrill]

Way back in my high school days when school buses were the norm, a student walked between two busses as they were lined up and also just as the driver released the parking brake with the vehicle in neutral. "Fortunately" it was only two broken legs. The newspaper article didn't mention the make and model of the bright yellow vehicle.

 

[HaveBlue]

Most schools in Los Angeles now control and limit the loading process so that kids don't walk between cars. This policy might not have been in place at the private school. The mayhem is worse at high schools as students drive.

 

[dleepnw]

The fact that they are calling out the vehicle as a Rivian/EV likely indicates the writer/editor has an agenda as that has very little bearing on this tragic situation. Unless actual facts come out showing the vehicle did something unexpected/unintended, its driver error, like most accidents.

 

[CosmicRivian]

The fact that they are calling out the vehicle as a Rivian/EV likely indicates the writer/editor has an agenda as that has very little bearing on this tragic situation. Unless actual facts come out showing the vehicle did something unexpected/unintended, its driver error, like most accidents.

There was considerable speculation about this yesterday, so I reached out to the KTLA writer and editor on this. If you go to page two of this message thread, you can find what I asked them and the reply I received (and posted with permission) in message #21.

Sponsored