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Prime

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I feel like this announcement should have come with some images / video of how the manual version will work. I’m not going to even consider a truck without some sort of cover and I wanted the automatic version. Now that’s out the door but to just describe it and then say oh it might not ship with your vehicle either but you’ll “eventually” get it. Seems like they don’t know what this is gonna be or how it’s gonna work exactly. Maybe they just have a rough prototype.

I understand the financial burden to continue to put a inadequate piece of hardware in the car that will require fixing but they should at least build a path for current order holders to retrofit and their vehicles should they want to.
 

SANZC02

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I feel like this announcement should have come with some images / video of how the manual version will work. I’m not going to even consider a truck without some sort of cover and I wanted the automatic version. Now that’s out the door but to just describe it and then say oh it might not ship with your vehicle either but you’ll “eventually” get it. Seems like they don’t know what this is gonna be or how it’s gonna work exactly. Maybe they just have a rough prototype.

I understand the financial burden to continue to put a inadequate piece of hardware in the car that will require fixing but they should at least build a path for current order holders to retrofit and their vehicles should they want to.
This is from the Rivian website.

Manual Tonneau Cover
Our manual cover consists of four interlocking panels that slide in the channel of the truck bed. It comes with a bag for easy storage that fits inside the Gear Tunnel.
 

Prime

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This is from the Rivian website.

Manual Tonneau Cover
Our manual cover consists of four interlocking panels that slide in the channel of the truck bed. It comes with a bag for easy storage that fits inside the Gear Tunnel.
Yea I got the email. That’s a description I’d really like to see how it works and what it looks like. If they had a ready made prototype they would have shown it. For all we know it’s an idea. On a YouTube video not too long ago a first drive customer asked a rivian employee what the manual version would look like and he said he’s seen a prototype and it’s a foldable version. This is a few months ago. So they’ve obviously scrapped that version and the current one just has a description of how it should work and look like.
 

xnuywkr

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Here’s what I’m hoping for: after market suppliers figure it out and will either provide a fix for the present power cover problem or will provide a power or manual cover that can be retro-fitted to the bed. Smaller companies can work faster than the bigger ones.
 

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cbrcanuck

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I’ve been constantly going back and forth on manual vs automatic. I’m ok with that decision having been made for me in this case. One less thing to break and deal with. If they did away with the powered air vents I’d also be ok. If the other Vancouverites decide to wait for an auto cover, guess I’ll get bumped up the list!
 

Marchin_MTB

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If the new one isn't anywhere near ready, there could be 25k+ future R1T owners over the next year waiting for a retrofit, on top of the existing trucks. WIth the limited service network, I wouldn't be surprised if they are trying to avoid creating an even bigger service mess down the line with tens of thousands of trucks needing fairly substantial service appointments for installation.
Right. But following that line of thinking, why bother retrofitting even the 12,000 existing trucks?. It sounds like v2.0 isn’t compatible with the current bed / no-tonneau /manual option (?), so how will it be compatible in a retrofit with current trucks…. Unless the fix for the current trucks and v2.0 are different. And if that is the case, then it seems to me that the retrofit may be dropped in the end.
 

Sattman69

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I never wanted the damned power tonneau cover.
Same here.
I added it when it seemed clear they were only batching trucks with powered ones. But I/we knew it was going to be a weak spot at best. So planned to use it sparingly if I had to get it. Bought my graphite lube 2 months ago JIC, based on advice through the forum.
So now I updated config back to manual cover in hopes an after sale or aftermarket retrofit is developed as an option. I’m just hoping to get a truck sooner than later but with the benefit of evolution - both in the company and the R1T.
Fingers crossed!
 

atebit

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Guys Guys, stop complaining for every single thing !!! we all knew this is a brand new vehicle, designed by a 35 year old guy that never designed a car,
Photo believed to be of Rivian designer:


Rivian R1T R1S ⛔️ Powered Tonneau cover removed from R1T production until further notice on all future deliveries 1666434429988
 

atebit

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Well, what *I* would have expected is that they did enough Quality Control to know that the design was flawed and, yes, NOT deliver them until they were bullet proof.
Nope, that’s not Agile. With that “methodology”, it’s ok to fail as long as you “fail fast”. 12K units might be ”fast” for Toyota & co.; not so much though for Rivian.
 

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AdamsFan1983

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Food for thought.

Rivian R1T R1S ⛔️ Powered Tonneau cover removed from R1T production until further notice on all future deliveries 1666436358463
 

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I suspect Rivian has a solution engineered to fix the 1.0 covers, but the cost to do so is too stupidly high to implement to newly constructed vehicles. So, here we are, redesigning the whole bed, rails, structure and likely gear tunnel for a new 2.0 design in an effort to keep costs and reliability more reasonable.
 

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After 20 years of owning Chevy Avalanches with manual tonneau covers (3 panels, not heavy but awkward,) I'm disappointed to be losing out on a powered tonneau.

I generally know before I leave the house whether I need to remove the tonneau or not. So, except on rare occasions, the panels aren't taking up cargo space when they're removed as they’re stored in the garage. OTOH, reinstalling them usually requires climbing into the bed a couple of times to make sure they’re set properly….and that's a pain. Hopefully Rivian's manual tonneaus are easier to reinstall.

As my truck lives outside 24/7, I'm going with the manual tonneau. And honestly, the few minutes it takes to remove/reinstall the panels each time will be a lot less time than it takes to make multiple SC visits to have a powered one repaired.
 

ads75

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I understand people being upset with this news, but what else was Rivian supposed to do? Most people that comment on receiving new trucks comment on the status of their tonneau cover. I suspect they may have waited until now to do this because now they can focus on reducing the R1S backlog. I would expect more R1S produced than R1Ts for the rest of the year.

I am currently going through my 8 steps for my R1T, so I didn’t receive an email. I guess I’ll find out in the next week or two the status of mine, whether I have a vintage style, an updated one, or a new modern one. Or none to be installed at a later date. I talked to my guide on Thursday and she didn’t mention anything about it, and I didn’t ask given people got this email on Friday. I did think about going with the manual, I just wish Rivian could’ve been more proactive on what that looks like, especially given the problems the powered version was giving people, but maybe they were shopping suppliers around and weren’t sure on a final version themselves.
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