2025 R1S Tri-Motor MaxPac Dead/Severely Degraded

[Paul Hackett]

I've searched around to see if this issue has been addressed in the forum, but didn't find a fit.

On Sunday 23 March, 2025 I had returned home in my R1S and was backing up in my driveway to park in the garage.
I heard a loud "clunk" while creeping backwards; sounded as if I was driving down a road and threw a rock up that hit the underneath of the wheel well.
I noticed I lost regenerative braking both going in reverse and forward.
Parked the car in the garage and did a "hard re-set" x 2 with no improvement.
After the hard re-sets I noticed a "turtle" icon and there was a screen notice that indicated I was unable to change driving mode and to contact Rivian Service; (was driving in econo).
I later noticed that the front motors were not engaging either for regenerative braking or power.
I contacted Rivian National Service, who sent a flat-bet out to take the car to Denver Service Center on Monday 24 March 2025 and it's been radio silence since Monday and I can't get any intel from them.

So, my question is, has anyone had similar symptoms and or failure with a Gen 2 R1S, Tri/Max and if so what's the diagnosis, and time frame for service/repair and return.

Again, forgive me, if this has been addressed in another forum chain as I searched around and couldn't find a similar failure description.

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[boney]

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. My tri-motor is working as expected, touch wood, thus far - I have under 800 miles on it. Hope yours get corrected soon.

 

[VSG]

Sounds like one of the rear disconnects could have failed. It happens. Fix is to replace the drive unit. It will be covered under warranty.

There are other possible things this could have been, but bottom line is the same in all cases - they will fix it. But the timeframe is really unpredictable because it could take time to get the parts.

 

[Rividiculous]

Yikes. Sorry to hear this. I have an early Gen2 dual motor. I had a rear motor failure (when driving). I thought it was a big fail and was quite worried. Rivian picked it up with a flatbed and then I got meaningless updates for a few days. But then I got the update that it was ready. It came back like new and has been trouble free since then. (Knock on wood.)

My ordeal was about 10 days total. That was over the holidays, so I thought it seemed reasonable. Also, I had already had a SC visit set up for some minor things so they took care of those things then too--probably would have gotten it back a little faster otherwise.

I hope you get your Tri back soon and can enjoy it. I totally get why Rivian ranks low in reliability and yet at the top of customer satisfaction. (And, c'mon Rivian, work on the QC issues! It will pay off in the long run.) I'm sorry you are dealing with it. Sharing my story in hopes that it might reduce your stress level a little.

Edit: One addition: I don't recall having any issue with Regen when my rear drive conked out. I was driving and it kept going. The turtle light came on but it was basically just that I was FWD only.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

Sorry to hear you’re having trouble with it. I concur with the others here that it sounds like the rear motor disconnect were you in conserve mode?

either way, I’m sure Rivian will get this fixed up for you and make it right, but I totally get your frustration too having such an issue with a new vehicle.

 

[Paul Hackett]

I've searched around to see if this issue has been addressed in the forum, but didn't find a fit.

On Sunday 23 March, 2025 I had returned home in my R1S and was backing up in my driveway to park in the garage.
I heard a loud "clunk" while creeping backwards; sounded as if I was driving down a road and threw a rock up that hit the underneath of the wheel well.
I noticed I lost regenerative braking both going in reverse and forward.
Parked the car in the garage and did a "hard re-set" x 2 with no improvement.
After the hard re-sets I noticed a "turtle" icon and there was a screen notice that indicated I was unable to change driving mode and to contact Rivian Service; (was driving in econo).
I later noticed that the front motors were not engaging either for regenerative braking or power.
I contacted Rivian National Service, who sent a flat-bet out to take the car to Denver Service Center on Monday 24 March 2025 and it's been radio silence since Monday and I can't get any intel from them.

So, my question is, has anyone had similar symptoms and or failure with a Gen 2 R1S, Tri/Max and if so what's the diagnosis, and time frame for service/repair and return.

Again, forgive me, if this has been addressed in another forum chain as I searched around and couldn't find a similar failure description.

The final diagnosis is broken front right axle half. Repaired and picked up this afternoon. Rare occurrence typically the result of rough off roading or a hard curb strike, neither of which this trailer queen has experienced.

 

[SolartoEV]

10:22 am Est no word from Rivian. By 6:20 Est picked up and all fixed. I would say them getting on Monday and you picking it up fixed on Thursday is very impressive. Kudos to Rivian.

 

[Zoidz]

The final diagnosis is broken front right axle half. Repaired and picked up this afternoon. Rare occurrence typically the result of rough off roading or a hard curb strike, neither of which this trailer queen has experienced.

THat's great - less than a week! Hopefully this is a sign that Rivian is gaining on service performance. What Service Center? Denver?

 

[sub]

the front motors were not engaging ...has anyone had similar symptoms and or failure with a Gen 2 R1S, Tri/Max

I am pretty sure 100% of tri-motor Rivians struggle to engage front motorS. Getting one to engage is usually not so hard, but getting more than one front motor going tends to be difficult.

 

[VSG]

The final diagnosis is broken front right axle half. Repaired and picked up this afternoon. Rare occurrence typically the result of rough off roading or a hard curb strike, neither of which this trailer queen has experienced.

Ouch. That's the first one of those I've heard about. Glad they got it back to you quickly.

I totally get your frustration too having such an issue with a new vehicle.

I think that when you have a defective part like this, it is *expected* that it will fail early on, when it is first subjected to real-world use. I'm sure Rivian does all the usual inspections of parts like axles, and I'm sure they have instructed their supplier to do all the usual (industry standard) quality inspections and process control steps, but if there is a material defect in the axle then perhaps the only way to have found that in advance would be something like x-ray inspection, which might be overkill, expensive, and not typically done on parts unless they are used in critical applications like airplane engines.

Bottom line, early failure of anything doesn't bother me so much. But I would be concerned if the failure rate were going up rather than down over time. By all indications, quality control HAS BEEN getting better all the time.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

Bottom line, early failure of anything doesn't bother me so much. But I would be concerned if the failure rate were going up rather than down over time. By all indications, quality control HAS BEEN getting better all the time.

Agree! Haven't seen many of these ...and its not specific to Rivian. Tesla had an issue with some half shafts and motors failing early on.

Rivian is really good about making things right too which never hurts. Their service techs are awesome.

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