Electrical Hazard Possible warning

[bafrench]

Just had the issue happen to me ... 10-day-old 2025 R1S. Tow truck on the way to take it to the service center in Denver.

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[RoadTripFan]

I HAVE MY TRUCK BACK!

All the service was completed yesterday.
- electrical harness replaced.
- HVAC Drain Plug replaced
- New 12v batteries installed.

In talking with the service center the apparent cause of the fault was a broken connection tab on the soft connect from the harness to the HVAC system.The "push in until it clicks" type of tab that you then squeeze on to remove the plug. The Tech's best guess was that on a previous SC visit to have work done on the HVAC, it had cracked, didn't get caught and over time just became more and more loose until eventually some jiggle or another caused a voltage flicker that set off the monitoring system designed to ensure that the vehicle never electrocutes anyone.

As for the drain plug and the 12v batteries, I shared with them threads on the potential issues with these and they proactively switched them out for me to the newer versions at no charge.

I was not happy not having my truck for what ended up being 32 days from issue to resolution and return.
I am grateful that Rivian provided me a loaner (Ford F150) that I could use in the interim as my work necessitates DC Fast charging on a weekly basis to get all the travel in and this would have been problematic without the loaner.
I am very happy with the SC Staff in Richmond who responded to all of my queries via the messaging function in the app AND also listened to other potentials I had laid out before and took action on them under warranty.

The cost to me on all of this was $20 which I paid to have the state inspection done while the truck was in there.

 

[Zoidz]

Thanks for the detailed update. IMO, based on your report, I wonder if Rivian might be a bit too aggressive with their "OMG ELECTRICAL FAILURE!!!!!! GET OUT OR YOU WILL DIE!!!!" warnings based on the resolution of this service event. Per your description, this was not a "critical electrical failure".

 

[RoadTripFan]

Thanks for the detailed update. IMO, based on your report, I wonder if Rivian might be a bit too aggressive with their "OMG ELECTRICAL FAILURE!!!!!! GET OUT OR YOU WILL DIE!!!!" warnings based on the resolution of this service event. Per your description, this was not a "critical electrical failure".

I said nearly the same thing to the tech when I picked it up yesterday. If you've been to the Richmond SC, the customer area also holds the desks for the folks working the front and nearly everyone of them chimed in on this... summary of responses basically went:
- Voltage where it shouldn't be is a scary thing for harming people and / or frying other parts of the system.
- Even small amounts of voltage in the wrong places risks damage to the HV Battery and an outrageous repair scenario.
- Also a lot of speculation around the idea that should Rivian be the first EV Company to electrocute an owner it would be bad for the long term health of the company.

No idea what Rivian's actual decision making process was around this but found all of the reponses both amusing and reasonable

 

[Dark-Fx]

Thanks for the detailed update. IMO, based on your report, I wonder if Rivian might be a bit too aggressive with their "OMG ELECTRICAL FAILURE!!!!!! GET OUT OR YOU WILL DIE!!!!" warnings based on the resolution of this service event. Per your description, this was not a "critical electrical failure".

Some of the HVAC stuff uses high voltage. Loss of consistent voltage does indicate the potential for a hazard here. And it could really be anything causing it. Rodents could have chewed through the wiring, leaving stuff in an actively hazardous condition. Impossible to know without the root cause of the drop being investigated.

 

[Zoidz]

Some of the HVAC stuff uses high voltage. Loss of consistent voltage does indicate the potential for a hazard here. And it could really be anything causing it. Rodents could have chewed through the wiring, leaving stuff in an actively hazardous condition. Impossible to know without the root cause of the drop being investigated.

I'm interested in learning more about what part of the HVAC uses HV.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I'm interested in learning more about what part of the HVAC uses HV.

The heater blower PTC does.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/145634265430

Depicted as the orange rectangle above the front motors in the emergency response guide, though I think it's slightly inaccurate here, and should be a little further back.

 

[Zoidz]

I said nearly the same thing to the tech when I picked it up yesterday. If you've been to the Richmond SC, the customer area also holds the desks for the folks working the front and nearly everyone of them chimed in on this... summary of responses basically went:
- Voltage where it shouldn't be is a scary thing for harming people and / or frying other parts of the system.
- Even small amounts of voltage in the wrong places risks damage to the HV Battery and an outrageous repair scenario.
- Also a lot of speculation around the idea that should Rivian be the first EV Company to electrocute an owner it would be bad for the long term health of the company.

No idea what Rivian's actual decision making process was around this but found all of the reponses both amusing and reasonable

Some of the HVAC stuff uses high voltage. Loss of consistent voltage does indicate the potential for a hazard here. And it could really be anything causing it. Rodents could have chewed through the wiring, leaving stuff in an actively hazardous condition. Impossible to know without the root cause of the drop being investigated.

I certainly agree with the concerns on the HV side. My thinking process when I posted is that Rivian obviously knows what is HV vs. 12 VDC. I was thinking/assume that connector in this particular service event sounded like it was 12 VDC, in which case it represents no shock risk and since it is fused, a highly unlikely fire risk.

HV on the other hand....

 

[Dark-Fx]

I certainly agree with the concerns on the HV side. My thinking process when I posted is that Rivian obviously knows what is HV vs. 12 VDC. I was thinking/assume that connector in this particular service event sounded like it was 12 VDC, in which case it represents no shock risk and since it is fused, a highly unlikely fire risk.

HV on the other hand....

I think the issue is you've lost the ability to monitor that HV circuit if your 12V is glitching out. Since there's no *good* reason for the 12V issues, I understand why they'd err on assuming the worst case.

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