Has anybody lost their underbody shield yet?

[Yellow Buddy]

Here’s to hoping my car gets delayed…

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[Christopher]

That's too bad. Hopefully a quick fix. Whereabouts in FL are you?

I'm in Palm Beach county.

Are most car bolts loctite? Every car I’ve worked on did seem to have any loctite.

Same here. Every car I've worked on always had some type of loctite on the bolts. Mostly using loctite blue.

 

[Christopher]

So the bolt I shared was put in sideways and the bolt hole was stripped. I had to loosen the entire panel to get the hole free and clear but still could not thread in straight. Will leave that to Rivian to rethread.

I found three bolts backed out, and two more finger loose.

Since it will be "awhile" for service I retightened all of them but only a bit with a screwdriver (not wrench). Most were had a lot of play, but will let Rivian torque them down to whatever is appropriate.

I'm confident they will back out soon, some threadlock is probably appropriate.

I would encourage people to visually inspect the underbody when delivered and then check for loose bolts soon after delivery.

I also had a cross threaded screw. Not sure if it was always like that or happened due to the panel ripping off and pulling on the screw. I also had one screw rip the welded bolt off the frame that it screwed into.

 

[HokieR1T]

I've spent this morning under my truck trying to remove the body panel under the rear suspension. I was alerted Thursday by a co-worker traveling behind me that I had a panel loose. 7 of the 12 fasteners were missing. 2 of the remaining 5 were finger loose, and 1 little guy is cross threaded and isn't coming out. Rivian is sending a mobile tech out Monday to repair/replace fasteners. Even that took a lot of phone calls, and effort on my end. This is a major safety issue, not for us, but anyone traveling behind a Rivian if/when it looses the underside panel.
From now on, underside inspections will be routine for me.

 

[Aubs]

Anybody know what kind of screws they're using? Might be good to have some on hand.

 

[SASSquatch]

This issue is deeply concerning and it doesn't seem isolated.

Has anyone filed a report with the NHTSA? If Rivian doesn't address this or voluntarily issue a recall, the NHTSA can compel them to.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index

 

[pfbz]

Well iI figured after reading this thread, I should at least go do a quick visual on my under-panels...

At the front and middle, everything seemed in place. I was pleased to see some color-coded witness or QA marks on the bolt heads and initially thought, "great, Rivian identified and now has procedures to prevent the issue..."

As I moved to the rear, not so good!

Two completely missing bolts, two very loose bolts.

Now just to note... The right rear airbag was replaced by the local service center just prior to delivery, so it is possible (even likely) that the loose or missing bolts were due to the service center not torquing/replacing the bolts rather than the assembly line... Not sure if that is better or worse in my opinion, but it is definitely different!






I tightened the loose bolts (didn't go crazy), Torx 30 for those that care, and also put in some temporary bolts to replace the missing bolts. I used allen head M6 as that is what I had, and again, tightened only screwdriver-tight. I put some of my own witness marks on the bolts so I can easily see if they start backing out again if Rivian doesn't schedule service quickly.

Other than these four bolts, didn't spot anything else loose on the undertrays.

 

[HokieR1T]

My rear suspension was serviced last week, so its likely that my issue occurred at the service center.

I asked Rivian to send me some screws. It would have been far easier, quicker, and cheaper for Rivian.

 

[TheIglu]

Checked this morning. Missing one fastener from the rear Sheila in the back corner, about 8 were loose, and the majority of them needed 1/4 turn or more to snug them up properly.
Also found wire harness stays not mounted and more front end cable/hose brackets loose.
Replaced the missing hardware and snugged everything down.
It happens.

 

[Christopher]

Underbody shield finally replaced. Unfortunately when driving home I heard loud rattling under the vehicle. Upon inspection, two screws were screwed only half way in and was causing the underbody to vibrate/flap. There was also a missing screw, and another one fully backed out that fell off when I was rattling the shield to see if any other screws were loose.

Here's a photo of the piece that was flapping around:

 

[Madsen203]

Confidence inspiring.

 

[Marchin_MTB]

Ack! I’m not at home else I would be crawling under the truck right now.

Have all those reporting this problem had prior service done in the rear-panel vicinity?

 

[dleewla]

Underbody shield finally replaced. Unfortunately when driving home I heard loud rattling under the vehicle. Upon inspection, two screws were screwed only half way in and was causing the underbody to vibrate/flap. There was also a missing screw, and another one fully backed out that fell off when I was rattling the shield to see if any other screws were loose.

Here's a photo of the piece that was flapping around:

so it took them 3 months to get the shield replaced and as soon as you leave, you hear the noise again and you find its the screws are loose and/or missing? WTF

either they are incompetent or there is some defect there that wont allow the screws to stay in. maybe the thread is stripped? yikes!

 

[ranieri]

WTAF?!

 

[sherold]

Ack! I’m not at home else I would be crawling under the truck right now.

Have all those reporting this problem had prior service done in the rear-panel vicinity?

No. No service performed on mine but it was delivered with loose screws (I have the reinforced UBS). I let them know in a service ticket, but I tightened them myself. I'll probably crawl back under for a reinspection soon to see what is/is not staying tightened.

One thing to note with the reinforced UBS is that the fasteners compress the carbon fiber material when tightened. This can have an effect on the holding strength and whether these fasteners actually stay tight or not. I am curious what the toque spec on these fasteners is (all sizes).

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