Interior peeling

[BoltEVowner]

Just above the driver side interior door opener, where the outside of your knee touches, the interior has peeled off for an area of 1 by 3 inches. Anyone else had this happen?

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[DaveA]

How tall are you? I don't think my knee gets close to that.

 

[mini2nut]

That's definitely a warranty item. First time that I have heard of this issue.

 

[itselectric]

Did something catch and tear or rip the material open? Or did it just disintegrate?

 

[BoltEVowner]

How tall are you? I don't think my knee gets close to that.

Five feet eight inches on a good day! With my leg extended on the floor, it doesn't touch the door. But, I often flex my left leg at the knee, and the outside of my left knee touches lightly, not forcefully, against the inside of the door in this same area. I am a golfer, and often wear shorts. Have to use sunscreen, and wonder if the sunscreen that was applied to my legs while golfing has reacted with the interior lining? It is my best guess. I have not encountered this in any other vehicle I have owned, so this is apparently a problem with whatever lining material is being used in the R1T.

 

[BoltEVowner]

I think it just disintegrated. I hadn't even noticed it until someone riding with me pointed it out. Have had the truck since 5-21-22 and it is driven regularly.

 

[Rousie13]

Five feet eight inches on a good day! With my leg extended on the floor, it doesn't touch the door. But, I often flex my left leg at the knee, and the outside of my left knee touches lightly, not forcefully, against the inside of the door in this same area. I am a golfer, and often wear shorts. Have to use sunscreen, and wonder if the sunscreen that was applied to my legs while golfing has reacted with the interior lining? It is my best guess. I have not encountered this in any other vehicle I have owned, so this is apparently a problem with whatever lining material is being used in the R1T.

Bingo….some lotions/sunscreens/etc can do a number on interior finishes. They literally eat the paint/finishes like you are seeing. They will probably goodwill this and do investigation on their end to increase robustness…..well they should, but I guess you will find out.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Just above the driver side interior door opener, where the outside of your knee touches, the interior has peeled off for an area of 1 by 3 inches. Anyone else had this happen?

Mine is ok for now but that’s exactly where my knee touches…

 

[lefkonj]

Not acceptable at all, hopefully they just replace it.

 

[PappaBolt]

Prolonged rubbing combined with chemicals in the lotion, against a vegan leather (re: vinyl) surface. I think you nailed it.

Still I wouldn’t have expected that. I haven't seen it on any other plastics or leather finishes. Keep us updated.

 

[ironpig]

I've had other cars with vegan (vinyl) interiors and my wife constantly gets lotion and sunscreen on them. They can stain, but never disintegrate. Especially not in the first year. I'm always able to clean them with a very diluted degreaser.

This is not an acceptable Level of wear for any modern car. I would get that replaced asap.

 

[RexRemus]

Five feet eight inches on a good day! With my leg extended on the floor, it doesn't touch the door. But, I often flex my left leg at the knee, and the outside of my left knee touches lightly, not forcefully, against the inside of the door in this same area. I am a golfer, and often wear shorts. Have to use sunscreen, and wonder if the sunscreen that was applied to my legs while golfing has reacted with the interior lining? It is my best guess. I have not encountered this in any other vehicle I have owned, so this is apparently a problem with whatever lining material is being used in the R1T.

I had sunscreen do this to a phone case once - some chemical interaction peeled the top layer of "texture" that gave the plastic underneath a soft-touch, grippy finish anywhere I had touched it. I was handling it and a short while later it felt like something had gotten stuck on the back of the case when I pulled it out of my pocket. I flipped it over and the soft-touch coating was "bubbling" off just like paint with paint remover. I could just push on it and it would flake off similar to how your panel looks and it was just hard, smooth, plastic underneath.

Not saying that this IS what's happening here - but given your description just wanted to say that it's actually quite possible.

Now should an "adventure" vehicle be using something susceptible to peeling off after contact with sunscreen products? - That's another discussion...

 

[BoltEVowner]

I had sunscreen do this to a phone case once - some chemical interaction peeled the top layer of "texture" that gave the plastic underneath a soft-touch, grippy finish anywhere I had touched it. I was handling it and a short while later it felt like something had gotten stuck on the back of the case when I pulled it out of my pocket. I flipped it over and the soft-touch coating was "bubbling" off just like paint with paint remover. I could just push on it and it would flake off similar to how your panel looks and it was just hard, smooth, plastic underneath.

Not saying that this IS what's happening here - but given your description just wanted to say that it's actually quite possible.

Now should an "adventure" vehicle be using something susceptible to peeling off after contact with sunscreen products? - That's another discussion...

Absolutely agree. I have a Winnebago View, a Toyota RAV4, a Chevy Bolt EV and an EUV. I have driven in ALL of these vehicles with sunscreen on my legs and haven't seen ANY problem in any of these vehicles. It seems to be a poor material and bet there will be a lot of people taking notice of this spot on their driver side door looking to see if they are also having an issue. If so, maybe Rivian will change their material. Otherwise, not good advertising for Rivian.

I have brought it up with Rivian service including this same photo and will wait to hear their response. One OTHER possibility...just prior to receiving my truck, my R1T delivery was delayed due to an issue with the door handles. I was never told exactly what this was, but it was fixed at the Service Center prior to delivery and required additional parts from the factory. Could it be possible that the Rivian service center people actually got some kind of chemical on this area while they were replacing parts??? Will have to bring that up as well.

 

[itselectric]

Absolutely agree. I have a Winnebago View, a Toyota RAV4, a Chevy Bolt EV and an EUV. I have driven in ALL of these vehicles with sunscreen on my legs and haven't seen ANY problem in any of these vehicles. It seems to be a poor material and bet there will be a lot of people taking notice of this spot on their driver side door looking to see if they are also having an issue. If so, maybe Rivian will change their material. Otherwise, not good advertising for Rivian.

I have brought it up with Rivian service including this same photo and will wait to hear their response. One OTHER possibility...just prior to receiving my truck, my R1T delivery was delayed due to an issue with the door handles. I was never told exactly what this was, but it was fixed at the Service Center prior to delivery and required additional parts from the factory. Could it be possible that the Rivian service center people actually got some kind of chemical on this area while they were replacing parts??? Will have to bring that up as well.

I have owned a few other EVs myself and the only ones I have ever noticed that do this are Teslas. The hair spray and sunscreen chemicals ate through my seat and door material like this.

 

[av8or]

Bingo….some lotions/sunscreens/etc can do a number on interior finishes. They literally eat the paint/finishes like you are seeing. They will probably goodwill this and do investigation on their end to increase robustness…..well they should, but I guess you will find out.

I remember Munro talking about a lot of the plastics are painted and how that had to be expensive compared to molded in color. This looks almost like chemically removed paint. Maybe?

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