My R1S ground to a halt while commuting with suspected drive unit/inverter failure

[ATL_R1S]

When it rains, it pours y’all.

Our one month old, 2100mile R1S ground to a halt while driving normally in AP about 15mph in the middle of a busy Atlanta road yesterday morning while my wife and I were commuting to work.

We had just dropped our kids off at school, and there were zero warning signs or weirdness before this happened. Didn’t feel safe with other cars nearly colliding trying to go around us in front of a grocery store on a two lane road. Multiple hard resets and no joy, wouldn’t shift out of park. Had to call a tow and an APD officer to come and light us up to keep the situation safe while waiting on the tow. Rivian sent me $150 in Uber credits and lined up a rental from Enterprise nearby. Tow truck arrived after about an hour, and I was able to disengage the parking brake to allow the vehicle to be winched up on the flatbed. I decided to ride with the tow truck to the service center and asked for a Rivian loaner which was not promised by phone support rep but a CY R1T ended up being made available to me.

While driving the R1T loaner home that afternoon, we got hailed on in the super storm that popped up over the city and made it to a parking deck for cover while all hell broke loose. Thankfully no hail damage and thankful that all this didn’t happen further from home (just got back from the beach last week) or with my kids present but still a really crappy day. At least we have power at home and the R1T (just barely) fits in the garage. Drive unit or inverter failure is the best guess at this point. Service estimate was 2 weeks, but I’m not holding my breath

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[SoCal Rob]

When it rains, it pours y’all.

Our one month old, 2100mile R1S ground to a halt while driving normally in AP about 15mph in the middle of a busy Atlanta road yesterday morning while my wife and I were commuting to work.

We had just dropped our kids off at school, and there were zero warning signs or weirdness before this happened. Didn’t feel safe with other cars nearly colliding trying to go around us in front of a grocery store on a two lane road. Multiple hard resets and no joy, wouldn’t shift out of park. Had to call a tow and an APD officer to come and light us up to keep the situation safe while waiting on the tow. Rivian sent me $150 in Uber credits and lined up a rental from Enterprise nearby. Tow truck arrived after about an hour, and I was able to disengage the parking brake to allow the vehicle to be winched up on the flatbed. I decided to ride with the tow truck to the service center and asked for a Rivian loaner which was not promised by phone support rep but a CY R1T ended up being made available to me.

While driving the R1T loaner home that afternoon, we got hailed on in the super storm that popped up over the city and made it to a parking deck for cover while all hell broke loose. Thankfully no hail damage and thankful that all this didn’t happen further from home (just got back from the beach last week) or with my kids present but still a really crappy day. At least we have power at home and the R1T (just barely) fits in the garage. Drive unit or inverter failure is the best guess at this point. Service estimate was 2 weeks, but I’m not holding my breath

Ugh, sorry to hear that! I hope they get you back in your (fixed) R1S sooner rather than later.

 

[Kdblondie]

I had the same thing happen to me last Monday! I only had my S 2 weeks and 700 miles when it happened. I did hear a clunking type noise when it happened and then a limited power flashed up and car wouldn’t drive faster than 3 miles. Tried the hard reset as well. I was close to work less than a mile and was able to drive it with the hazards on and then Rivian had it towed to SC. They told me end of next week or begging of the following week. It was the left front drive motor. I feel your pain.

 

[Quick]

While it sucks your truck is down, it looks great up on the flatbed. Black over 20s with the chrome blacked out looks awesome!

 

[ATL_R1S]

Front inverter failure confirmed. No details given on why exactly it failed other than it was an "internal failure" and no confirmation on if the inverters have been revised internally to lower the failure rate.

New OEM part should arrive by Thursday of this week, then they'll drop the subframe, drive unit and replace the inverter which sits on top. Then reassemble and realign the wheels and suspension. Lots of work, but it's finally getting started at least.

 

[Robin]

When it rains, it pours y’all.

Our one month old, 2100mile R1S ground to a halt while driving normally in AP about 15mph in the middle of a busy Atlanta road yesterday morning while my wife and I were commuting to work.

We had just dropped our kids off at school, and there were zero warning signs or weirdness before this happened. Didn’t feel safe with other cars nearly colliding trying to go around us in front of a grocery store on a two lane road. Multiple hard resets and no joy, wouldn’t shift out of park. Had to call a tow and an APD officer to come and light us up to keep the situation safe while waiting on the tow. Rivian sent me $150 in Uber credits and lined up a rental from Enterprise nearby. Tow truck arrived after about an hour, and I was able to disengage the parking brake to allow the vehicle to be winched up on the flatbed. I decided to ride with the tow truck to the service center and asked for a Rivian loaner which was not promised by phone support rep but a CY R1T ended up being made available to me.

While driving the R1T loaner home that afternoon, we got hailed on in the super storm that popped up over the city and made it to a parking deck for cover while all hell broke loose. Thankfully no hail damage and thankful that all this didn’t happen further from home (just got back from the beach last week) or with my kids present but still a really crappy day. At least we have power at home and the R1T (just barely) fits in the garage. Drive unit or inverter failure is the best guess at this point. Service estimate was 2 weeks, but I’m not holding my breath

?

 

[TollKeeper]

Looks like something is going on with the suspension too...

 

[ATL_R1S]

Looks like something is going on with the suspension too...

Yup, it Carolina Squatted itself off the tow truck! I found that offensive. I did watch it get pulled back on the dolly and it leveled itself back out, but it was certainly odd to see.

 

[ATL_R1S]

Quick update. I still don't have my R1S back after almost a month. The mechanical repairs are apparently complete, since it was driven to a collision center a week ago for paint work.

EDIT: Context for paint/body work here: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...dv-while-sitting-at-the-service-center.19417/

The paint work is complete, it's nearly fully cured, and the full-body paint correction and ceramic coating process will begin today or tomorrow.

 

[opnwide]

Quick update. I still don't have my R1S back after almost a month. The mechanical repairs are apparently complete, since it was driven to a collision center a week ago for paint work. It's been sitting there slowly vampire draining down from 24% SOC waiting for someone to start working on it and hopefully charge it.

I must have missed something on your thread, why does it also need paint work at a collision center? Did it get damaged at the SC? Hoping you get it back soon!

 

[ATL_R1S]

I must have missed something on your thread, why does it also need paint work at a collision center? Did it get damaged at the SC? Hoping you get it back soon!

Yep: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...dv-while-sitting-at-the-service-center.19417/

 

[ATL_R1S]

Fixed and back home after a month of downtime. It would've likely been back in half the time, but the hit caused more delay that I was ok with since they covered a polish + ceramic coating after the paint work was completed.

No insights or even educated guesses provided by the SC as to why it failed, but fingers crossed this new inverter lasts more than 2100 miles and if one does fail again, it does so under warranty and close to a SC with loaners available. If anyone wants to speculate the cause of inverter failure with me, check out this thread.

Stay adventurous, yall.

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