Plastic skid plate concerns

[mweingar]

The RoadShow article on the Rivian R1T participating in Rebelle Rally was very telling. While they love the Rivian, They had a lot of breakage and the plastic skid plate seems to have not been up to the task of protecting the battery cooling system. I really hope Rivian is listening and looking at options to improve protection for this "adventure vehicle". When ours arrives it WILL go off road. I need to know it has a reasonable chance of making the journey in one piece.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/featu...77957368216226099&mid=13570650&cid=1952976727

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[kylealden]

I wish we had photos of what broke. It's not clear if they had the Off-Road Upgrade (I assume so?), if the part in question was production design (I assume so?), and if the part that broke was in fact the carbon fiber/metal sandwich plate, or a separate (non-reinforced?) part.

Assuming the worst case for all of the above, it is a bit disappointing; I hope there's more than meets the eye here, and if not I hope there are reinforced solutions available down the road.

That said, I do think we have to be a little careful here - the Rebelle Rally is grueling and there's a pretty thick line between "adventure vehicle that has solid fundamentals for serious offroading" and "ready to do competitive offroading bone-stock with zero risk."

Serious offroading involves both tailoring your vehicle to your actual needs, and inevitable breakage. I'm comfortable with that, as long as the R1T has good fundamentals. The TAT run suggests that it does, but we'll have to wait and see a bit here.

 

[mweingar]

I wish we had photos of what broke. It's not clear if they had the Off-Road Upgrade (I assume so?), if the part in question was production design (I assume so?), and if the part that broke was in fact the carbon fiber/metal sandwich plate, or a separate (non-reinforced?) part.

Assuming the worst case for all of the above, it is a bit disappointing; I hope there's more than meets the eye here, and if not I hope there are reinforced solutions available down the road.

That said, I do think we have to be a little careful here - the Rebelle Rally is grueling and there's a pretty thick line between "adventure vehicle that has solid fundamentals for serious offroading" and "ready to do competitive offroading bone-stock with zero risk."

Serious offroading involves both tailoring your vehicle to your actual needs, and inevitable breakage. I'm comfortable with that, as long as the R1T has good fundamentals. The TAT run suggests that it does, but we'll have to wait and see a bit here.

All valid points Kyle. I am personally fine with augmenting the under body protection after market if necessary and available as well.

 

[Friscorays]

Bummer about March 1, 2022.

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