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Power vents

Scoop

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It’s a head scratcher to me as to why we need power vents. I would think the money they spent on that could have been spent on a safety item such as a top down 360 camera or a convenience item like a garage door opener. Thoughts?
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SoCal Rob

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It’s a head scratcher to me as to why we need power vents. I would think the money they spent on that could have been spent on a safety item such as a top down 360 camera or a convenience item like a garage door opener. Thoughts?
I see both perspectives:

To some, it feels like needless complexity.

To others, it feels like luxury to have the vent positions tied to driver profile memory setting so they’re always where you want them.

edit: Similar discussion here…
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...oolest-pickup-truck-ever-made.2911/post-80371
 

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Solution in search of a problem. I just hope they can be manually adjusted when they inevitably break.
 

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lostpacket

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I can understand the benefit for having the car remember driver profiles, and if someone wants it for the coolness factor. I guess in an ideal world things would be really configurable though.

Personally I would love
- manual vents
- manual tonneau cover
- ventilated seats
- explore's non-wood trim
- Meridian sound

And I am sure the next person has a slightly different list that's perfectly valid for them.

But thems the breaks.

If the truck is great otherwise I will totally force myself endure the luxurious, fancy vents.
I may need to rely on you all for emotional support during such a difficult time though.
 

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Think of them as rain sensing wipers or auto high beams. nothing you can't do yourself easily, but you get used to it.

The reason why I liked the power vents, is that their control was easy, and I can open/close/adjust vents that are out of my reach rather easily.
 

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To others, it feels like luxury to have the vent positions tied to driver profile memory setting so they’re always where you want them.
The problem for both me and my wife is we don't always want the vent pushing air in the same place. We are both constantly changing both the fan speed and vent direction to stay comfortable. Personally, I would pay extra to have my vents manual. And I would pay even more to have a dedicated knob/buttons for fan speed.
 

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I must be a minority here because I rarely fiddle with the vents. They are set once and I rarely touch them. I can't remember the last time I needed to adjust them. Both me and my wife have fairly different seating positions configured so where ever they currently point, seems to work for us both.

I guess the larger point here is that unlike power windows and auto-high beam which are mainstream "luxuries", it seems wasteful for Rivian to have spent R&D on these vents and could have invested that time (if not money) on something more useful. Heck, just from a cost savings stand point, this would have been one of the first I would have struck off the list (or replaced with a Sirius receiver :) instead)

All said and done - its there and lets see if this trend becomes more mainstream.
 

SoCal Rob

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The problem for both me and my wife is we don't always want the vent pushing air in the same place. We are both constantly changing both the fan speed and vent direction to stay comfortable. Personally, I would pay extra to have my vents manual. And I would pay even more to have a dedicated knob/buttons for fan speed.
I get it. I also hope that they can be manually positioned if there is a problem. I’m not counting on it, though. We’ve been exposed to many features which don’t allow this (power windows, power sunroof, power sunshades, power seat adjustment, and power steering wheel adjustment) and a couple which do (usually but not always power locks and power side view mirrors).

Power vents open up possibilities for a future feature where they could be set to oscillate left/right, oscillate up/down, or both. It could even be a slow oscillation with a cycle of 1, 5, or 15 minutes. Assuming the positioning motors are up to the task, I could see something like that being refreshing on a long car trip.

I don’t see an issue with randomizing the fan speed switching within the low to medium-high speeds, too. Though if the climate control system is well-designed then it should be handling that for us based upon inside temperature and sun load for driver and front passenger.

Im trying to keep an open mind.
 

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SoCal Rob

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I must be a minority here because I rarely fiddle with the vents. They are set once and I rarely touch them. I can't remember the last time I needed to adjust them. Both me and my wife have fairly different seating positions configured so where ever they currently point, seems to work for us both.

I guess the larger point here is that unlike power windows and auto-high beam which are mainstream "luxuries", it seems wasteful for Rivian to have spent R&D on these vents and could have invested that time (if not money) on something more useful. Heck, just from a cost savings stand point, this would have been one of the first I would have struck off the list (or replaced with a Sirius receiver :) instead)

All said and done - its there and lets see if this trend becomes more mainstream.
I rarely adjust mine which is why tying the positions to memory is appealing to me. When switching drivers or getting back from service (hopefully a rare situation) I want them to be where I expect them. Like my steering wheel, seat, climate control, audio, driver preferences, and outside mirrors.

Let’s see if these power vents as used by Tesla and Rivian (maybe others?) become commonplace and reliable like memory driver seats and automatic climate control, or a stop-gap/dead end/maintenance issue like power antennas.
 

Rivian_Hugh_III

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I see both perspectives:

To some, it feels like needless complexity.

To others, it feels like luxury to have the vent positions tied to driver profile memory setting so they’re always where you want them.

edit: Similar discussion here…
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...oolest-pickup-truck-ever-made.2911/post-80371
Come to think of it, I don’t change the direction of my vents very often. Makes sense to tie it to the user profile — I hadn’t considered that angle before now.

Top down camera is an essential for me. I’m heavily assuming/presuming that we’ll have the 360 degree or “birds eye” camera view before long by OTA update. Perhaps In conjunction with a camera upgrade for the production vehicles.
 

SoCal Rob

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Top down camera is an essential for me. I’m heavily assuming/presuming that we’ll have the 360 degree or “birds eye” camera view before long by OTA update. Perhaps In conjunction with a camera upgrade for the production vehicles.
I agree. I think this why some of us have concerns: Why spend time working on power vents while something ubiquitous, and important for off-road, like 360/bird’s eye view is missing?

I think the strategy was to get the required hardware in place and ship with at least just-good-enough software to make the hardware usable. Then OTA updates can add or enhance features using the previously-installed hardware.

So we have power vents (hardware) from the start and 360/bird’s eye coming, um, a little later. It makes sense to me if it plays out that way.
 

Nerd_Beautiful

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I agree. I think this why some of us have concerns: Why spend time working on power vents while something ubiquitous, and important for off-road, like 360/bird’s eye view is missing?

I think the strategy was to get the required hardware in place and ship with at least just-good-enough software to make the hardware usable. Then OTA updates can add or enhance features using the previously-installed hardware.

So we have power vents (hardware) from the start and 360/bird’s eye coming, um, a little later. It makes sense to me if it plays out that way.
I have a 2008 Infiniti with a 360 camera, so the tech is not new. What has surprised me over the years is how slow the auto industry has been in embracing the 360 degree camera. The 2008 Infiniti also has push button start. That feature was also very slow to be embraced.

These details make me wonder whether there might be patents that block the quick adoption of these techniques -- that is, whether an automaker needs to make payments to *someone* to be allowed to incorporate 360 camera or push button start.

Otherwise, I can't figure out what these features have received such slow adoption. The 360 camera is essential for back-up parking, parallel parking, and even just checking your alignment with the stripes whilst parking. Push button start lets you keep your keys in your purse or pocket.

All of which leads me to think that the 360 camera may require a payment to a patent-holder, causing RIVIAN to wait until the last minute to turn it on by OTA.

On the plus side, this could mean that 360 functionality may arrive as soon as major orders are delivered, or perhaps in a major update some time in 2022.
 

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The 360 degree camera has about as much affect on my choice as power vents. I could take/leave either/both.
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