R2 Pet Mode Concerns From Owner's Test

[FlyingPilot2012]

This honestly just goes back to my long standing opinion of why the hell do we have fan speed options WHEN IN AUTO MODE in general. Just blow the fan as needed for the set temperature. Why do I need to decide fan speed?!?

OMG Yes! I only recently discovered that the fan speed was independent of "auto" and couldn't figure out why. Now I'm stuck in a loop of setting it to "high" when I leave work because it's the only way the vehicle approaches being a comfortable temperature on my drive home and having to switch it to "medium" or "low" in the morning because it's too aggressive. Why can't it just be based on the cabin temperature vs. set temperature?

I actually like having multiple fan levels in "Auto," at least in the cars I've had.

I see it like this: all levels will work to maintain the set temperature, but "high" will use anywhere from 0% to 100% of the fan at the expense of additional noise. Medium or low will have a lower range of power with the fan (0-75%, and 0-50%), and take longer, but the cabin will be quieter.

Kinda like the UHF modes mild, medium, & spicy. All of them will maintain speed, steer, & brake, but some are more aggressive.

But maybe Rivian's implementation of this is poor when it comes to the Auto HVAC/fan logic.

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[VSG]

What pet mode is really used for:
Woman trapped in Tesla's 'pet safe mode' rescued after more than an hour in Kitsap County

 

[emroch]

Not sure how Tesla implements it, but the Rivian manual mentions that the screen gives instructions to disable pet mode, and pushing the e-latch button 5 times will override and open the door. The manual latches may also work, I'm not sure. Adults really shouldn't have a problem being trapped in pet mode (though buckled children are a different story, and obviously should not be left unattended).

 

[R1Thrilled]

Unfortunately I didn’t do a great job of representing the issues in my first video. I sort of shot from the hip and understandably received some push back from people. I reshot an unedited video today to showcase the current state of R2 pet mode and how it is mostly unacceptable from a climate control efficacy perspective.

I look forward to a beneficial discussion. Also, my goal is to get Rivian to address this sooner rather than later, as our pets rely on this feature.

 

[iansriv]

Unfortunately I didn’t do a great job of representing the issues in my first video. I sort of shot from the hip and understandably received some push back from people. I reshot an unedited video today to showcase the current state of R2 pet mode and how it is mostly unacceptable from a climate control efficacy perspective.

I look forward to a beneficial discussion. Also, my goal is to get Rivian to address this sooner rather than later, as our pets rely on this feature.

Dont beat yourself up mate. I salute you for loving your dogs so much! You do you!

 

[Jeremy3292]

Unfortunately I didn’t do a great job of representing the issues in my first video. I sort of shot from the hip and understandably received some push back from people. I reshot an unedited video today to showcase the current state of R2 pet mode and how it is mostly unacceptable from a climate control efficacy perspective.

I look forward to a beneficial discussion. Also, my goal is to get Rivian to address this sooner rather than later, as our pets rely on this feature.

Doesn’t make sense it didn’t cool it on auto high. Gotta be a bug. I believe you said no issues getting it cool in normal driving?

 

[R1Thrilled]

Doesn’t make sense it didn’t cool it on auto high. Gotta be a bug. I believe you said no issues getting it cool in normal driving?

Nope, no issues normally. I can’t even drive around on high because it will freeze me out. I usually keep it on low or medium.

 

[WoodChips]

I wonder how long it will take for someone to come up with a circulating fan for the cargo area?

Even a little fan like this can work well.

https://a.co/d/02NPKtwE

 

[WoodChips]

Unfortunately I didn’t do a great job of representing the issues in my first video. I sort of shot from the hip and understandably received some push back from people. I reshot an unedited video today to showcase the current state of R2 pet mode and how it is mostly unacceptable from a climate control efficacy perspective.

I look forward to a beneficial discussion. Also, my goal is to get Rivian to address this sooner rather than later, as our pets rely on this feature.

I appreciate your effort and video showing what you're seeing.

I am curious about hear sink. At 99° outside your cabin was hot, not just the air but everything in it. As the air cools everything in the vehicle is still radiating heat and until it also cools down the fan and AC should be working harder to drop the temperature faster.

I would suspect the engineers have underestimated the heat sink of the cabin and with more testing they should be able to make pet mode more aggressive until the temperatures are within the owners projected range.

Videos like your should get back to someone that can influence Rivian to take a closer look. As you said this is an often used feature and one that people are truly asking for.

I live in the high desert and while it's normally dry we have had some storms come through the last few days and our humidity is crazy high, at least for this area. If I had my dog in our vehicle and needed to step into a store I would like to know it wouldn't cook his last two brain cells.

 

[tate16t]

Just to validate your AC in general , have you tried to precondition the vehicle when the temperature is very high to see how long it takes to get to 70°?

 

[R1Thrilled]

Just to validate your AC in general , have you tried to precondition the vehicle when the temperature is very high to see how long it takes to get to 70°?

You know this is a good question. I’ve used it a few times to have the car be somewhat cool when I entered and I haven’t had any complaints necessarily, but haven’t paid close attention to the behavior.
Out of curiosity I just ran it a bit with my car parked inside the garage, which is probably in the mid 80s ambient. I started recording a few minutes in when I noticed it was struggling to lower temp when I had it set to 70. Lowering the temps down in the 60s seemed to push it over the hump. I would really like to see other owners share their hvac performance so I know if this behavior is unique to my car or if this is an hvac tuning issue with the software.

Here’s an unlisted video of it I just uploaded. There almost has to be a sensor issue or something with my car I would think, there’s no way every car behaves this way. What’s confusing is that the hvac seems fine when I’m driving, but any time the car is sitting and trying to cool it just takes forever.

 

[tate16t]

Your AC is definitely struggling.

I preconditioned mine (‘23 R1S) this was the result:

1. Cabin Temp via HA and Rivian Roamer - 75 degrees
2. After waking the vehicle via the app it showed an interior temp of 86 degrees
3. 3mins in with AC set to 70 it went down to 81 degrees
4. 5mins in 73
5. 10mins in 72
6. 13mins in 70

 

[R1Thrilled]

Your AC is definitely struggling.

I preconditioned mine (‘23 R1S) this was the result:

1. Cabin Temp via HA and Rivian Roamer - 75 degrees
2. After waking the vehicle via the app it showed an interior temp of 86 degrees
3. 3mins in with AC set to 70 it went down to 81 degrees
4. 5mins in 73
5. 10mins in 72
6. 13mins in 70

My R1T (smaller cabin, sure) works much much more effectively too, takes no time at all to cool.

 

[Jabbahop]

Had same problem with pet mode today. 85 degree outside temp. Car set to 73 auto low fan speed and comfortable on drive to Costco. Enabled pet mode. After about 15 min got a message that cabin was overheated (thank you rivian) and immediately went back to car. Ac running but not enough. Internal temp was 86 degrees. Definitely a very dangerous bug I hope the fix rapidly!

 

[R1Thrilled]

Had same problem with pet mode today. 85 degree outside temp. Car set to 73 auto low fan speed and comfortable on drive to Costco. Enabled pet mode. After about 15 min got a message that cabin was overheated (thank you rivian) and immediately went back to car. Ac running but not enough. Internal temp was 86 degrees. Definitely a very dangerous bug I hope the fix rapidly!

I’m sorry this happened in real world and not just some bald guy sitting in his driveway in the car like mine did - Rivian needs to address this asap. I believe Wassym is aware but I haven’t heard anything yet.

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