Reversing with a trailer causes automatic park

[AdamUCF]

Has anyone had issues backing up a trailer? I took my boat for a trip for the first time and repeatedly when backing up the trailer both empty and loaded it spontaneously puts itself in park automatically. It does the same chime that it does if you open the door without putting it in park and the instrument screen flashes (I think) the same message for a fraction of a second. I'm not sure if it's because of the surge breaks on the trailer being triggered and pushing back on the truck? I may need to try to lock out the surge breaks next time and see what happens. I opened a ticket on it and I hit the flashers a couple of times so Rivian could pull the logs. Curious what they say. It was driving me bonkers trying to get the boat backed down a busy boat ramp.

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[the long way downunder]

Frustrating. Backing down a ramp is one of those situations where everything is fine then it all goes jackknife into a train wreck.
My guess would be you lifted your weight off the seat while looking rearward. Assuming that's not the case, there could be a fault in your particular vehicle. So many others have been trailering and with boats there'd be numerous posts by now if it was a defect or software bug.
I assume you tried changing modes in and out of towing.

 

[AdamUCF]

Frustrating. Backing down a ramp is one of those situations where everything is fine then it all goes jackknife into a train wreck.
My guess would be you lifted your weight off the seat while looking rearward. Assuming that's not the case, there could be a fault in your particular vehicle. So many others have been trailering and with boats there'd be numerous posts by now if it was a defect or software bug.
I assume you tried changing modes in and out of towing.

Oh crap maybe it is the weight-on-seat thing. Stupid "feature" if that's it. Bad enough that I can't drive with the door open. I was turned around looking out the back window to spot where the trailer was going. I didn't try switching modes, just tow mode. I'll try to repro without the trailer.

 

[Dirty_B]

It's the weight on seat switch when turning around. No diff in towing or not.

 

[Max]

Oh crap maybe it is the weight-on-seat thing. Stupid "feature" if that's it. Bad enough that I can't drive with the door open. I was turned around looking out the back window to spot where the trailer was going. I didn't try switching modes, just tow mode. I'll try to repro without the trailer.

It seems like the fix is having more ice-cream.

 

[sierraskier]

I did this a few times getting in/out and not closing the door all the way

 

[SolartoEV]

Seems like the fix is just buckling your seat belt behind your back

 

[AdamUCF]

I did this a few times getting in/out and not closing the door all the way

My door is definitely closed all the way. I believe it won't let you move at all if that's not the case.

Seems like the fix is just buckling your seat belt behind your back

I'll give that a shot. I think I did notice it wasn't happening (as much?) when I had my seatbelt buckled but didn't correlate it.

 

[NY_Rob]

This has come up before with others backing up boat trailers... once you lift off the seat a bit for better visibility, the R1T shifts into Park. Will be interesting if buckling the seat belt behind you prevents that. I was thinking about this yesterday while launching our boat with our Honda Pilot. I definitely have to lift off the seat to see the back end of the trailer when it's down the ramp.

 

[the long way downunder]

It seems like the fix is having more ice-cream.

Can't advocate the heart-attack freezer favorites, but one thing might be to raise the seat height as much as needed to keep weight on the seat while turning to see whatever you need to see (or practice with the cameras, which I know, have some limitations.
Personally, I line up the trailer wheels on one side with the line or the dock and have a spotter on the other side of the rig to "talk to me, Goose" if I'm getting into trouble. : )

I have been able to maneuver with the door open by keeping my left foot on the brake, shifting to R or D, then feeding in small increments of accelerator until I balance out the brake friction. Takes a little practice to find the right amount of brake to appease the safety nanny while still allowing the vehicle to creep without too much accelerator input.

Of course this can go horribly wrong and seems much harder if also lifting up off the seat and turning to see an obstacle, but with the door open, just releasing both feet will brake the car and reapply the parking position. I've used it a few times for an awkward parking spot and I got used to the "drill."

Like a lot of software "features" the regulators require or the manufacturer introduces as a "benefit" there should always been a button or a menu item to say "I'm driving, turn off that feature." (Pedestrian Warning Sound comes to mind.)

 

[Max]

Like a lot of software "features" the regulators require or the manufacturer introduces as a "benefit" there should always been a button or a menu item to say "I'm driving, turn off that feature." (Pedestrian Warning Sound comes to mind.)

I wish a member here had the patience to catalog all the sensors and corresponding behaviors associated with them. I do appreciate that Rivian team is trying to protect us and the vehicle with the information these sensors provide but they are long way from knowing and controlling all circumstances under which the correct decision is made. And even then their primary obligation is to make Rivian lawyers happy. I miss the days when the driver's brain instead of his ass was in charge of whether the vehicle moved or stopped.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I think if you have a foot on the brake and on the accelerator it won't immediately lock you out of drive or reverse if you lift off the seat or have the door open.

 

[jshaff]

Oh crap maybe it is the weight-on-seat thing. Stupid "feature" if that's it. Bad enough that I can't drive with the door open. I was turned around looking out the back window to spot where the trailer was going. I didn't try switching modes, just tow mode. I'll try to repro without the trailer.

It is 100% this. It is very annoying, and caused it to basically double the time it takes me to launch my boat. I am sure eventually ill get used to using the mirrors instead of looking back over the seat. I really hope they fix this with an OTA.

 

[drstancpa]

Related question: Has anyone had an issue with surge brakes engaging on a trailer when backing even though the surge is set to not engage when the reverse pin on the 7-pin is on? Never had an issue with this on my last 2-3 Ridgelines, but had this issue today with the Rivian.

 

[Eager2own]

I also wrote about this on another post. It was suggested that this is only an issue if unbuckled. I have tested that since, and it is correct. The truck will only go into Park if driver‘s seatbelt is unbuckled. I have since been able to back in my boat trailer without issue.

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