RIVIAN Execs! Brakes stoped working in highway at over 76MPH

[moonjeong]

First, I love my Rivian - it's an amazing vehicle, but I can't trust it with my family's life anymore. Rivian execs please take action instead of attempting a 13th repair on this vehicle and giving me a service appt to July when this is a life threatening problem. Both my wife and I own Rivians and have an R2 ordered for my daughter. We are super Rivian supporters, but this needs to get resolved ASAP, not in July!

I was traveling at 76MPH with a 4k trailer on the highway when I got an error that said I had to service car before I can change drive modes. You'll also notice only my rear wheels were driving. Then all of my error lights came on. Then my brakes stopped working! Rivian Execs I need you to buy this vehicle back and put out of circulation before it kill someone. I can't sell this vehicle even if you say you can fix it out of concious- there have been 12 attempts to fix various issues on this vehicle, so I can't trust it. I can't dispose of it either since it's not a cheap vehicle.

Then I noticed that one pedal driving was not working, in other words, it would not regen when I took my foot off the accelerator. Then immediately noticed that the brake light error also was on. I tried pressing on the brakes but it was completely stiff. It was like if all hydraulic brake support was non existent in a normal car. However, in a normal car you can press hard and it will work, just without assist. On the Rivian, there was zero brake force being applied. I tried pulsing, pressing really hard, nothing worked.

I moved over to the emergency lane and it took what it seemed an eternity to slow down. It was extremely scary as you'll see in the video that there was a traffic slow down in front. So worse situation... traveling at over 65mph and suddenly you see all traffic in front slowing down and brakes not working. My daughters and I were very afraid we would crash into the cars in front. I was able to capture video of the last moments of this experience - you will hear me pulsing the brakes without any success. At the end you'll see that there is another error stating that brake hold is not working. Also the ABS lights were on.

We were on the side of a highway with an accident up front with cars all over the place. We did a soft reset, and then tried a hard reset. The Hard reset would not work. We were in the car for about 5 minutes before the hard reset was finally performed. All error lights went out and we were able to drive to the next exit. We let the vehicle sleep cycle, came back and everything seemed ok. When then pulled to a charging station since we were only 50 miles away from home. To our surprise it charged a little then it kept on saying it could not charge. We made it back home and now is parked in my garage with a service appointment in July!

I've had this car in for repairs 12 times in the past 18 months. Suspension components were replaced, but still not fixed. Error lights and car being unresponsive just 6 months ago and Rivian tech said just reset and nothing is wrong. That's not the case, I was stranded 2 times again in the next 6 months and had to let the vehicle sleep cycle after hard resets. Now the brakes, that's just wrong.

Also look at the service request details I got back from Rivian. Saying that this needs IMMEDIATE inspection and Repair due to safety reasons, but the appointment is out 3 months? WOW!

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[Foobar]

Just some advice - this is not the Rivian Executive escalation channel. None of us can help you with your situation. Contact Rivian directly and if they are ignoring you, lawyer up.

 

[moonjeong]

Just some advice - this is not the Rivian Executive escalation channel. None of us can help you with your situation. Contact Rivian directly and if they are ignoring you, lawyer up.

Thanks. 1st, I want to make sure everyone in the forum knows that if you get a brake error light while you're driving, you need to pull over immediately as your brakes may not work. This is a safety warning based on what I experienced just yesterday. Scary and important for people to know.

2nd I know Rivian execs read this forum occasionally, so hoping it catches their eyes. I've contacted Rivian so waiting for their response. If an exec reads sooner, better.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Hopefully this gets escalated and you aren't waiting any significant amount of time. Brakes failing is a huge deal, and you can see from you video that the car wasn't in regen as it was slowing down. Did the brake pedal also not work, or just the regen being down?

 

[moonjeong]

Hopefully this gets escalated and you aren't waiting any significant amount of time. Brakes failing is a huge deal, and you can see from you video that the car wasn't in regen as it was slowing down. Did the brake pedal also not work, or just the regen being down?

The brake pedals did not work. They would press down maybe an inch and then be blocked. In a traditional car when you lose power, the brake pedal just gets a lot harder to press, but it eventually presses. On the Rivian it just does not move after an inch or so.

 

[cohall]

File a report with NHTSA and start researching lemon laws in your state.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem

 

[moonjeong]

File a report with NHTSA and start researching lemon laws in your state.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem

Thanks. That's a good idea.

 

[Foobar]

Thanks. 1st, I want to make sure everyone in the forum knows that if you get a brake error light while you're driving, you need to pull over immediately as your brakes may not work. This is a safety warning based on what I experienced just yesterday. Scary and important for people to know.

2nd I know Rivian execs read this forum occasionally, so hoping it catches their eyes. I've contacted Rivian so waiting for their response. If an exec reads sooner, better.

Appreciate that sentiment, but your original post did not convey this. It was clearly a letter to Rivian Execs.

As for them reading this forum, while that may be true, your situation is a serious safety and legal concern that they would not touch unless it goes through the proper channels. Their lawyers would insist on this if they are dojng their jobs.

Every vehicle on the road has the potential to kill you and your family - we should all keep that top of mind and I truly appreciate you bringing this situation to light and I’m glad that you are contacting Rivian directly for this. Impress upon them the severity of this situation because it sounds like you’re getting the usual service wait time advice for a non-life threatening service issue. If they ignore, escalate. If there’s nowhere else to escalate, lawyer up.

 

[moonjeong]

Appreciate that sentiment, but your original post did not convey this. It was clearly a letter to Rivian Execs.

As for them reading this forum, while that may be true, your situation is a serious safety and legal concern that they would not touch unless it goes through the proper channels. Their lawyers would insist on this if they are dojng their jobs.

Every vehicle on the road has the potential to kill you and your family - we should all keep that top of mind and I truly appreciate you bringing this situation to light and I’m glad that you are contacting Rivian directly for this. Impress upon them the severity of this situation because it sounds like you’re getting the usual service wait time advice for a non-life threatening service issue. If they ignore, escalate. If there’s nowhere else to escalate, lawyer up.

Thanks. Agreed.

 

[Foobar]

By the way - do you know if your trailer brakes (push in right thumb wheel while towing) were also unresponsive at the time?

 

[moonjeong]

By the way - do you know if your trailer brakes (push in right thumb wheel while towing) were also unresponsive at the time?

This is a single axle trailer without brakes. So wouldn't know if the signal going to trailer brakes would not work.

 

[Lon12]

Did you try holding down the emergency parking brake? Honestly, I have not tried that yet. Will have to sometime.

 

[BCondrey]

Thanks. 1st, I want to make sure everyone in the forum knows that if you get a brake error light while you're driving, you need to pull over immediately as your brakes may not work. This is a safety warning based on what I experienced just yesterday. Scary and important for people to know.

2nd I know Rivian execs read this forum occasionally, so hoping it catches their eyes. I've contacted Rivian so waiting for their response. If an exec reads sooner, better.

Pull over immediately, or take pictures of the displays first? I think if I had those warnings, I would pull over immediately.

 

[zefram47]

The brake pedals did not work. They would press down maybe an inch and then be blocked. In a traditional car when you lose power, the brake pedal just gets a lot harder to press, but it eventually presses. On the Rivian it just does not move after an inch or so.

I find that really hard to believe. Rivian does *not* use brake by wire as some auto makers have been moving to. It's a purely mechanical/hydraulic system and doesn't attempt to blend regen and friction brakes. If you hit the pedal it increases pressure in the hydraulic lines and in turn presses the pads in to the rotors. Hardly an expert, but the only way I can imagine the friction brakes not working in that way is if one of the lines was plugged up by foreign material in the brake fluid...but, it's a 4-channel system so you'd have to have crap in all 4 lines which seems unlikely.

Did you try holding down the emergency parking brake? Honestly, I have not tried that yet. Will have to sometime.

This.

 

[moonjeong]

I find that really hard to believe. Rivian does *not* use brake by wire as some auto makers have been moving to. It's a purely mechanical/hydraulic system and doesn't attempt to blend regen and friction brakes. If you hit the pedal it increases pressure in the hydraulic lines and in turn presses the pads in to the rotors. Hardly an expert, but the only way I can imagine the friction brakes not working in that way is if one of the lines was plugged up by foreign material in the brake fluid...but, it's a 4-channel system so you'd have to have crap in all 4 lines which seems unlikely.

Well, the pedal did not go in. You can even see the error message saying the brake hold will not work when we came to a stand-still.

BTW, you can chose not to believe. This is what happened to me. Also, I don't think the brake pedal moves down when the "keys" are not in the vehicle. Felt just like that. When you walk into your Rivian thinking you have your phone on you but you don't - you press the pedal and it doesn't move... that's the feeling. It wasn't the lines plugging because it happened immediately after the error lights and regain stopping working, so it's something electrical. It may have blocked the brakes - who knows. Hopefully the logs will register exactly what happened.

This.

What is the emergency brake? On the shift lever? I didn't try that when the vehicle was moving... should have tried that - good point.

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