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

[moonjeong]

I once lost braking in a '90s Ford Explorer going down a steep hill while towing - engine braking wasn't sufficient to keep to an acceptable speed, so I had to ride the brakes. Overheated them near the end of the hill (thankfully) and had to engine brake to a stop going up the very slight uphill that followed, then wait an hour for the brakes to cool. But if that downhill stretch had been 1-2 miles longer? I would have been out of control fast.

Yeah, that wasn't fun. (Trailer was unbraked, about 2500 lbs, and old Coleman tent-side popup trailer.)

Oh, and a month later, the great Ford-Firestone tread separation tire recall happened. I'm *SUPER*
glad I didn't have a tire failure while doing that.



To your point of reading the manual – as the recent move to electronically-popped car doors, and claims of "impossible to escape" make the news show – it is *VITAL* to know the emergency controls of any vehicle you drive:

1. How to engage emergency braking. (In Rivian, hold the "Park" button on the end of the shift stalk.)

2. How to open *ALL* doors if power completely fails (In Rivian Gen1: use the door handles. In Rivian Gen2: use the now-less-obvious-but-still-in-the-same place mechanical door handles for the front seats, behind a panel on the door for the rear seats. - Owner's Guide page 443)

After this event, i’m a strong believer that there are things in cars that should never change for consistency… hazzard light button, horn, emergency brake, and even the door handle. This move to replace because they ”seem” like a better idea is practically not sound. Emergency brakes have been the same for the last 100 hundred years. Why we move to buttons for a door handle that can fail if electronics go out is not such a great idea after my little event… before I thought it was cool… now i think some things shouldn’t change.

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[LR4toR1S]

Not a rant. I for one am glad the OP chose to let us know about it. I love my R1S, but if this is even possible, I want to know.

Me as well. I'm going to go hook up the trailer and give myself a good 20 mile trial run to see how it behaves.

 

[Robin]

Some more data that helps with everyone that is being critical of the situation:

1. the trailer is a karavan 5x10: 800 lbs
2. Item towed is a teryx4: 1642 lbs
Total towed weight: 2,442 lbs (Rivian computer jumps between 3k, 3.5k and 4K on what it estimates as weight, but the formal weight should be around 2.5k)

Legal limit for no trailer brakes: 3,000 lbs - no issue here

Rivian tow capacity: 11k, so 2.5k towed should be a no issue on any safety items.

Legal speed limit when towing I. My state and highway I was on: 70MPH I was over by 6, but by GPS likely ~3mph. So not an issue and the slowest on the far right of the highway.

I have towed this rig for over 40K miles across shooting tournaments in the US and never had an issue with a Porsche, Tesla, even a minivan.

having said that, I wrote this so people are aware. If it helps you great. If you feel like criticizing my driving, I think you’re missing the point.
One more thing - I did learn about the emergency brake, as many others did in this forum. I see that as a positive.

Cheers

🥸

 

[HaveBlue]

So when you removed the trailer, did you have normal braking again?

 

[moonjeong]

So when you removed the trailer, did you have normal braking again?

After doing a soft and hard reset, everything was working ok. Even with the trailer. So it looks like it was an electrical glitch - very dangerous one though.

 

[HaveBlue]

It would have an electrically/electronically controlled brake booster controlled by the CPU. I could see where it could interfere with braking which sounds like a horrendous defect if that occurred. That might be enough for me to sell the car actually. It's why I'd never buy the Cyber truck with non mechanical steering. I just don't trust an auto manufacturer to do it right with failsafe and redundancies. With all the bugs in these cars, there's no chance. The Rivian is so easy to brick, leave you stranded, go into a turtle mode or simply refuse to move. A broken parking brake, door/hatch, seatbelt or seat sensor and that thing goes ballistic. I wouldn't trust my life to it. I'd take a 50 year old Toyota first into the remote Africa desert.

 

[C.R. Rivian]

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!

I have had great and reliable VWs until I owned one that after many service appointments could not be reliably repaired. Similar to your situation, the brakes stopped working. That was the last straw for me; lemon law time. Don't know if Georgia has one, but it worked out OK for me. Every once in a while, there are lemons...see what kind of lemonade you can get.

 

[Thedude]

After this event, i’m a strong believer that there are things in cars that should never change for consistency… hazzard light button, horn, emergency brake, and even the door handle. This move to replace because they ”seem” like a better idea is practically not sound. Emergency brakes have been the same for the last 100 hundred years. Why we move to buttons for a door handle that can fail if electronics go out is not such a great idea after my little event… before I thought it was cool… now i think some things shouldn’t change.

No, they’ve absolutely been different on vehicles since the beginning. Some have floor mounted foot pedal emergency brakes, some have dash mounted pull/twist handles, some have console mounted levers, some have electronically actuated pull switches…you get the idea.

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