TdsT
Member
- First Name
- Troy
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2023
- Threads
- 1
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 19
- Location
- Cincinnati
- Vehicles
- R1S
- Thread starter
- #1
I wanted to share a very unfortunate event from a snowstorm drive last week. Bottom line: I ended up against a tree after sliding through a downhill curve, through a shallow ditch and about 20’ of heavy brush.
I was in Snow Mode and driving at a cautious speed since conditions were poor and plows/salt trucks had not been out yet. However, despite my many years of driving in Midwestern winter wether with no issues, I found myself unable to correct my slide by tried and true techniques: take foot off pedals and resist steering until traction is regained.
To be fair, there were numerous cars off the same road that evening to the point the sheriff closed the road twice due to accidents. So maybe there was nothing that could have prevented my accident at that time in those conditions. That was my original thought until I reviewed the incident video in my R1S.
What I noticed in the video, however, was that my brakes were applied a bit before I slid and went off the road - even though my foot was not on a pedal. I assume this was the regen engaging and locking up my wheels since I was at low speed and it thought I was coming to a stop. The Snow Mode documentation says it “reduces” regen, but that was not enough in this case. There should be no regen braking at all or only some sort of anti-lock regen if any (if that is possible).
Going forward (once my extensive damage is repaired), I will manually turn off regen whenever there are slippery winter conditions. I hope Rivian refines these settings to address this risk in the future so others don’t have the same result as me.
Now I start the long, frustrating process of coordinating collision repairs and insurance approvals - and not being able to drive my R1S!
I was in Snow Mode and driving at a cautious speed since conditions were poor and plows/salt trucks had not been out yet. However, despite my many years of driving in Midwestern winter wether with no issues, I found myself unable to correct my slide by tried and true techniques: take foot off pedals and resist steering until traction is regained.
To be fair, there were numerous cars off the same road that evening to the point the sheriff closed the road twice due to accidents. So maybe there was nothing that could have prevented my accident at that time in those conditions. That was my original thought until I reviewed the incident video in my R1S.
What I noticed in the video, however, was that my brakes were applied a bit before I slid and went off the road - even though my foot was not on a pedal. I assume this was the regen engaging and locking up my wheels since I was at low speed and it thought I was coming to a stop. The Snow Mode documentation says it “reduces” regen, but that was not enough in this case. There should be no regen braking at all or only some sort of anti-lock regen if any (if that is possible).
Going forward (once my extensive damage is repaired), I will manually turn off regen whenever there are slippery winter conditions. I hope Rivian refines these settings to address this risk in the future so others don’t have the same result as me.
Now I start the long, frustrating process of coordinating collision repairs and insurance approvals - and not being able to drive my R1S!
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