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TONNEAU ISSUES / TROUBLES POLL - Headaches for Us and Rivian?

What has your experience been with the automatic tonneau cover?

  • Had a problem, but seems to have resolved itself over time

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Have problems periodically, but can use "Lil'O Annie's" patented trick ;-) to get it to work.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    134

Lil'O Annie

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We've had our R1T for a week now (delivery 5/11/22). Have probably opened and closed the tonneau cover 5-10 times at the most. As of yesterday, it will not retract completely and stops at around 3/4 retracted. Still closes, but will not open entirely.

We were concerned about this at delivery and asked our Rivian delivery person about maintaining/repairing the cover. We were told there is nothing you can do on your own to keep it running correctly, nor to clean it down inside where it retracts into between the bed and cab. It has to go to the Service Center to be repaired or cleaned. BUMMER!! We live over 200 miles from the nearest Service Center out on a farm where dust is ALWAYS present and can't be avoided. We expected to have problems due to the dust, even with regular cleaning of the cover surface. To request a fix, or not to fix, that is the question!! 🙄 Just got it and loving it otherwise, so we don't want to lose it to a week+ of service at this point, nor to have it loaded and driven back and forth to Bellevue risking damage. What to do...what to do...:(

I've seen a number of other people having trouble with their tonneau covers, too. This looks like it is going to be a major problem for Rivian and us. What are your thoughts, or solutions, to this problem?? Has anyone figured out how to do some repairs/maintenance on their cover?

This poll will allow you to change your answer, if your situation changes over time. It would be interesting to see just how much of a problem this is going to be for everyone.
Thanks for participating!!
-----------------
UPDATE! I just discovered that when our cover sticks and won't fully retract, if I hit the button again, let it start to close about 2 inches, then quickly hit the button again to have it retract, it will go ahead and fully retract. A TEMPORARY SOLUTION to our specific problem of it sticking part way in or out. 😝 That's good enough for me until an ultimate solution is figured out by Rivian.

Maybe this will help someone with a similar problem before it can be actually repaired! :fingerscrossed:
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DJG

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We've had our R1T for a week now (delivery 5/11/22). Have probably opened and closed the tonneau cover 5-10 times at the most. As of yesterday, it will not retract completely and stops at around 3/4 retracted. Still closes, but will not open entirely.

We were concerned about this at delivery and asked our Rivian delivery person about maintaining/repairing the cover. We were told there is nothing you can do on your own to keep it running correctly, nor to clean it down inside where it retracts into between the bed and cab. It has to go to the Service Center to be repaired or cleaned. BUMMER!! We live over 200 miles from the nearest Service Center out on a farm where dust is ALWAYS present and can't be avoided. We expected to have problems due to the dust, even with regular cleaning of the cover surface. To request a fix, or not to fix, that is the question!! 🙄 Just got it and loving it otherwise, so we don't want to lose it to a week+ of service at this point, nor to have it loaded and driven back and forth to Bellevue risking damage. What to do...what to do...:(

I've seen a number of other people having trouble with their tonneau covers, too. This looks like it is going to be a major problem for Rivian and us. What are your thoughts, or solutions, to this problem?? Has anyone figured out how to do some repairs/maintenance on their cover?

This poll will allow you to change your answer, if you have your situation changes over time. It would be interesting to see just how much of a problem this is going to be for everyone.
Thanks for participating!!
If you don't need the cover to work right now, I'd give it a few weeks to see if other issues that need attention accumulate and you can get more bang for your buck sending it in. Odds are extremely high there will be.
 

NooterIA

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OP, good info! I also travel gravel a lot and will certainly see plenty of dust. This issue has been on my mind since day one. Don't have the truck yet but will certainly follow this thread to see what happens if/when they fix it for you.
 

jjswan33

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No concern about the function of the cover so far. My only complaint is they are cutting the gasket too short. I submitted a service ticket and the local service advisor told me they are all that way. He followed up to say that they slide and that Rivian wanted to keep them out of the track.

Personally I think it is BS if it easily moves back and forth what is to keep it out of the track then. They could have easily made it an inch or so longer and gave a better seal to the bed area. Just my opinion.
 

Dark-Fx

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It looks time consuming to open it up to clean it out, but I wouldn't be afraid to do it myself once the truck is out of warranty.
 

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mabowden

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I have the powered tonneau optioned right now but if they start batching the manual and it is a good cover (when it comes out) I will likely change my option. Or maybe the aftermarket makes some good options and I option it without the cover.

For now, though, since auto covers are the only thing being made I will stick to the auto cover.
 

kylealden

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Mine broke on the day it was delivered, stuck about 10% closed. The slats wedged in at an angle and wouldn't budget.

Service Center sorted it out very quickly. The tech there told me that it's the single biggest issue they're having with deliveries (besides transporter damage, which affects customers but is not a design or production issue). He called the tonneau design "very cool but extremely overengineered" several times and implied there will be fixes/updated replacement parts coming down the line for owners. In the meantime it sounds like mobile service can usually fix tonneau issues on site depending on the diagnosis (it's usually not a parts failure).

I'm bummed it's an issue this late in the game. I do love the tonneau design and have been 100% happy with it... except when it was broken 🙂 Hopefully they can get it sorted.
 

bbqdevil

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He called the tonneau design "very cool but extremely overengineered" several times and implied there will be fixes/updated replacement parts coming down the line for owners.
This is pretty much where I'm getting my comfort from. Inevitably, they'll end up recalling it and replacing it with a system that functions better, in can't be a sustainable fix to have people reach out for regular service to unjam it, especially as more and more trucks get out in the wild.

In the meantime, we all have our warranties, so while it's a pain in the caboose to have to fix the issue(s), it just doesn't seem sustainable as-is, and should end up being redesigned and replaced.
 

SeaGeo

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My understanding is Rivian is redesigning it as well.
 

rodhx

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No concern about the function of the cover so far. My only complaint is they are cutting the gasket too short. I submitted a service ticket and the local service advisor told me they are all that way. He followed up to say that they slide and that Rivian wanted to keep them out of the track.

Personally I think it is BS if it easily moves back and forth what is to keep it out of the track then. They could have easily made it an inch or so longer and gave a better seal to the bed area. Just my opinion.
That's a concern I have as well. That early video showing how dusty all the cargo got was disturbing. You definitely don't want to travel with cargo you need to keep dry back there. I was hoping for Avalanche-style protection. If it needs to stay dry I guess that's what the gear tunnel and frunk are for.
 

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swhme

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Another data point-- this morning, I had a bunch of pine needles on it. I opened it a bit-- ~20 needles went into the mechanism. I reversed it, and ~5 came back out. This isn't going to end well.
 

crashmtb

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Another data point-- this morning, I had a bunch of pine needles on it. I opened it a bit-- ~20 needles went into the mechanism. I reversed it, and ~5 came back out. This isn't going to end well.
It was clearly just hungry
 

Craigins

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Perk

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That's a concern I have as well. That early video showing how dusty all the cargo got was disturbing. You definitely don't want to travel with cargo you need to keep dry back there. I was hoping for Avalanche-style protection. If it needs to stay dry I guess that's what the gear tunnel and frunk are for.
I'm really surprised by this. I don't have my R1T yet, but I do have an Avalanche and I was fully expecting it to be as protective against the elements as the Avalanche was - when it was new anyway... it's not nearly as great after 17 years :giggle:
 

crashmtb

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I'm really surprised by this. I don't have my R1T yet, but I do have an Avalanche and I was fully expecting it to be as protective against the elements as the Avalanche was - when it was new anyway... it's not nearly as great after 17 years :giggle:
The seal on the end which deals it to the tailgate apparently has a gap on each side, so that will let a surprising amount of dust on gravel roads.
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