Undriveable at night in wet snow due to LED headlights not melting snow & ice

[White Shadow]

Even with a coating of snow or ice, a decent amount of light should still be projected out on to the road ahead, no? I'm thinking of those old "frosted" plastic headlight lenses that then got old and cloudy yellow, but still worked enough to get at least some light on the road.

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[Kidentist]

I'm pretty sure we'll hear more about this as more vehicles are sold in northern latitudes. I can see the concerns for those of us who routinely utilize mountain passes; but I am also waiting to hear from other users before I start freaking out.
This issue probably has A LOT to do with the design of the lights (flat and located in a cavity) which makes them a great trap for ice/snow; and I would be "SHOCKED" if the Rivian engineers are not aware about this problem. Only time will tell, until then get some RainX.....
It's nice to know that some users here can tag the CEO directly......

 

[johstacy]

Here in the PNW our snow is mostly on the warm wet and sticky side... So when driving in light to heavy snow flurries we get a lot of build up on our vehicles.. Well the R1T is no different... the big problem is at night the snow covers up the headlights and visibility goes to zero... I have experienced this twice now as we are getting into the snow season here in the Washington Cascades... Last night we had to pull over about every 3 miles to wipe off the headlights... Not fun. There is just not enough heat from the LED lights to melt off the snow. Rivian either needs to add washer nozzles (our Volvo V90 CC has these), or add heated lenses. Heated head light example, Looking a pair of these. Wonder if I could power off frunk 12vdc outlet or tap into fog lights.. Another option is to mount on forward mounted roof cross bar and power from bed outlets some how.. Also researching transparent ITO or thin wire heating element to stick on stock headlights...

I have emailed my guide with pictures and raised this as a safety issue. Will also create service ticket.... And posted here tagging RJ..

Anyway.. beware if you find yourself in wet sticky snow at night...

I live on Snoqualmie Pass and I am about to take delivery of my R1T. I wonder if you applied RainX to the lights if that would help the sticky snow to not stick. I'm extremely familiar with PNW snow conditions and my R1T is about to live in feet upon feet of snow everyday so I will be interested in all solutions or issues.

 

[Ralph]

In more frigid temps the snow is substantially less sticky. I'm in Kansas, and it's about 50/50 here when I'll have this same issue (in any vehicle with LED headlights)

True. But Alaska has areas and times of year that have wetter, stickier snow. The point was/is really that testing was either insufficient or ignored. The post above notes that his Volvos with LEDs have heaters.

Seems (to me) to be another case of re-inventing the wheel with insufficient research and testing. I recall Mercedes with headlight wipers decades ago; ugly to this eye, but apparently needed or at least useful long before LEDs.

 

[Acoustic71]

You're driving it wrong.....

 

[MRE]

True. But Alaska has areas and times of year that have wetter, stickier snow. The point was/is really that testing was either insufficient or ignored. The post above notes that his Volvos with LEDs have heaters.

Seems (to me) to be another case of re-inventing the wheel with insufficient research and testing. I recall Mercedes with headlight wipers decades ago; ugly to this eye, but apparently needed or at least useful long before LEDs.

Heaters on the headlights would definitely get my vote. Like I mentioned in another comment.. My Tesla and my Jeep (which has upgraded LED headlights) have this same issue. A miss on all counts for sure, but Rivian definitely isn't the only manufacturer of unheated LED lights.

 

[Olsonsolar]

Here in the PNW our snow is mostly on the warm wet and sticky side... So when driving in light to heavy snow flurries we get a lot of build up on our vehicles.. Well the R1T is no different... the big problem is at night the snow covers up the headlights and visibility goes to zero... I have experienced this twice now as we are getting into the snow season here in the Washington Cascades... Last night we had to pull over about every 3 miles to wipe off the headlights... Not fun. There is just not enough heat from the LED lights to melt off the snow. Rivian either needs to add washer nozzles (our Volvo V90 CC has these), or add heated lenses. Heated head light example, Looking a pair of these. Wonder if I could power off frunk 12vdc outlet or tap into fog lights.. Another option is to mount on forward mounted roof cross bar and power from bed outlets some how.. Also researching transparent ITO or thin wire heating element to stick on stock headlights...

I have emailed my guide with pictures and raised this as a safety issue. Will also create service ticket.... And posted here tagging RJ..

Anyway.. beware if you find yourself in wet sticky snow at night...

That could become a very dangerous situation.

 

[BigginsCH]

This happened to me on the Denver front range last week with an early season slushy snow storm. Seemed like every few miles it iced over. Luckily I was driving on reasonably well lit roads so didn't need to pull over like you might on some mountain passes.

 

[jwardell]

I will be applying this RainX Plastic Water Repellent for the winter. I mean this problem isn't unique to Rivian as most cars have LEDs and plastic lenses, but I'm sure it's worse with a vertical light.

 

[jebinc]

Try WD-40…or PAM cooking spray.

Not sure using a petroleum based solvent (WD40) on plastic (also petroleum based) is such a good idea.

 

[BCan]

Not sure using a petroleum based solvent (WD40) on plastic (also petroleum based) is such a good idea.

True….Deleted

 

[bd5400]

Heaters on the headlights would definitely get my vote. Like I mentioned in another comment.. My Tesla and my Jeep (which has upgraded LED headlights) have this same issue. A miss on all counts for sure, but Rivian definitely isn't the only manufacturer of unheated LED lights.

It’s not even limited to LED lights. In slushy enough snow the HID headlights on my GX 460 would get covered in a layer of ice and slush. The headlight washers, if they weren’t frozen shut in the bumper, would just spray the fluid right on top of the ice and not really do much to help. Though they were warmer than LEDs, the HIDs also didn’t put out anywhere near the heat of halogen bulbs.

With that said, even when covered with slush and ice there was still light making it through. It wasn’t like I was driving without headlights.

 

[lefkonj]

I have had the same experience with the LED headlights on my Audi in NJ. A wet snow builds up on the lights and needs to be manually removed.

 

[Gator42]

Yah not unique….and the vertical nature is way better than a little shelf in front of the headlamp lens. If you spend any time in alpine winter you know headlamp washers and wipers are just more things to cake up with ice, snert and snit (snert= snow + dirt, snit = what you think it is) I had the most success with Rain-X products. Give them a try.

My LR has a defrost embedded in the glass - I always thought a little defrost grid in some headlamp covers would be a solution. It’s hard to sell $$$ replacement lights that way I guess…

 

[iansriv]

mfgs need to do "cold weather" testing in wet sticky and sloppy snow conditions... "cold weather" testing in northern Minnesota or the arctic where its subzero, cold and very dry is significantly different than what many of us will encounter in the winter...

I was going to say the same thing. Wonder if this IS the testing. I second what has been said about trying ceramic coating spray as a starting point.

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