Unlocking the car at home is maddening

[tjrivian]

I've never owned a vehicle before my gen1 R1S that was so maddening to unlock, particularly at home. At home my gen1 R1S is parked in the driveway, and I regularly am in a part of the house near the driveway which means that if I leave proximity unlock ON at home then it constantly unlocks itself. So I can't do that, and have it set for proximity-locking at home, but not proximity-unlocking.

So now to unlock the car at home I have to pull my phone out of the pocket, open the rivian app, and press the unlock button. Annoying, but if it works then fine I can live with it. But more than half the time it doesn't work, pressing the unlock button in the app will just give me an error. So I stand there like an idiot for a few minutes trying to figure out how to get into my car. All while this isn't working to unlock the door handles, the car lets me press the buttons on the frunk and on the liftgate and it will open those doors! Why the hell would it not immediately unlock the door handles once it has already decided that it will respond to my trunk/liftgate button presses affirmatively?

Is this something wrong with my particular vehicle, or is this a widespread problem? Is there any solution to not have to stand around for 2 minutes until the app finally allows me to press the button to unlock the door handles?

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[Nixapatfan]

I have the same frustrations even using a key card you just stand there and wait forever for it to let you in at some point. It's the dumbest part of owning this truck. Key fob works every time.

I'm just glad it only happens at home as proximity works fine everywhere else.

 

[derekmw]

Same, and I haven't been bothered enough to check, but I have a feeling it's an issue with it's connectivity to your home wifi. Parked outside, it doesn't have good range so it takes a while to receive the unlock signal. I even get a failed request to unlock at times. I'm tempted to get an extender specifically in the garage so that there is better connectivity to the truck when it's parked outside. But again, I haven't confirmed this but was just suspecting that is the case - since anywhere else, unlocking via the app works just fine.

 

[tjrivian]

I have the same frustrations even using a key card you just stand there and wait forever for it to let you in at some point. It's the dumbest part of owning this truck. Key fob works every time.

I'll have to give the FOB a try again. With proximity-unlock disabled at home, do you need to pull the FOB out of your pocket and press the unlock button(once, twice?)? Or does just approaching the vehicle with the FOB in your pocket cause it to unlock the door handles?

 

[tjrivian]

Same, and I haven't been bothered enough to check, but I have a feeling it's an issue with it's connectivity to your home wifi. Parked outside, it doesn't have good range so it takes a while to receive the unlock signal. I even get a failed request to unlock at times. I'm tempted to get an extender specifically in the garage so that there is better connectivity to the truck when it's parked outside. But again, I haven't confirmed this but was just suspecting that is the case - since anywhere else, unlocking via the app works just fine.

I have similar suspicions. I don't let the car connect to my home wifi because I know that the driveway is on the edge of the connectivity zone. But my phone is connected to the home wifi, and I guess when I'm in the driveway it could be the phone that no longer has an internet connection. But I would think bluetooth to the car would be enough wouldn't it? And if the car knows enough to let me unlock the frunk/liftgate via their button presses, surely I must be authenticated enough that it would be willing to open the door handles for me. But yet it doesn't.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Sorry to hear about the frustrations. Phone as a Key (PaaK) is great when it works, but troubleshooting can be more challenging than a fob when there’s a problem because we add another complex variable: the phone. For those of you with PaaK problems, what kind of phone (brand, model, software version) do you have and have you been able to test with another phone (relative, friend, etc.) to rule out the phone as the problem?

 

[tjrivian]

Sorry to hear about the frustrations. Phone as a Key (PaaK) is great when it works, but troubleshooting can be more challenging than a fob when there’s a problem because we add another complex variable: the phone. For those of you with PaaK problems, what kind of phone (brand, model, software version) do you have and have you been able to test with another phone (relative, friend, etc.) to rule out the phone as the problem?

I tend to think it's not the PaaK that's the problem here, since the car is detecting that something is present enough that it will allow me to open the frunk/liftgate.

 

[Nixapatfan]

I'll have to give the FOB a try again. With proximity-unlock disabled at home, do you need to pull the FOB out of your pocket and press the unlock button(once, twice?)? Or does just approaching the vehicle with the FOB in your pocket cause it to unlock the door handles?

Have to use the buttons.

 

[McLovin]

Back in my day, we had to insert a “key” into the “lock” and “turn” to unlock….uphill…both ways….in 4ft of snow….

 

[derekmw]

What’s odd is that we also have a Tesla and it works flawlessly all the time. That being said, I’ve had similar issues with our teslas in the past in certain areas where I think radio interference caused this. I almost got stranded because my phone would t unlock the car and I didn’t have a fob with me.

 

[Nixapatfan]

It's not that the truck doesn't know the phone is near it makes the vampire coffin creaky noises and random boops and bops while walking near it just refuses to unlock for a good while.

 

[SoCal Rob]

I tend to think it's not the PaaK that's the problem here, since the car is detecting that something is present enough that it will allow me to open the frunk/liftgate.

It may be the phone is the problem because the vehicle knows you’re close, but not at the side of the vehicle ready to open a door. It could be a problem with the receiving antenna (antennae?) on the Rivian which allow it to calculate location or it may be a problem with the phone’s sending signal strength or other BlueTooth variable. I find it is always worth testing with different components when more than one component is potentially causing the problem.
Edit:typos

 

[tjrivian]

Back in my day, we had to insert a “key” into the “lock” and “turn” to unlock….uphill…both ways….in 4ft of snow….

Yeah, that was a long time ago though. Things change. I can't remember any other car I've driven(owned, or even airport rental cars) in the past 10 years where I've ever had to pull something(phone, fob) out of my pocket to unlock, start the car, or lock the car. This is a solved problem, and somehow Rivian chose to way overcomplicate it.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Have to use the buttons.

I have a Gen 1 and the fob can stay in my pocket. When I get to the doors the Rivian unlocks without me touching the fob.

 

[tjrivian]

I have a Gen 1 and the fob can stay in my pocket. When I get to the doors the Rivian unlocks without me touching the fob.

Good to know. That works when you're at home with proximity-unlocking set to OFF WHILE AT HOME?

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