WFTV - Florida woman can't get out of bricked R1S for 45 min. PSA: check your emergency release access panels

[zefram47]

TL;DR, person never read the manual and didn't know about the manual release that *all* vehicles with electronic door latches are required to have. Even the C6 Corvette back in the 2000s, which may have been one of the first vehicles with electronic door latches, had a manual release for both driver and passenger on the floor. Ironically, Rivian's are located right on the door in the same location as the Gen1 manual latch for the front occupants.

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[ElGuano]

Some small people don't have the strength or leverage for that.

Last week, I made it a point to go through the emergency door release procedure with my MIL (they have a Model S but often sit in the back as we drive them when we are together). It's actually much more easy to access than the Rivian--you just reach down between your legs and pull an exposed cable, like the ejection seat in a fighter jet.

She did NOT have the strength to pull the cable. She tried several times, in different ways. No go. I had my 6yo son try and he also couldn't get the proper leverage to pull it.

I got a keychain from Amazon with a tag attachment, which provided enough leverage for both to easily pull it.

So while I'm happy to hear that some more hulk-like members here can casually bend the car frame in two to extract themselves whenever they want, I'm really, really against the idea that some manufacturers are going down the route where emergency mechanical door releases:
1. Are hidden and impossible to self-discover, especially in an emergency
2. Can be extremely difficult to activate, even when understood.

The front door emergency releases are great. They're right on the door hands, accessible, and leveraged for easy use. I really wish both Tesla and Rivian just put those on the rear doors as well.

Rant over.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

LOL, you need to brush up on your comprehension skills. We are talking about the EMERGENCY release, not the handle, DUH.

In Gen 1 the handle IS the emergency release because gen 1 has mechanical door handles.

 

[R1Tom]

Everyone who thinks RTFM is an acceptable answer to emergency escape from a vehicle really make me wish I had gone into product liability law.....on the side of the victims of dangerous product design...

 

[Osyras]

Last week, I made it a point to go through the emergency door release procedure with my MIL (they have a Model S but often sit in the back as we drive them when we are together). It's actually much more easy to access than the Rivian--you just reach down between your legs and pull an exposed cable, like the ejection seat in a fighter jet.

She did NOT have the strength to pull the cable. She tried several times, in different ways. No go. I had my 6yo son try and he also couldn't get the proper leverage to pull it.

I got a keychain from Amazon with a tag attachment, which provided enough leverage for both to easily pull it.

So while I'm happy to hear that some more hulk-like members here can casually bend the car frame in two to extract themselves whenever they want, I'm really, really against the idea that some manufacturers are going down the route where emergency mechanical door releases:
1. Are hidden and impossible to self-discover, especially in an emergency
2. Can be extremely difficult to activate, even when understood.

The front door emergency releases are great. They're right on the door hands, accessible, and leveraged for easy use. I really wish both Tesla and Rivian just put those on the rear doors as well.

Rant over.

When I went from my Gen 1 to Gen 2 i went around to test this - and I cant even get the covers off for the rear door manual release. I have a service appointing in 2 weeks for them to look at it and I plan to add tabs or pulls to make this a simple easy to do thing for anyone on my back seats.

Overall this is my biggest disappointment with Gen 2 vs Gen1.

 

[Mathme]

These electric door releases and hidden emergency releases rank right up there with touch screen vent controls -- features no one asked for that make what should be a relatively easy process cumbersome (or even impossible in an emergency).

Why is there a need to reinvent the plumbing with something that's worked well for 100+ years that everyone understands?

 

[ElGuano]

i went around to test this - and I cant even get the covers off for the rear door manual release.

Don't forget they're one-time-use only. If you remove them, you have to replace the clips to reinstall.

Why is there a need to reinvent the plumbing with something that's worked well for 100+ years that everyone understands?

I can see why there are benefits to electronic releases. You can more easily implement auto door-opening/closing mechanisms, and you can implement active safety features like preventing opening into approaching cyclists (having been doored on a bike before, I can see how beneficial this could be).

But having the primary release mechanism be electric doesn't mean you must also aggressively hide the manual release in way that strongly suggests you are only including it out of malicious compliance.

 

[NY_Rob]

I am sorry to be pedantic and correct everyone in this thread, but there is no Owner's Manual for Rivian vehicles. It does not exist. There is only an Owner's Guide. This actually tells you a lot about the psychology of a company that hides such ugly, functional things as door handles under single-use plastic trim.

They also don't mention the word "fuse" even once in the 430 page Gen 1 Owner's Guide even though the Gen 1 Rivian's have two large fuse boxes with over sixty fuses inside.

 

[Lrak1973]

Over the years I've driven various cars where the right stalk are the wipers on some, but the drive mode selector on others. And honest to god I've tried to put the car into reverse while driving in the highway in the rain. The "you don't really mean to do that" beep is jarring.

Nowadays, I ALWAYS hesitate a beat when turning on the wipers, because I need to be 100% sure I'm pulling the correct stalk

Alas, I am intimately familiar with that beep, too!

 

[SANZC02]

Pretty sure this person was driving from the front drivers seat, all of this discussion about the panel being removed from the rear door to pull the release does not even apply here.

In the front doors the handle is not hidden, as mentioned by @Donald Stanfield the manual release not only is not hidden on the front doors but is in such a standard location that his passenger used it instead of the electronic button. ??

 

[R1Tom]

Pretty sure this person was driving from the front drivers seat, all of this discussion about the panel being removed from the rear door to pull the release does not even apply here.

In the front doors the handle is not hidden, as mentioned by @Donald Stanfield the manual release not only is not hidden on the front doors but is in such a standard location that his passenger used it instead of the electronic button. ??

That is great then! At least half the people can get out! Only the people in back seat won't...didn't happen this time...but it very well might. Which is why it is a terrible design decision regardless of the person situation in the news and the outcome.

 

[SurfnBike]

1-0-0-% Rivian fail. I have owned a Gen1 and now a Gen2 for six months and I never knew that the rear seats didn't have a regular release....why? I am 6'4 and can't fit in the back, only my kids fit back there.

I am going to be teaching my kids a little emergency drill for the R1S today that goes something like this:

"If we get into an accident and mom and or dad aren't awake, climb out over us through the front seats and get your little brothers/sisters out through the front doors."

If any other parents have a more straight forward approach that would be helpful. I don't forsee my 4/7/9 year olds being able to locate an emergency pull cord in a true emergency.

 

[BourboNole]

Does the exterior handle have a direct linkage? While I can see the concern about the rear doors emergency release being hidden, it made me think about situations with passengers who can't pull a standard door handle regardless. In that case you would need the ability to open from the outside, and if that is in place, then it makes the rear interior release a lot less important.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I hope the people complaining about the rear release being hidden never put anyone in the third row, there isn’t even a door there for those people to get out.

 

[BourboNole]

"If we get into an accident and mom and or dad aren't awake, climb out over us through the front seats and get your little brothers/sisters out through the front doors."

*and the rear doors won't open on their own.

It sounds like the doors failed specifically because the fuse for that circuit failed. I guess there haven't been many accidents with Gen2s, but I wouldn't expect an accident to automatically disable the door mechanism.

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