Tesla competitor Rivian has been increasing in popularity recently, however, with the increase in production it seems the build quality is taking a hit.
In a video recently uploaded to the Out of Spec Detailing YouTube channel, the quality issues have been revealed.
Introducing the video, the presenter, Colton, explains:
“I’m here to answer the question has Rivian build quality improved or has it gotten worse since we’ve last made one of these videos. Let’s take a dive in on this Rivian R1T and see how they’re looking”
Colton had previously looked into an earlier R1T but this one has been produced much later on so they wanted to see if the build quality had gone down as production of it has increased. The vin on the one they looked at originally was around 4000 and this one is roughly 13,200.
Starting at the back of the car, Colton says:
“I figured back here was good as place as any to start talking issues that I’ve been seeing on these Rivians, as you guys either do or don’t know these powered tonneau covers on the back of the R1T’s have been having some serious issues due to the gears and motors because they’re only on one side.
“This is actually the first truck that I’ve seen a broken powered tonneau cover. Now, this truck interestingly enough was actually delivered with a completely defective powered tonneau cover, not even operable so this particular customer was given the option to either pass on this truck or take it knowing that hopefully there’s a fix coming for this.
“From my understanding these vehicles are being delivered without a tonneau cover not even one that is pushed in or out so definitely some work needed to be done there”
Colton goes on to show how “clunky” the closing of the lift gate is at the back, which he puts down to two edges rubbing together. As the lid to the storage does not latch properly, it then catches on the lift gate as you push it up.
They then go on to show multiple panel gaps across the body which he feels are getting worse as production has increased. He says:
“What I’ve noticed is as you guys have brung your trucks in here, they are kind of getting worse so let’s just jump in here and start looking at panel gaps. This has been one area I’ve really noticed a lot of difference.
“This is a pretty massive gap here, being able to stick almost the entire first knuckle of my pinky and down here, just not even sort of aligned well”
Another difference that they have seen is that the rear right bumper panel does not fit very well. There seem to be more alignment issues at the front of the truck, especially around the charging port which Colton explained could lead to paint rubbing off as well as the doors where the gap at the top is much bigger than at the bottom.
“Now this is one thing on these a-pillars though, actually one of my clients has shown me, and I’ve been seeing it more and more lately on these trucks. When he picked up his customer delivered R1S he goes ‘I have dents all over my a-pillar’ and I’m like ‘really that’s quite surprising’.
“So look at this here it’s actually an impression here and what this is is actually what I believe to be clips pulling this because this is plastic here and it’s pulling it in in a certain area leaving this almost dent-like look. Now there’s another one here as you can see more of a ripple in the light there, nothing up top but on the other side let me flip around here, one more time this side looks pretty decent down low there’s a little bit of rippling here at the bottom.”
Another major issue that Colton picks up on is that he has seen many new Rivian’s with cracked interior wood which for an approximately $100,000 car is not good.
Colton continues to show more of the quality issues that have emerged since production has increased. Hopefully Rivian will be able to rectify these problems for any produced in the future.
