Rivian is not offering retrofits to restore backrest ventilation on R2 SUVs built without it, a customer support representative told an owner.
The email, shared by X user ‘Dreadknight25’ on Tuesday, confirmed that the buyer’s R2, which had yet to be delivered, is configured with one blower per front seat, cooling the seat cushion only.
The EV maker had not previously said publicly whether it would refit the missing fans. A person who claimed to be a Rivian technician had previously written on Reddit last week that the company would not do so.
The Email
The support representative wrote that newer R2s are being built with a single blower per front seat, providing airflow through the cushion rather than through both the cushion and the seatback.
“I can confirm that the information regarding the R2 seat ventilation update is accurate,” the email says. “Rivian has introduced a change to the ventilated seat design, and newer R2 vehicles are being built with one blower per front seat, providing airflow through the seat cushion only, rather than both the cushion and the seatback.”
The email repeated the reason Rivian gave last week, that the seatback ventilation generated excessive cabin noise, and said the cushion is where occupants retain the most heat.
Seat heating is unchanged, and the ventilation will keep working through the vehicle’s seat controls, the representative wrote.
The employee acknowledged that the buyer may have ordered expecting airflow through both the cushion and the seatback after a test drive, and cited the importance of seat ventilation in Arizona’s hot climate.
“I understand that this may be disappointing, particularly if you placed your order expecting airflow through both the seat cushion and seatback based on your test-drive experience,” he said. “Unfortunately, we are not offering retrofits to restore seatback ventilation on vehicles built with the updated design.”
The company has not said which vehicle identification numbers are affected.
Owners have put the change at around VIN 10,000.
A Week of Complaints
Owners first raised the change on Rivian Forums on October 6, and then on Reddit, after noticing that newer R2s had no airflow through the backrest.
Rivian confirmed the change on October 7 without announcing it on its own channels.
The main Rivian Forums thread had grown to nearly 600 posts by Tuesday.
Some members wrote that they had cancelled or were reconsidering their orders, citing the lack of notice rather than the fan itself, while others said the backlash was out of proportion to the change.
Teardowns and a Software Fix
An owner who posts on X as ‘EV_Agnostic’ opened the seat of an R2 with a VIN in the 12,000s on October 10 and found the fan mounting plate still in place, with the wiring plug clipped to a holder.
Rivian also had to fix the seat controls.
Owner tracker ‘Rivian Roamer’ said last week that Rivian had pulled software version 2026.36.40 from R2s built after September 1, after owners reported that the ventilation option had disappeared from the center screen.
Rivian released version 2026.36.41 for the R2 on October 12, and Rivian Roamer said it fixed ventilated seat controls that were not appearing at all on some vehicles.
The published release notes do not mention a seat-control fix, and Rivian has not commented on either release.
No Change to Marketing
Rivian’s R2 web page still lists “heated and ventilated seats” on the R2 Performance, which starts at $57,990 and is the only version on sale.
The Premium version, due late this year from $53,990, is listed with “heated and ventilated front seats.”
Neither listing says the ventilation is limited to the cushion.
Rivian says R2 reservations carry a $100 refundable deposit, while several buyers have said they paid a $500 non-refundable deposit when placing orders.
Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid, who announced the 2026.36 update on October 7, has not commented on the topic.
The R2 Ramp
The change comes as Rivian accelerates R2 output at its plant in Normal, Illinois, where it started a second R2 shift before the end of September.
Rivian sold an estimated 3,456 R2s in the US in the third quarter, according to Cox Automotive, and delivered a record 19,248 vehicles across its lineup in the period.
The highest R2 VIN linked to Rivian Roamer passed 15,000 on October 11, up from 13,000 on September 29, although an assigned VIN does not mean a vehicle has been built.
Rivian will report third-quarter results on October 29.
