Rivian has told some owners of its new R2 SUV to stop driving and has towed their vehicles in for a “high voltage circuit fastener inspection,” according to owners’ accounts posted on social media.
The company has not filed a recall with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) or commented publicly on the inspections. The number of vehicles involved is not known.
It is the second time in about a month that Rivian has acted on R2 high-voltage hardware without a formal recall.
In August, it advised some owners not to DC fast charge until the charging connector had been inspected.
The inspections come as Rivian prepares to report third-quarter deliveries, the first full quarter since R2 deliveries began on June 9.
‘Ground My Vehicle Immediately’
An R2 owner described the call in a post on Reddit’s r/RivianR2 forum around September 24.
“Rep admitted they had no real specifics and apologized but they received info from corporate to ground my vehicle immediately and they’re coming to tow it in,” the owner wrote. “Said there may not be an issue but needs to be inspected.”
The owner said they had had the SUV for about two weeks “with zero issues” and that it was built around August 14.
The service request in the Rivian app read: “Per Rivian directive: High voltage circuit fastener inspection,” the owner wrote in an update.
The owner said a person they assumed was from Rivian’s central office, who arranged the tow, indicated that the company believed the issue affected “only a small batch.”
Rivian provided Uber credits and a rental car, the owner said.
A second owner replied that the same thing had happened to them. “Something to do with the high voltage system they said! Advised I park immediately and leave it wherever I am,” the owner wrote.
That owner said the same inspection wording later appeared in their app, and that the vehicle was towed after the service centre closed.
A third owner said Rivian had asked them to bring their R2 in “due to ‘an electrical issue that needs to be inspected,'” without telling them to stop driving.
The owners gave partial VINs, ending in the 58XX and 74XX ranges for the two grounded vehicles, which were also listed in a RivianForums thread opened on September 24.
No Recall Filed
NHTSA’s database lists one recall covering the R2, a rear-camera display issue fixed by an over-the-air software update.
That recall covers 98,828 Rivian vehicles, including 2,481 R2s built from April 23 to August 10.
It is not related to the fastener inspections.
Carmakers must file a defect report “not more than 5 working days after a defect in a vehicle or item of equipment has been determined to be safety related,” under federal rules.
The requirement applies once a manufacturer determines a safety defect exists, not when it begins inspecting vehicles.
Rivian has recalled vehicles over fasteners before.
Its October 2022 recall covered 12,212 vehicles in which the nut connecting the front upper control arm and steering knuckle “may not have been sufficiently torqued,” according to its NHTSA filing.
That filing did not tell owners to stop driving.
Early R2 Issues
The inspections follow other early issues with the R2. By late July, EV had counted five, including a faulty high-voltage battery communications module that held up handovers.
One owner said the fix for that module meant dropping the battery pack.
Rivian also halted Half Moon Grey deliveries over panels painted off-line and matched to the wrong bodies.
Rivian is ramping R2 production at its plant in Normal, Illinois, with a second production shift planned to begin this week.
“R2 production started with a single shift, and we expect to scale to two shifts by the end of the third quarter,” founder and Chief Executive Officer RJ Scaringe said on the company’s July 30 earnings call.
Rivian expects to deliver 65,000 to 70,000 vehicles in 2026, after delivering 22,559 in the first half. It does not disclose R2 deliveries separately.
