- Some Rivian owners are reporting that they have wheels that fall off after service appointments.
- The issue appears to be related to the upper control arm.
- Rivian issued a recall for a loose upper control arm fastener years ago.
No car is perfect and no person is either. Mistakes can happen during production or service but the last thing owners expect is for service to lead to increased danger. Unfortunately, that’s what some Rivian owners are allegedly facing right now though. They are reporting wheels that fall off after what sounds like routine maintenance or simple service repairs. The problem appears to have a trail leading back to 2022.
Recently, one Rivian R1T owner posted online about their front passenger wheel. According to user StrangeExchange86, it “fell off” after Rivian serviced the tonneau cover “and a few other things.” The driver went over some train tracks, heard something strange, and ended up with a wheel that looks like it’s doing its best Lightning McQueen impression.
Read: Rivian Recalls 127 R1s Over Missing Stickers
Dig a little deeper into his Reddit post and you’ll find others reporting similar, if not scarier stories with the same issue. According to another Rivian owner, the service center “didn’t torque/install the nut on the control are [sic] well enough. Almost wrecked driving down the interstate. Two weeks later it happened again.”
Another complained about having a vehicle delivered with just 44 miles on the clock and a bolt from a lower control arm almost completely out of the assembly.
That same person said this of negative experiences with Rivian “It’s how it works with all these new EV car companies. The good news is that it all should be fixed. The bad news is that it might spend some time at the shop. It kind of is what it is. Communication isn’t great. But you ever try Tesla? They are horrible and much more mature.”
Being willing to put up with bolts that look like the one in the photo below, as shared by (another) Reddit user Nototrader who said he “just took delivery” and that “truck felt weird while driving”, seems unbelievable.
All of this brings us back to a recall that happened in late 2022. At that time, Rivian recalled 12,212 vehicles including the EDV, the R1T, and the R1S over the upper control arm fastener. “A loose steering knuckle fastener could separate, causing a loss of vehicle control and increasing the risk of a crash,” it said at the time.
Perhaps in some or all of these cases above, the vehicles in question somehow haven’t had that recall procedure performed. It’s possible too that they weren’t included in the recall population and perhaps should have been.
According to the owner who posted most recently, the recall had already been performed on his truck. All we can say is that if you have one, be sure that your upper control arm fastener is torqued properly.
We reached out to Rivian for comment on the situation regarding incidents shared on Reddit. They informed us that they are currently investigating and will provide further information as soon as possible.
