A Rivian owner may sell his new R1S after a failed test of the SUV’s rear emergency door release
- Owner says rear manual release broke and can’t be accessed.
- Compares the risk to a fatal Tesla fire with stuck rear doors.
- Family now considers selling SUV over serious safety concerns.
Imagine buying what you believe to be a state-of-the-art, high-powered electric SUV, only to realize it hides what you’d call a surprisingly basic safety flaw. That’s the situation one 2025 Rivian R1S second-gen owner has found themselves in, and the issue comes down to something as mundane, yet vital, as door handles.
In an effort to proactively improve safety, the R1S owner tried to show their child how to get out of the back seat in the event of an emergency. It went so poorly that they’re now considering selling their high-end electric SUV.
Safety Frustration
In a post titled “My kids are definitely dead in an emergency,” Reddit user u/AlstonCentral says this all started with a test; he simply wanted to show his kids how to get out of the car if something went wrong.
Rivian’s recommended method works like this: pull off a door card panel that sits toward the rear of the door itself. Inside, you’ll find a pull tab that, when pulled, will manually open the door.
It sounds pretty simple, but in practice, it’s a huge issue based on owner feedback. In the post, the owner writes that “The panel broke and could not be restored without Rivian service center ordering a new part, and I fully failed to even find the cable. There’s no way kids could ever figure this out if they had to.”
Unfortunately, he’s not alone in this concern.
More: New Lawsuit Might Force Ford To Change Mustang Mach-E Door Handles
On RivianForums, a similar threat about the rear door handles is full of owners complaining. One summed up his thoughts this way:
“Having examined the trim panels on my Gen2, I know that no one in my entire extended family other than myself would be able to pry off the panels in a pinch. My in-laws, who have a Model S that has an accessible emergency release (no panel removal required) still cannot even pull the braided cable mechanism.”
At this point, the Redditor is considering ditching his fancy SUV in favor of something more straightforward, or as they put it, “something with acceptable basic safety functionality.”
Also: Insurance Offered $1,700 For This R1T Mishap, Rivian Wanted A Fortune
Notably, Rivian is already committed to a more simplistic design for the R2, and plenty of other brands are considering similar designs. Here’s hoping they come up with something anyone can easily understand and use, as this is a serious safety issue.
Sources: RivianForums, Reddit
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