Owners have filed 138 complaints on the Rivian R1S, covering 2022–2025. The system named most often is Air Bags (31 reports). Worst years by volume: 2023, 2025, 2024; cleanest: 2022, 2024, 2025. 19 reports describe a crash, 1 a fire. On average the car was 0.6 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Rivian R1S
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 138 R1S complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Air Bags 31 Read
The contact owns a 2024 Rivian R1S. The contact stated that while his wife was attempting to park in a parking space, the vehicle unintendedly accelerated. The brake pedal was violently depressed however the vehicle continued to accelerate. No warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle hit a curb…
Vehicle: 2025 Rivian R1S VIN: [XXX] Purchase Date: [XXX] Component/System Affected: Passenger Airbag / Occupant Detection System (ODS) Issue Description: The passenger airbag system in my 2025 Rivian R1S intermittently fails to detect a front seat passenger, causing the airbag to remain disabled even when an adult…
One week into owning the vehicle a notification popped up. “Airbag system needs service”
Electrical System 21 Read
Stopped at McDonalds drive through waiting to order with my foot on the brake and the vehicle lunged forward rearending the car stopped 5 feet in front of me ordering. I was trying to brake but it kept pushing the car in front of me then careened to the right hitting a sign and a parked car. I kept pumping the brakes…
I pulled into my semicircle, long driveway as I do every morning, and stopped at the top by releasing my foot off the accelerator (no need for brakes as it is an EV). I opened the garage door and slowly stepped on the accelerator, but it started to go fast, and I felt out of control. I immediately released my foot off…
Winter weather led to snow buildup on the headlamps which made them useless. Fortunately this was during the day so there was plenty of sunlight. If this was at night, I would not have had any visibility and would have needed to stop every few miles to clean the headlamps. My BMW uses washer fluid to clean my…
Suspension 11 Read
On [XXX], I was driving my Rivian R1S on [XXX] in the far left lane at highway speed on a smooth, straight road when I suddenly and completely lost control of the vehicle without warning. The vehicle swerved right, struck a vehicle in the middle lane, then veered left, spun, and collided head-on with the guardrail on…
Immediately after purchasing the vehicle, I got error codes thrown to service the suspension while driving to my house, specifically at 15-20mph over traffic calming bumps. This fault cleared immediately the first few times. On July 25 I submitted a service request as my family headed out on a two week, 900 mile trip.…
Toe link failed on the driver rear side. My vehicle went out of control, veered over adjacent lanes, over the bike path, onto the side walk and back onto the road and side walk. I was left with a sore neck for several days, my apple watch kept trying to call 911 thinking I was in an accident. Anyone one the sidewalk…
Steering 10 Read
Vehicle lunged to the right without any driver input. Damaged rim and wheel and could have hurt someone . Have never experienced anything like this in my life. Steering wheel was perfectly straight but vehicle lunges to the right. This is a safety issue
Steering wheel vibrates back and forth when driving at highway speeds and following the flow of traffic. The shaking makes my hands and wrists numb after a few minutes of driving at speed. The car becomes uncomfortable to steer and keep straight at speed. Rivian Service Center attempted 1 repair (alignment and wheel…
Driving my Rivian R1S on a road trip with family from Seattle, WA to Ketchum, ID (about 600miles.) Stopped to recharge outside of Boise, ID for about 20mins. Started driving again and in about 5 minutes the car started warning (visual message and audible alarm). The following events then occurred: -- The warning…
Forward Collision Avoidance 7 Read
The contact owns a 2025 Rivian R1S. The contact stated that while attempting to reverse out of a driveway with the brake pedal still engaged, the vehicle lurched forward, crashing into the vehicle that was parked in front of her, with the entire front end of the vehicle. The vehicle then lurched to the left and…
Vehicle was involved in a rear end collision. Vehicle was setup to have Emergency Braking enabled and used the Rivian High Regen setting (one pedal driving). In freeway traffic, the vehicle in front slowed quickly. The vehicle initiated emergency braking, but when the vehicle in front sped away, the vehicle failed to…
1> What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? * The sensors don't detect the object sometimes. There were 2 incidents when the car sensors did not detect the object a> In my office parking lot the rear sensors did not detect the fire hydrant and did not make the…
Exterior Lighting 7 Read
Driver side high beam lights are out or malfunction. No warning on dashboard except for "Adaptive High Beam not working." When the high beam assistance is set to Off, and I turn on the high beam manually, there are no warnings about the high beam malfunction whatsoever
Hazard light switch stopped functioning one day. It is completely unusable and is a safety issue. Rivian cannot provide an ETA to fix the issue
The contact owns a 2025 Rivian R1S. The contact stated received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V085000 (EXTERIOR LIGHTING). The local dealer was contacted; however, the contact was informed that parts were not yet available. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the parts not…
Power Train 6 Read
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? — ACCELERATOR PEDAL. YES, AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? — DUE TO ACCELERATOR PEDAL DEFECT, IT RESULTED IN ONE CASUALTY AND ONE INJURY. Has the problem been reproduced…
Unable to use the drive stalk to change gears. Reboot fixed it temporarily. Service center ended up replacing the Steering Column Control module
On January 9, I was driving my new 2025 Rivian R1S (approx. 2,400 miles) when it suddenly displayed “Drive stalk not working.” The vehicle jolted, made a loud noise from the front axle, and then fully stopped in the middle of a busy road with the battery still at 55%. Once it stopped, I had no hazard lights or power…
Vehicle Speed Control 5 Read
While my wife was driving our 2025 Rivian R1S (approx. 13,500 miles), the vehicle was at a complete stop when it began to slowly roll forward on its own, followed by a sudden surge of acceleration, despite no input on the accelerator. This unexpected movement caused the vehicle to collide with a Tesla directly in…
On November 27th the accelerator on my Rivian became stuck causing the car to accelerate quickly and preventing me from immediately stopping the car. There was a message stating that the regenerative braking system was not available and the accelerator pedal was stuck in the down position. When I pressed on the brake…
Below are the diagnostics that Rivian says happened. I pulled into a parking space and as I placed my foot on the brake the car launched forward. I DID NOT hold both peddles down at the same time. The car malfunctioned and thank god I hit another parked car and not a person. The car has no been in the shop and at…
R1S years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Air Bags | 4 | 1 | |
| 2024 | Air Bags,seats | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | Air Bags | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | Air Bags,seats | 1 | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 55 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.5 |
| Worst single series | 12 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 0.6 years |
A model average of 2.5 hides a worst series at 12. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the R1S?
By complaint volume, 2023, 2025, 2024 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which R1S years are the cleanest?
2022, 2024, 2025 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Rivian R1S have?
138 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2022–2025. Of those, 19 describe a crash and 1 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.