One of the cooler features of the Rivian R1T is its optional powered tonneau cover. With the touch of a button the cargo bed cover can open or close, but it hasn’t been a smooth rollout of the feature for the fledgling automaker.
Almost as soon as the first deliveries with the mechanical cover began, owners began reporting problems with it.
The problem is so bad that Rivian has a Service Support page dedicated to the issue, and the only fix is to replace the entire unit, something which they say they will do beginning early next year.
The cover will be replaced with a newly designed cover which Rivian says will correct “subcomponent design issues and improves the tonneau cover’s robustness against manufacturing build variations.”
While they work to redesign the powered tonneau cover, Rivian has started informing reservation holders that they have pulled it from production.
In an email to reservation holders on Friday afternoon, the automaker says they don’t know when it will re-enter production, and that during this transition period R1T reservation holders can update their orders to either have manual tonneau cover, or no cover at all.
However, even picking the manual tonneau cover will see your R1T delivered with nothing at all until at least early 2023, the date which Rivian says the panels will be available.
Opting for no tonneau cover will mean you still get the integrated siderails if your delivery takes place “in the next few months,” after which Rivian will switch to a design without them.
For existing owners, Rivian says this isn’t a recall and to continue using your powered tonneau cover if you aren’t experiencing issues with it. While this isn’t a recall, Rivian did recently recall almost all of their vehicles for a potentially loose fastener.
The automaker worked quickly to resolve the issue and has already fixed the majority of the vehicles included in the recall.
You can read the full email below (via @jenzfc)
