Rivian’s quick response to recall shows value of direct-to-consumer model, CEO says

CEO RJ Scaringe said the company has earned some goodwill from customers who witnessed a nimble, in-house service operation that could also lean on its mobile service fleet for quick checks of the fasteners.

“This is something where we identified a potential issue [and] we wanted to get out get out as early as possible,” Scaringe said in an interview at the TechCrunch Disrupt event last week in San Francisco.

“We made a decision on a Friday afternoon [Oct. 7] to make this move, and by Friday evening repairs were underway,” Scaringe said. “And we worked through a significant majority of the vehicles in the next 10 days.”

The actual fix, the Rivian founder said, only takes a few minutes to make sure a bolt is properly fastened.

No accidents were reported to NHTSA, which described the problem as: “A loose steering knuckle fastener could separate, causing a loss of vehicle control and increasing the risk of crash.”

Two previous Rivian recalls — for an improperly secured seat-belt anchor and an airbag issue — affected less than 700 vehicles combined.

Scaringe said the automaker was able to move quickly when the fastener issue arose thanks to a sales and service model that doesn’t rely on franchised dealers.

“For us, one of the most powerful things was having our direct-to-consumer model, where instead of having to go through third parties, or dealers, or different entities, we literally mobilized our whole service network to say ‘let’s go move through these vehicles really quickly,’ ” Scaringe said at the event.

He acknowledged that customers were rightfully frustrated by the recall. But Rivian also demonstrated “that we were trying to do the best possible job we could,” Scaringe said. “We didn’t sugarcoat it. We said we’re going to fix this.”

On Rivian online forums, vehicle owners generally praised the quick service, whether through mobile units sent to their homes or at Rivian service centers. There were also complaints, however, of mobile service getting rescheduled or failing to show up.

Edmunds published an update of its long-term R1T owner experience on Monday, saying that the recall was done through mobile service that took about 5 minutes.

Edmunds, however, was less pleased with a series of Rivian service notices about other potential issues — although the automotive firm still had high praise for the R1T overall.

“The list of things that might have issues include a misrouted wiring harness under the front cowl, a loose rear suspension toe link bolt, water collection in the rocker panels from heavy rain or stream fording, and window moldings that could become detached,” Edmunds wrote as part of its 5,000-mile review.