Electrek.co
by Fred Lambert
Rivian has issued its first recall on its first vehicle, the R1T electric pickup truck. A problem with the passenger seat airbag is affecting just over 500 trucks that need to be recalled.
Even though a small recall in comparison, recalls have often been the thing that breaks automotive startups.
As a startup ramping up production after its first R1T pickup truck deliveries last year, Rivian only has a couple of thousand vehicles on the road.
Now it has to bring back 502 of them due to a seat recall. Rivian has found that some of its passenger seats have a defect that may not deactivate the airbag when detecting a child seat.
NHTSA considered it a “safety risk,” and therefore, it becomes an official recall:
If a child seat or a child is seated in the front passenger seat, the passenger air bag might not be deactivated as required. In the event of a crash which deploys the front passenger air bag, the infant in the child seat or child occupant may have an increased risk of injury.
Rivian said that the issue affects 502 R1T electric pickup trucks produced between the very start of production last year and until April 12, 2022:
The potentially affected vehicle production period began on September 21, 2021, when Rivian Automotive, LLC (“Rivian”) started to build vehicles with the suspect seat assemblies and ended on April 12, 2022, when Rivian stopped building with the suspect seat assemblies. The suspect population was determined using the supplier’s seat manufacturing records, seat calibration data, and Rivian component traceability information.