44 of the
280 complaints filed about the Rivian R1S
are about the driver-assist systems —
16% of everything owners reported.
The worst model year for it is 2025.
44
Complaints
16%
Share of all complaints
22
Crashes
0
Fires
Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance complaints by model year
The vehicle experiences recurring, uncommanded high-speed steering "lurches" where the Lane Keep Assist (LKA) system initiates aggressive, sudden steering inputs at highway speeds (65+ mph). These inputs force the vehicle out of its lane and require immediate, significant manual driver counter-steering to prevent collisions. These events occur without warning, despite no perceived environmental triggers. This issue involves the vehicle's automated steering and Lane Keep Assist software suite. This safety defect renders the vehicle inherently dangerous to operate at highway speeds for the driver, occupants and everyone on the freeway. This issue is not isolated to this vehicle; numerous owners have reported identical, terrifying high-speed steering shoves on public forums for over a year. There is credible evidence indicating that the manufacturer's executive leadership, including the CEO, has been aware of these fleet-wide issues for well over a year. Despite this knowledge, the manufacturer continues to characterize these life-safety events as "Operating as Designed" or "No Fault Found" (NFF). This issue has been reported to the manufacturer’s service center repeatedly over several months by myself and other owners. Despite the manufacturer claiming to be "diagnosing" or "duplicating" the steering failure, telemetry data from the vehicle (including odometer audits) confirms that the vehicle remains stationary at the service facility for extended periods with zero diagnostic miles driven during these "repair" attempts. Other service appointments show minimal miles driven. The manufacturer has replaced safety-critical steering hardware, including the steering column assembly, without resolving the persistent software-driven steering lurches. The manufacturer’s refusal to acknowledge the defect or conduct meaningful, speed-appropriate road validation, despite being notified of the systemic safety risk, suggests a failure to address an acute life-safety hazard.
NHTSA complaint #11748472 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Driver was making a left hand turn and as the turn was initiated the driver had no control of the vehicle. The vehicle system took over driving, causing substantial damage to the vehicle. Weeks leading up to the incident, the display and certain systems were not responding or provided errors. Following a reset each time, the vehicle would be operational.
NHTSA complaint #11742583 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Vehicles autonomous driving has failed several times. The system changes from autonomous driving to adaptive cruise control without giving the normal alerts for the driver to take the wheel, giving me or my spouse no time to properly react. This system failing resulted in the vehicle going into a ditch. The autonomous driving automatically switched to adaptive cruise control without warning, the lane keeping system also failed as it gave no warning and did not push the vehicle back into the lane either. Although the vehicle cameras recorded the incident the vehicle did not register any faults or system failures. The shop was not able to find system recorded failures which causes us concerns since the autonomous driving has automatically switched over to adaptive cruise control with no notice.
NHTSA complaint #11741159 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Vehicles autonomous driving has failed several times. The system changes from autonomous driving to adaptive cruise control without giving the normal alerts for the driver to take the wheel, giving me or my spouse no time to properly react. This system failing resulted in the vehicle going into a ditch. The autonomous driving automatically switched to adaptive cruise control without warning, the lane keeping system also failed as it gave no warning and did not push the vehicle back into the lane either. Although the vehicle cameras recorded the incident the vehicle did not register any faults or system failures. The shop was not able to find system recorded failures which causes us concerns since the autonomous driving has automatically switched over to adaptive cruise control with no notice.
NHTSA complaint #11741159 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Vehicles autonomous driving has failed several times. The system changes from autonomous driving to adaptive cruise control without giving the normal alerts for the driver to take the wheel, giving me or my spouse no time to properly react. This system failing resulted in the vehicle going into a ditch. The autonomous driving automatically switched to adaptive cruise control without warning, the lane keeping system also failed as it gave no warning and did not push the vehicle back into the lane either. Although the vehicle cameras recorded the incident the vehicle did not register any faults or system failures. The shop was not able to find system recorded failures which causes us concerns since the autonomous driving has automatically switched over to adaptive cruise control with no notice.
NHTSA complaint #11741159 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The vehicle's infotainment, driver gauge cluster and on display safety systems all fully lock up and reboot after about 30 minutes of driving. If you have highway ADAS engaged, warning sounds will occur but no display explaining the warnings. If you're using the vehicle's safety systems you suddenly do no have blindspot monitoring, or enabled ADAS. Additionally, navigation will not be available causing immediate confusion.
NHTSA complaint #11740672 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The vehicle's infotainment, driver gauge cluster and on display safety systems all fully lock up and reboot after about 30 minutes of driving. If you have highway ADAS engaged, warning sounds will occur but no display explaining the warnings. If you're using the vehicle's safety systems you suddenly do no have blindspot monitoring, or enabled ADAS. Additionally, navigation will not be available causing immediate confusion.
NHTSA complaint #11740672 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The contact owns a 2025 Rivian R1S. The contact stated that while reversing, the rear-view camera displayed a black image. While attempting to roll up the driver's rear window, the window failed to go up completely. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to a car wash, and water entered the vehicle. In addition, the contact stated that the trunk light remained illuminated while the vehicle was turned off. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the vehicle was not inspected. In addition, the contact stated that the vehicle had been to the dealer several times for the failure. In addition, the dealer instructed the contact to turn off and restart the vehicle whenever the rear-view camera displayed a black image. The contact was informed that the system would reset after being turned off and restarted. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was unknown.
NHTSA complaint #11721816 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Car suddenly lost control, making zig zag movements, none of the safety sensors were working, car went off road and crashed into freeway side fence. Windows airbags deployed on driver window and passenger window behind driver seat
NHTSA complaint #11719573 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Car suddenly lost control, making zig zag movements, none of the safety sensors were working, car went off road and crashed into freeway side fence. Windows airbags deployed on driver window and passenger window behind driver seat
NHTSA complaint #11719573 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Car suddenly lost control, making zig zag movements, none of the safety sensors were working, car went off road and crashed into freeway side fence. Windows airbags deployed on driver window and passenger window behind driver seat
NHTSA complaint #11719573 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
All sensors failed. Once vehicle was parked completely and seatbelt was removed, the car automatically took off. It began accelerating on its own, full throttle (Rivian logs were retrieved to show this), then began crashing into multiple cars while still gaining speed. Logs also show that the breaks were applied during this time, but the accelerator was still engaged at full throttle. The car then launched itself into a light post. The car was able to clear the 2-3ft concrete base of the post and the metal beam crashed into the glass roof of the car (which was shattered and thankfully the surfboard racks prevented it from fully crashing into the vehicle - but the racks are completely crushed), the metal post then launched itself into two more vehicles as well as the car itself. Airbag was not deployed at any point, car was going over 30 mph when it finally stopped (the concrete base likely pierced the battery to make the car stop). Logs didn't even note that there was a crash and the vehicle is totaled. We have salvage holding off on destruction so that the EDR can be salvaged and retrieved.
NHTSA complaint #11715116 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
While backing very slowly into a parking space, I lightly contacted small twigs (please see photo) with the vehicle. There was no impact with another vehicle, pole, wall, or solid object, and no significant force was applied. A child seated in the third row mentioned hearing a light scraping sound. Immediately afterward, the rear window suddenly and violently exploded, sending glass shards into the interior of the vehicle. The glass dispersed forward into the cabin, creating a significant safety hazard for the occupants, including children. There was no prior damage to the window, no visible cracks before the incident, and no collision that would reasonably explain the shattering of tempered glass. The explosion appeared spontaneous and disproportionate to the minor contact with twigs. This incident raises serious concerns about rear window glass integrity and the risk of injury to passengers, particularly children seated near the rear of the vehicle.
NHTSA complaint #11707817 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I am writing to report a serious safety incident involving my 2026 Rivian R1S. While I was slowly parking the vehicle, it suddenly experienced what appears to be unintended acceleration, causing the car to lunge forward uncontrollably and crash directly into my home. This resulted in significant property damage as well as injuries to the passengers inside the vehicle. Earlier in the drive, I had also reported experiencing electronic and system irregularities, which now seem potentially related to this failure. Given the severity of the incident and the concerning sequence of events
NHTSA complaint #11702245 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I am writing to report a serious safety incident involving my 2026 Rivian R1S. While I was slowly parking the vehicle, it suddenly experienced what appears to be unintended acceleration, causing the car to lunge forward uncontrollably and crash directly into my home. This resulted in significant property damage as well as injuries to the passengers inside the vehicle. Earlier in the drive, I had also reported experiencing electronic and system irregularities, which now seem potentially related to this failure. Given the severity of the incident and the concerning sequence of events
NHTSA complaint #11702245 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I am writing to report a serious safety incident involving my 2026 Rivian R1S. While I was slowly parking the vehicle, it suddenly experienced what appears to be unintended acceleration, causing the car to lunge forward uncontrollably and crash directly into my home. This resulted in significant property damage as well as injuries to the passengers inside the vehicle. Earlier in the drive, I had also reported experiencing electronic and system irregularities, which now seem potentially related to this failure. Given the severity of the incident and the concerning sequence of events
NHTSA complaint #11702245 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
While driving the entire computer shuts down and reboots, both screens go black for several minutes. Speed display disappears, turn signals stop working, after the screens come back on there are warning lights for emergency braking disabled, cruise control disabled, and the headlights won’t come on for several minutes.
NHTSA complaint #11698854 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
While driving the entire computer shuts down and reboots, both screens go black for several minutes. Speed display disappears, turn signals stop working, after the screens come back on there are warning lights for emergency braking disabled, cruise control disabled, and the headlights won’t come on for several minutes.
NHTSA complaint #11698854 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
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 release emergency braking thus resulting in the car behind hitting my Rivian. There was no vehicle to the right of my car. I should have been able to accelerate out of the way and move to the right. It would appear the Rivian system requires a FULL STOP. I was unable to accelerate to mitigate the rear collision damage. Secondly, the vehicle acted like it did not recognize HIGH REGEN setting as a brake input. I have had multiple time where it flashed at me to brake and the HIGH REGEN setting was stopping the vehicle. This is not acceptable. Rivian was contacted and the vehicle taken for service and repair. I was informed that they reviewed the accident and that all systems checked okay. Rivian noted that I did request acceleration from the car, but I did not hold the accelerator long enough for the vehicle to allow me to regain control. I have asked what the threshold is to regain control and they were unable to answer. Minimally I would hope they can describe how their system has been designed so that I can properly drive their vehicle. Ideally, the system should display emergency information on how to override in the event it forces the car to stop on a freeway. I am sure the Rivian system is smart enough to see that I was on a freeway and I would hope smart enough to detect that I could have safely moved to the right as other cars did to avoid collision. I firmly believe the incident could have been avoided. Vehicle had all cameras enabled and full accident is recorded and available for review. Rivian also collected vehicle diagnostic logs.
NHTSA complaint #11691672 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
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 release emergency braking thus resulting in the car behind hitting my Rivian. There was no vehicle to the right of my car. I should have been able to accelerate out of the way and move to the right. It would appear the Rivian system requires a FULL STOP. I was unable to accelerate to mitigate the rear collision damage. Secondly, the vehicle acted like it did not recognize HIGH REGEN setting as a brake input. I have had multiple time where it flashed at me to brake and the HIGH REGEN setting was stopping the vehicle. This is not acceptable. Rivian was contacted and the vehicle taken for service and repair. I was informed that they reviewed the accident and that all systems checked okay. Rivian noted that I did request acceleration from the car, but I did not hold the accelerator long enough for the vehicle to allow me to regain control. I have asked what the threshold is to regain control and they were unable to answer. Minimally I would hope they can describe how their system has been designed so that I can properly drive their vehicle. Ideally, the system should display emergency information on how to override in the event it forces the car to stop on a freeway. I am sure the Rivian system is smart enough to see that I was on a freeway and I would hope smart enough to detect that I could have safely moved to the right as other cars did to avoid collision. I firmly believe the incident could have been avoided. Vehicle had all cameras enabled and full accident is recorded and available for review. Rivian also collected vehicle diagnostic logs.
NHTSA complaint #11691672 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.