By VoltAdmin·2 replies
As of mid-2026, Rivian builds compelling vehicles — but Consumer Reports still rates both the R1T and R1S below average for reliability. A federal suspension investigation, 17 combined recalls on 2025 models, and a thin service network mean the company has not yet made the transition from promising startup to mature automaker.
Read the full article: /articles/rivian-reliability-2026
Year two on an R1T. Hardware build quality has genuinely improved from the early batches — anyone who touched a 2022 delivery can feel the difference. The weak point is software. Two of the last four OTAs introduced something that needed a follow-up patch. The truck is excellent. The software release process is still a startup's, not a truck company's.
The right-to-repair situation with Rivian is what I track closely from a shop perspective. Scan tool access is better than most OEMs at this stage, which is a real point in their favor. The structural battery pack design is still a problem — moderate collision damage that touches the pack is close to a total loss in most scenarios I've seen come through. Good truck. Shop-unfriendly architecture.
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