NHTSA Probes 115,000 Rivian Trucks Over Suspension Issue, Risk of Wheel Detachment

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) on May 26 announced it was opening a preliminary safety probe into 114,922 Rivian R1S and R1T electric vehicles due to reported problems with the vehicles’ rear suspension.

According to the ODI, the rear toe link, a central component of the suspension that connects the rear wheel to the vehicle chassis, could fail and cause the rear wheel to separate from the automobile and lead to a collision.

The ODI said it received two questionnaires from vehicle owners that reported rear toe link separation on Rivian R1s vehicles model years 2023–2024. In both instances, the bolt that secures the rear toe link fractured, causing the vehicles to abruptly swerve across multiple lanes of traffic. In one instance, the Rivian automobile crashed into an adjacent vehicle and the roadside safety barrier. No other accidents or injuries were reported, however.

Rivian stated that the two incident vehicles had different histories. One vehicle had received prior suspension service, while the other was involved in a crash and had been repaired. Both vehicles had been in service for thousands of miles over the course of many months on the road prior to the rear toe linkage failures that prompted the ODI investigation.

Rivian said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times that the incidents that led to rear toe linkage failure were the result of a service technician error and damage from a previous crash that a third-party repair facility inadvertently failed to repair.

“Vehicle safety is a top priority at Rivian,” the company spokesperson said.

“Rivian data indicates R1 toe link joints are operating as intended. We are cooperating with NHTSA’s preliminary evaluation, but our internal investigation revealed that the two [vehicle owner questionnaires] upon which NHTSA is basing this Preliminary Evaluation do not implicate the joint itself.”

The safety probe follows the NHTSA’s recall announcement this past January for 7,031 Rivian R1S and 12,610 R1T electric trucks due to problems with the rear toe link after suspension service on the target population vehicles. An older service procedure could result in unintended force being applied to rear toe link joints, leading to possible separation while the vehicles are in operation, the NHTSA stated in the recall.

The ODI said its preliminary probe will assess the sensitivity of the rear toe link joint under service and foreseeable road conditions so it can compare that data with the physical failure evidence from the two vehicles known to have been involved in rear toe link separation incidents. By comparing the findings, the ODI said it will be able to evaluate Rivian’s current toe link repair procedures and assess the probability of future incidents happening with vehicles in the recall population.