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Rivian · NHTSA safety record

2026 Rivian R1S

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

12

Complaints

3

Crashes

0

Fires

2

Injuries

0

Deaths

Owners of the 2026 Rivian R1S have filed 12 safety complaints with NHTSA between December 2025 and July 2026. The most complained-about system is the latches, locks and linkages, named in 3 of them (25%). The typical failure was reported at 977 miles, the median across the 1 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

NHTSA has issued 2 recalls covering this vehicle.

Recalls (2)

EXTERIOR LIGHTING:TURN SIGNAL

26V508000 · August 6, 2026

The defect
Rivian Automotive, LLC (Rivian) is recalling certain 2025-2026 R1S and R1T vehicles. One or both front turn signals may fail to illuminate and flash. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 108, "Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment."
The risk
Turn signals that do not function properly increase the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Rivian will inspect and replace the front turn signals as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed September 29, 2026. Owners may contact Rivian customer service at 1-888-748-4261. Rivian's number for this recall is FSAM-1833. This is an expansion of Recall 25V387. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov on August 31, 2026.

Rivian Automotive, LLC · up to 3,829 vehicles across all model years covered

SEAT BELTS:CRITICAL FASTENERS

26V009000 · January 15, 2026

The defect
Rivian Automotive, LLC (Rivian) is recalling certain 2022-2025 R1T and 2022-2026 R1S vehicles. The bolts that secure the second-row driver and passenger side seat belt retractor assemblies may be improperly tightened.
The risk
An improperly secured seat belt retractor may not adequately restrain the seat occupant, increasing the risk of injury during a crash.
The remedy
Rivian will inspect and tighten the bolts as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 2, 2026. Owners may contact Rivian customer service at 1-888-748-4261. Rivian's number for this recall is FSAM-1795.

Rivian Automotive, LLC · up to 869 vehicles across all model years covered

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 12.

LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 3 25%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 2 17%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 17%
SERVICE BRAKES 2 17%
STEERING 2 17%
STRUCTURE 2 17%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 2 17%
BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 8%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 8%
POWER TRAIN 1 8%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2026 at 7.

2025 2026
2025 to 2026, the last of them a part year

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

SERVICE BRAKES

1 injured · crash · towed · 977 miles

The contact owned a 2026 Rivian R1S. The contact stated that while at a red light and idled, the vehicle accelerated violently, and the vehicle was uncontrollable. The contact depressed the brake pedal; however, the vehicle failed to stop as intended. The contact's vehicle crashed into another vehicle and damaged the rear corner bumper of the other vehicle. The vehicle then crashed into a median strip where there was a 5-foot boulder. The contact stated that the vehicle crashed into a five-foot boulder, and the vehicle was damaged. In addition, the contact stated that the failure occurred when the accelerator pedal was depressed while leaving from a red light stop sign. The vehicle was

NHTSA complaint 11705326, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STRUCTURE:BODY:HATCHBACK/LIFTGATE

1 injured

Summary of the problem: The rear liftgate on my Rivian failed to detect an obstruction while closing and continued to close despite contact with a person. What happened: While the rear liftgate was automatically closing, I was unaware it was coming down and walked into it. The liftgate made contact with my upper body/face and did not stop or reverse as expected. Instead, it continued closing and forced me to the ground. Safety issue: The liftgate’s safety sensor failed to detect a human obstruction, creating a serious risk of injury. This is especially dangerous for children or shorter individuals who may be struck in the head or face. Injuries: I sustained bruising to my face and was

NHTSA complaint 11726259, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL

crash

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. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL

crash

I was involved in an incident where the vehicle (R1S 2026) accelerated unexpectedly, struck the car in front of me and the brakes were unresponsive at the time. The car only stopped after crashing.

NHTSA complaint 11713145. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STEERING
Within 48 hours of picking up my new 2026 Rivian R1S Dual Standard, I experienced a power steering fault while on a public roadway to where the vehicle entered a crawl mode and the power steering stopped working. The car was not steerable. I spent an hour on the phone with Rivian emergency roadside support and they had me perform a reset of the vehicle which restored the steering. However, it was still recommended by roadside service that the vehicle be looked at by the service team so it was towed to Gaithersburg service center. The problem was later identified in the system logs as a known firmware condition that is currently under investigation with no permanent fix at this time. There

NHTSA complaint 11749354, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
PROPULSION FAILURE AT HIGHWAY SPEED — KNOWN DEFECT — NHTSA MFR COMMS XXX & XXX VEHICLE: 2026 Rivian R1S Dual Standard, VIN [XXX], LFP battery. Delivered XXX. 702 miles at incident. INCIDENT XXX: Complete unwarned propulsion failure on [XXX] at highway speed. Dashboard showed 8% SOC immediately before failure — no warning, no alert. Vehicle lost all propulsion 5 miles from nearest charger. Stranded 7 hours. $225 out-of-pocket towing/transport costs. DEFECT: Rivian Hudson NH service (WO-000002294461, INV_20260608-150458) confirmed 13% HV battery cell capacity imbalance via diagnostics — dashboard SOC reading does not reflect actual cell capacity. Factory pre-delivery calibration defect.

NHTSA complaint 11743765, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
SUPPLEMENTAL COMPLAINT — This filing supplements VOQ No. XXX filed XXX for the same vehicle and incident. The original complaint contained factual inaccuracies that this filing corrects. PROPULSION FAILURE AT HIGHWAY SPEED — KNOWN DEFECT — NHTSA MFR COMMS 11026123 & 11026124 VEHICLE: 2026 Rivian R1S Dual Standard, VIN [XXX], LFP battery. Delivered XXX. ~700 miles at incident. INCIDENT XXX: Navigation showed 8% SOC buffer on arrival at destination 5 miles away — active system assurance of sufficient range. Simultaneous audible alarm and dashboard warning then fired with approximately 15-20 seconds to act at ~60 mph on busy [XXX]. Emergency pull-over executed under extreme time pressure.

NHTSA complaint 11743785, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
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. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:DOORS:LATCH
When backing into a parking spot on two separate occasions the drivers door popped open while the vehicle was in motion and the doors were locked after my knee brushed against the button to open the door while the car was in motion.

NHTSA complaint 11738519. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Rivian R1S

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2025 51 10 —
2024 16 6 —
2023 72 9 —

Every Rivian on this site — 9 vehicles, 23 recall campaigns and 1 open investigation .

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

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