Rivian Owner Says His Kids ‘Wouldn’t Survive’ After Emergency Door Handle Fails

Tech Overload?

Manufacturers haven’t stopped at removing physical buttons. Now they’re busy reinventing the humble door handle, for better or worse — even if no one really asked for it. There are the pop-out units that have been around since the mid-2000s, along with those with the electronic variety. Some even have the handle but a hidden button to open the door behind it. Anything for a USP, right?

The madness continues even on the inside these days. However, there have been several safety concerns surrounding it, and rightly so.

The Backup

Manufacturers constantly remind us that there is a backup system in case these electronic door openers fail. A manual door pull is still present, but it varies from one brand to another.

Still, one would think that a regular door handle would be an easier solution, right? While there is some reassurance of an override, there are still concerns. Brought to light by Carscoops, a Rivian R1S owner discovered that the rear door panel — the one you need to remove to reach the emergency release — could break...while demonstrating the backup system to his children.

How Does Rivian's Rear Emergency Door Pull Work?

As mentioned, there are manual overrides in all cars with electronic door openers. But with the R1S, there are a couple of extra steps to open the door in an emergency if the power openers fail.

Per the instructions, the first step is to pry the panel just below the armrest open. Yes, that leather-trimmed panel that looks more decorative than life-saving. Once that's removed, passengers will see a tab that must be pulled to open the doors. That's quite a number of steps for what's supposed to be a simple task.

The Owner Says...

"My kids are definitely dead in an emergency," said Reddit user u/AlstonCentral. The owner added, "The panel broke and could not be restored without Rivian service center ordering a new part, and I fully failed to even find the cable. There’s no way kids could ever figure this out if they had to."

Unsurprisingly, the owner was very disappointed by what happened and is now pondering replacing his Rivian – likely with something that has a tried-and-tested manual door handle. Hopefully, Rivian addresses it down the line before anything tragic happens. That said, regulations could step in to prevent further cases of being trapped in emergency or panic situations.

We can already hear your thoughts: Surely, a good ol' door handle would've sufficed.

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