The National Road Safety Agency is investigating how electric car company Rivian maintains its vehicles’ rear suspension components after receiving two reports from owners who lost control of their cars while driving.
The federal safety regulator’s Office of Damage Investigation (ODI) said on Thursday that both vehicles had previously been repaired, one of which had crashed before the work was completed. According to ODI, Rivian first realized in March 2025 that the rear toe link – a critical part of the suspension that helps keep the wheel straight – had a “sensitivity in service procedures”, prompting the company to update the way it handled the component during service and repairs.
ODI’s investigation will examine how and why the rear toe link in Rivian’s R1 vehicles is sensitive to “anticipated road and service conditions,” compare the two failures submitted by owners, evaluate Rivian’s current toe link repair process and assess the condition of other 2023-2024 model year R1 vehicles.
Nearly 115,000 vehicles could be affected, ODI said.
Rivian in January 2026 reminded Almost 20,000 vehicles to include those that had received the toe link service “prior to the March 2025 enhancement”, according to ODI.
“Vehicle safety is a top priority at Rivian. Rivian’s data indicates that the R1 toe connectors are working as intended,” the company said in a statement to TechCrunch. Rivian also said one of the vehicles in question was operated by a third-party repair facility.
Both owners who filed complaints reported a sudden loss of control after a bolt in the leg joint “broke,” according to the ODI. In one instance, a Rivian R1 driver suddenly lost control at highway speeds, swerved into another vehicle and then “collided head-on with the guardrail,” according to the complaint they filed.
In the other case, the Rivian owner said his R1S “ran over adjacent lanes, over the bike path, sideways and back onto the road and side walk” after breaking the same rear left toe joint. “I was left with a sore throat for several days, my apple watch kept trying to call 911 thinking I was in an accident,” the owner wrote in his complaint.
The research comes as Rivian is less than two weeks away from starting deliveries of its highly anticipated R2 SUV, which the company expects to sell in much higher volumes than its other cars. Rivian also drawings to add over 50 new service centers by the end of 2027, which would give it more than 150 total locations, and to also expand its mobile van fleet.
Rivian said the R2’s simpler design will help reduce the level of service required. “Reducing mechanical complexity during assembly results in higher quality assurance when vehicles roll off the line, while improving the ease and cost of maintaining your vehicle should the need arise,” the company he wrote in February.
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