The best way to make a small fortune in the automotive industry is to start with a large one. An established business with more than a century of heritage in the rearview mirror, it is no easy task to found a new car company. And yet, the brave are not deterred by all the challenges, including the folks at Rivian. This startup manufacturer of all-electric vehicles appears to be doing better than many new entrants thanks to its stylish, well-built and highly functional vehicles, with plenty more on the way. But, despite Rivian’s successes, there’s a problem… quite literally.
D-Ring Defect Is A Safety Concern
This automaker just posted a safety recall for its closely related R1S utility vehicle and R1T pickup truck, both from the 2022 to 2025 model years. Reportedly, there’s an issue with the front seat belt anchorage assemblies in some of these vehicles.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the D-ring bolts that secure one or both of these components to the vehicle may not have been mounted correctly, which increases the risk of bodily harm or death in a crash. More specifically, “the seat belt D-ring bolt for the front driver and/or passenger seat belt D-ring may not have been properly installed during the vehicle manufacturing process. This condition may decrease the strength of the bolt joint, causing inadequate attachment of the front seat belts during loading.”
The good news is that potentially only 536 vehicles have this safety defect. And of that total, just 3.4 percent are estimated to have the actual problem, meaning fewer than 19 copies of the R1S and R1T may be affected by this issue. In the grand scheme of automotive recalls, that’s almost nothing.
The Next Steps
Rivian is expected to mail out official recall notification letters to vehicle owners on July 16. To address this problem, the manufacturer will inspect the seat belt anchorage assemblies and, as required, replace them. This work will, naturally, be performed free of charge.
Drivers who have additional questions about this issue can contact Rivian customer service at 1-888-748-4261 or visit NHTSA.gov. The automaker’s internal designation for this recall is FSAM-1681 while the NHTSA Campaign Number is 25V370000.
As always, if you own one of these vehicles and it’s affected by this callback action, make sure to get the problem addressed as quickly as reasonably possible. This is a safety concern, and if you get into a wreck, you do not want the seat belt to perform improperly or outright fail.
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