from Hacker News

Here’s Why That Rivian R1T Repair Cost $42,000 After Just a Minor Fender-Bender

by computerliker on 5/17/23, 10:22 PM with 40 comments

  • by dendrite9 on 5/18/23, 12:57 AM

    This line from one of the comments resonates with me. And I wish it didn't. One of my first product designs was too tightly integrated from the beginning between enclosure, PCBs, sensors, and even the firmware. There was never enough time to fully disentangle things, even some small changes took far more effort than they should have. Eventually we had to do an almost complete redesign while keeping all the important bits. I can't imagine doing that with the complexity and integration of a car would be easy for a young business to do.

    "I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but the biggest concern I have with Rivian after watching the Munro teardowns is that those trucks are full of too-complex designs that are so tightly integrated with the rest of the truck that you can’t trivially fix them up in a mid-cycle refresh."

  • by anonuser123456 on 5/18/23, 12:24 AM

    We need limits on liability for cases like this. If you want to drive around a piece of engineering artwork... the risk should be on you. Every driver will (statistically) get into an accident at some point regardless of how cautious they are. It's not really fair to the average roadway user.

  • by Mizoguchi on 5/18/23, 1:40 AM

    The statement below comes from Rivian's website.

    Doesn't designing a car in such way that it requires 20k-50k of parts and labor to fix the mildest and most common type of car accidents defeats the entire purpose of their mission?

    "Today we’re operating off hundreds of millions of years of accumulated plant- and animal-based carbon. On our current path, we will fully exhaust this stored energy in only a few generations and, in the process, carbonize our atmosphere to such a degree that life as we know it will not be possible. If the planet is to continue to sustain life and enchant future generations, we have to change. To build the kind of future our kids and our kids’ kids deserve, extraordinary steps must be taken to stop the carbonization of our atmosphere. This requires individuals and entire industries to come together in ways we never have before to transition the world toward sustainable energy. This is where Rivian’s potential lies — in creating solutions that shift consumer mindsets and inspire other companies to fundamentally change the way they operate.

    As staggering as this may sound, and as complex as our objective is, we already have everything we need to create change. It starts with harnessing the very thing every human being is born with: an adventurous spirit. There’s a reason we’re hardwired with curiosity and a capacity to invent better ways of doing things. The part of us that seeks to explore the world is the secret to making sure it remains a world worth exploring. Forever. "

  • by antiterra on 5/18/23, 12:17 AM

    A company’s employee backed my vehicle into another in a parking lot and it ended up being around $30,000 to fix. The high price was largely due to costs and required labor expertise to weld an aluminum body part that also functioned structurally. It sounds wild but the body shop made the case to the business’s insurer and convinced them it was absolutely necessary.

  • by donmcronald on 5/18/23, 12:26 AM

    I think the Lexus owner’s insurance should pay a standardized repair cost and the Rivian owner’s insurance should have to cover the difference.

    Why should I have to cover the cost of someone else’s poor decision to buy an ultra expensive to repair vehicle?

  • by perryizgr8 on 5/18/23, 2:45 AM

    I view this as an engineering failure. The entire purpose of the bumper in a car is to absorb impacts and limit damage to the rest of the car. Here it is the opposite. The proper way to handle this is to price Rivian insurance accordingly. That will motivate owners and manufacturer to fix this quickly.

  • by rasz on 5/18/23, 3:03 AM

    No, it doesnt cost half of vehicle sticker to replace few panels. Someone is taking a piss and exploiting insurance system with insurance companies in on it like in health care. After all bigger payouts lead to fatter premiums.

  • by metadat on 5/18/23, 12:05 AM

    Hope I never get into any bumps or collisions in this R1-T, these things are clearly an absolute nightmare to repair.

    That unibody design is epically bad, along the lines of Karmann-Ghia but even worse!

    https://images-stag.jazelc.com/uploads/theautopian-m2en/unip...

    Cool car though, one for the history books on the evolution of motorcars. A pleasure to drive, and superbonus of no Elon Asshat in the supply or shareholders chain.

  • by synaesthesisx on 5/18/23, 2:43 AM

    If this ends up being the case, expect the costs to insure these things to skyrocket soon.

  • by fwungy on 5/18/23, 5:05 AM

    Sounds like a great off road vehicle.

  • by segmondy on 5/18/23, 2:30 AM

    Welp, never buying a Rivian!

  • by fuzzfactor on 5/18/23, 4:41 AM

    "Designed to be expensive" is a feature most people will never be able to afford.

    This is by design.

    Imagine how much climate damage is required just to earn the money to pay the tax on such a repair to a supposedly environmentally sound vehicle like this.