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Another Rivian Damaged After Driving Through a Puddle, Is the Underbody Shield Worth It?

Rivian markets the R1T as an adventure vehicle able to withstand the abuse of driving in rough terrains. Nevertheless, the truck appears to have a weak spot as more users discover the underbody protection is easy to damage after driving through water. This could make the optional $2,000 reinforced underbody shield worth the investment for those who go off-road. Or would it?
Another Rivian was damaged after driving through a puddle 6 photos
Photo: @EVandChill via Twitter | Edited
Another Rivian was damaged after driving through a puddleAnother Rivian was damaged after driving through a puddleRivian offers a $2K reinforced underbody shieldOnly the battery tray is protectedRivian R1T Gets Damaged by Driving Through a Puddle
As more owners get delivery of their Rivian trucks, it’s expected to see the R1T used in ways it was never designed to be used. This could lead to unpredictable situations, despite the truck being promoted as an adventure vehicle. Still, the truck might be more delicate than Rivian wants to admit. Several R1T owners have experienced torn underbody protection panels after doing nothing more than driving through a puddle.

YouTuber Brandon Flash encountered a small puddle on the highway in January while driving to work. Although the water was merely 3-4 inches (8-10 cm) deep, it was enough to tear off the R1T’s underbody plastic cover. Thankfully, Rivian decided to cover the repairs as goodwill, although this might not be the case with other Rivian owners. Branden Flash is well-known in the EV community, and this might have played a role in getting preferential treatment.

Another Rivian R1T owner has reported a broken underbody panel after driving through pooling water. We don’t know how fast they drove or how deep the puddle was in this case, although the wording on the Twitter comments suggests a more extreme possibility here. The owner of the EVandChill Twitter account admits that “there may or may not have been a puddle. I may or may not have gone through this ostensible puddle - once, twice, or possibly three times lol.”

As we now have another Rivian R1T owner with the same problem, it would be interesting to see how Rivian would choose to deal with it. We’re fairly sure that more trucks will get through puddles at various speeds in the future, and torn-off underbody panels will become a common repair. Would Rivian want to have them all repaired on goodwill? We don’t think so, especially considering the above-quoted words. Would Rivian change the design to make it more puddle-friendly? We hope so.

You might wonder why water is so damaging to an adventure truck. With enough speed, the water acts as a solid obstacle, enough to break the plastic and tear it apart. Electric vehicles are especially vulnerable because they have underbody plastic panels to improve aerodynamics. In several previous cases, Tesla EVs suffered from the same issue, although Tesla appears to have solved the problem with newer models.

In the case of Rivian, owners are actively talking about fitting the optional $2,000 reinforced underbody shield the EV maker offers. The problem is that the protective shield is not available to order after delivery and must be specified when configuring the truck. EVandChill regrets not ordering it as it would’ve made their EV experience a lot chiller. There’s another discussion on Rivian Forums, though: although very few such shields have been spotted, the few out there don’t seem to cover the hole underbody, only the battery tray. If that’s the case, is it still worth ordering it?

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About the author: Cristian Agatie
Cristian Agatie profile photo

After his childhood dream of becoming a "tractor operator" didn't pan out, Cristian turned to journalism, first in print and later moving to online media. His top interests are electric vehicles and new energy solutions.
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