Photo: F the Pump/Twitter/edited by autoevolution
The objective of this story is not to alert people that early adopters are also the ones that discover most issues a vehicle may present. That is just a helpful reminder. The main goal is to show that electric cars seem to have a significant problem with their suspensions that no one is talking about. Sadly, it looks as if Rivian is not immune to them, presenting the first documented case of “whompy wheels” with an R1T we have ever heard of.
If you are not aware of what “whompy wheels” are, the expression was coined by Keith Leech, also known as Keef Wivaneff. Portrayed by Tesla investors as a lunatic, the retired British engineer wanted to debunk Tesla’s claims of green energy and started investigating crashes with these vehicles.
After a while, he realized that an unusual number of wrecked cars had their wheels ripped off or strangely detached from the vehicles. Keef believes that shows the suspension problems may have caused the crashes and not that the collisions made them get that way. He is now dedicated to denouncing the cases he finds to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and daring Tesla to ask Australia to deport him if his information is false. He is still undisturbedly posting more cases to the NHTSA database and growing his Whompy Wheels page.
There are several cases in which Tesla’s “whompy wheels” are under suspicion. On September 20, 2018, Mena Massoud’s Tesla Model 3 Performance crashed against a tree on Holywood Boulevard while changing lanes. Tesla blamed the leading actor in the Alladin movie for the crash. Massoud sued the company and said everything happened because the passenger's front wheel ejected from the car.
In October 2020, a Tesla Model S 90D was driving on an Autobahn when the suspension broke at 200 kph (124 mph). Luckily, nobody got hurt. The problem affects all Tesla vehicles, but the Chinese government ordered the EV maker to recall 29,834 Model S and Model X units in China due to suspension issues also in October 2020. Porsche has also made a recall to fix the suspension on the Taycan more than once. It presented loose bolts and cracking lower trailing arms.
The pictures in this article were shared on August 15 by the Twitter user F the Pump. They show the Rivian R1T with a fallen left front wheel. It seems the upper suspension arm disconnected from where it should be attached. From what we can see, there is no damage to the suspension components that could have caused the incident.
The Twitter profile Rivian Updates said that Rivian has a bolt-tightening issue. Heikki answered that Tesla had similar problems. As we mentioned, Porsche also had them. Whatever is causing these cases, automakers should take all necessary measures to avoid them. If this wheel problem happened with this R1T at high speeds, the driver would have lost control of the vehicle, with unpredictable consequences.
This is not the first report about quality issues with Rivian. Another R1T recently had a broken accelerator pedal. We asked the company about the situation and never heard back from them. We’ll keep an eye on more “whompy wheel” cases with the electric pickup truck before we ask Rivian about them. Affected owners are more than welcome to share with us any similar incident.
After a while, he realized that an unusual number of wrecked cars had their wheels ripped off or strangely detached from the vehicles. Keef believes that shows the suspension problems may have caused the crashes and not that the collisions made them get that way. He is now dedicated to denouncing the cases he finds to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and daring Tesla to ask Australia to deport him if his information is false. He is still undisturbedly posting more cases to the NHTSA database and growing his Whompy Wheels page.
There are several cases in which Tesla’s “whompy wheels” are under suspicion. On September 20, 2018, Mena Massoud’s Tesla Model 3 Performance crashed against a tree on Holywood Boulevard while changing lanes. Tesla blamed the leading actor in the Alladin movie for the crash. Massoud sued the company and said everything happened because the passenger's front wheel ejected from the car.
In October 2020, a Tesla Model S 90D was driving on an Autobahn when the suspension broke at 200 kph (124 mph). Luckily, nobody got hurt. The problem affects all Tesla vehicles, but the Chinese government ordered the EV maker to recall 29,834 Model S and Model X units in China due to suspension issues also in October 2020. Porsche has also made a recall to fix the suspension on the Taycan more than once. It presented loose bolts and cracking lower trailing arms.
The pictures in this article were shared on August 15 by the Twitter user F the Pump. They show the Rivian R1T with a fallen left front wheel. It seems the upper suspension arm disconnected from where it should be attached. From what we can see, there is no damage to the suspension components that could have caused the incident.
The Twitter profile Rivian Updates said that Rivian has a bolt-tightening issue. Heikki answered that Tesla had similar problems. As we mentioned, Porsche also had them. Whatever is causing these cases, automakers should take all necessary measures to avoid them. If this wheel problem happened with this R1T at high speeds, the driver would have lost control of the vehicle, with unpredictable consequences.
This is not the first report about quality issues with Rivian. Another R1T recently had a broken accelerator pedal. We asked the company about the situation and never heard back from them. We’ll keep an eye on more “whompy wheel” cases with the electric pickup truck before we ask Rivian about them. Affected owners are more than welcome to share with us any similar incident.
I’m no truckologist, but something seems amiss here…@Rivian @TeslaClubSoCal @Tesla pic.twitter.com/f3RkcqfRHW
— F the Pump (@FthePump1) August 15, 2022
Tesla's had them too. There is a nut with spherical divets that should cut into the alloy arm and lock it. If not enough torque is used the nuts can come off with little resistance. https://t.co/vr5bmDja96 pic.twitter.com/KoQJ2cAstj
— Heikki (@heikki_bear) August 15, 2022
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