The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) on May 26 announced it was opening a preliminary safety probe into 114,922 Rivian R1S and R1T electric vehicles due to reported problems with the vehicles’ rear suspension.
According to the ODI, the rear toe link, a central component of the suspension that connects the rear wheel to the vehicle chassis, could fail and cause the rear wheel to separate from the automobile and lead to a collision.
The ODI said it received two questionnaires from vehicle owners that reported rear toe link separation on Rivian R1s vehicles model years 2023–2024. In both instances, the bolt that secures the rear toe link fractured, causing the vehicles to abruptly swerve across multiple lanes of traffic. In one instance, the Rivian automobile crashed into an adjacent vehicle and the roadside safety barrier. No other accidents or injuries were reported, however….