2023 Rivian R1S SUV Safety and Reliability

Neither the NHTSA nor the IIHS has conducted a crash test on any of the Rivians, so until such time, there is no safety review on the Rivian R1S. Considering that these are cutting-edge, brand-new designs, there is no reason to believe that the safety of the Rivian R1S won't at least match or beat that of its rivals.

Every R1S comes standard with a host of safety features, including automatic LED headlights with auto high beams, ABS, stability control, eight airbags (including front-seat knee airbags), and Rivian's Driver+ assistance suite. This includes adaptive cruise control with automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection, active blind-spot monitoring, active hands-free lane-keep assist, driver-alertness monitoring, a surround-view camera system, and a driver-assist system that can take over the steering and accelerator on mapped highways, thanks to 11 cameras, five radars, and 12 ultrasonic sensors.

This is the one big unknown metric of the Rivian range. All the Rivians are brand-new products from a fledgling automaker and have no past history to go on. Until the Rivians have gone through a few JD Power assessments and have a few years under their belt, we don't know just what the Rivian R1S's reliability ratings will be like. However, two recalls were issued for the 2022 R1S, which have hopefully been resolved for 2023 - there were no recalls for 2023 at the time of writing. Recalls pertained to a steering knuckle that may separate from its control arm and an improperly secured front seatbelt anchor.

To demonstrate its faith in its vehicles, the 2023 Rivian R1S has generous warranty coverage. It is covered by a limited five-year/60,000-mile warranty, and the powertrain warranty is valid for eight years or 175,000 miles. No complimentary maintenance is included.