Rivian has apparently seen the mess Tesla has landed itself in due to its interior door handle design and decided to change course. The EV automaker is now reworking key elements of its doors after both employees and customers raised concerns about potential safety issues with the current design.
The Irvine, California-based automaker now plans to incorporate a manual door release that is more clearly visible and located nearer to the electronically powered handles when its next-generation SUV, the R2, hits production, according to Bloomberg. It's expected that the lower-cost model will begin deliveries in the first half of 2026. Right now, it's not totally clear if the new design is limited to the R2 (and theoretically the upcoming R3) or if the existing R1T and R1S would also get the update.
The R2's change aims to fix an issue stemming from a redesign on R1s that moved the rear manual releases to a difficult-to-access location, Bloomberg reports. It could potentially slow occupants' efforts to get out of the SUV or pickup when the electrical system loses power. It's now a very convoluted process that involves removing an unlabeled panel and pulling a release cord. Sure, that's easy enough if you know what's going on, but God forbid you're in some sort of emergency or panic situation. The results of a design like that could be lethal. At the very least, Rivian has seen the error of its ways. Sure, it won't look as clean from a design standpoint, but it will certainly be safer.
Electronic door handles are sort of having a moment of reckoning right now across the industry as more and more people find fault with them. There have been worrying numbers of cases of people being trapped both inside and outside of cars — sometimes with incredibly deadly results, like in the case of three California college students who were trapped inside a burning Tesla Cybertruck.
An owner complaint filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over the summer stated that the emergency release cable for the R1S's rear door "is not intuitive nor is it reasonable to believe a small child or an older occupant" would be able to figure out how it works. It's apparently one of several door-related complaints in NHTSA's database, according to Bloomberg.
Rivian isn't the only company changing its ways. We recently reported that Tesla would be working to integrate its manual and electric door releases and make them more intuitive for occupants stuck in emergency situations.
While electric door handles do hold some advantages — they can help with aerodynamics and aesthetics — there are obviously some drawbacks. If OEMs can find ways to make the manual overrides easier to understand, that would be a great step forward, if you ask me. One of the best examples of this in the industry right now is Lexus. Its interior door handle is both the electric popper and a manual release, depending on how you operate it. That's just smart.