AutoUtility currently tracks 73 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2023 Rivian R1S. Air Bags & Restraints issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 31 complaints (42.5% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 10 filings cite a crash, 3 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 73 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Air Bags & Restraints (31 reports • 42.5% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Electrical System (15), Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (11)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 10 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 3 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
73
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
10
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
3
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2023 Rivian R1S

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 42.5% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

31 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 3 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 1 crash report 🩹 1 injury report entry
#2 Problem Area 20.5% of complaints

Electrical System

15 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 4 crash reports
#3 Problem Area 15.1% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

11 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 5 crash reports 🩹 2 injury report entries
#4 Problem Area 15.1% of complaints

Seats & Interior

11 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 11% of complaints

Suspension

8 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 3 crash reports 🩹 2 injury report entries
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2023 Rivian R1S

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11758022
Filed: 08/19/2026

"The contact owns a 2023 Rivian R1S. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken for service, and the service tech stated that all three rear seat belts had a wire that had been severed from the buckle. Additionally, the vehicle failed to detect an occupant seated in the rear seats. The dealer..."

Incident Date: 08/11/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: SEAT BELTS
Suspension NHTSA ODI ID: #11756055
Filed: 08/10/2026

"I own a 2023 Rivian R1S, early production vehicle #531, with approximately 93,000 miles. While driving, I noticed the vehicle's suspension was not functioning normally. After parking, the front passenger side of the vehicle dropped significantly lower than the other side, leaving the vehicle..."

Incident Date: 08/09/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: SUSPENSION
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11753900
Crash Cited Filed: 07/30/2026

"On XXX, at approximately 12:19 PM, I was in the drive-through lane at a Chick-fil-A in [XXX], with my child as a passenger. I was using one-pedal driving mode and had come to a complete stop with my foot off the accelerator. I turned briefly to hand my child an ice cream cup, and when I looked back..."

Incident Date: 07/29/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Suspension NHTSA ODI ID: #11749529
Filed: 07/10/2026

"Tension noise and creaking coming from suspensions. Special washers were needed in order to fill gaps in build tolerances."

Incident Date: 07/09/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: SUSPENSION
Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11749527
Filed: 07/10/2026

"When an adult passenger is in the vehicle passenger seat, the passenger airbag light shows "airbag off" Approximate weight 130 pounds"

Incident Date: 10/01/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Rivian R1S

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2022–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2022 Rivian R1S 4 1 12 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Rivian R1S Current Page 73 10 9 Current
2024 Rivian R1S 16 5 6 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Rivian R1S 51 4 10 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Rivian R1S 0 0 2 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2023 Rivian R1S

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 36 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 13 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,SEATS 10 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 6 0 0 0 0
Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION 5 2 0 1 0
AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS 3 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 2 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS,SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
CARRY HANDLE, SHELL, BASE,CHEST CLIP, BUCKLE, HARNESS,INSERT, PADDING 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 1 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 1 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 1 0 0 0
Forward Collision Avoidance NHTSA category: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 1 0 0 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 1 1 0 0 0
Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 0 0
SEAT BELTS,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 1 0 1 0
Seats & Restraints NHTSA category: SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,WHEELS,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,WHEELS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 1 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,SERVICE BRAKES,LANE DEPARTURE 1 1 0 1 0
SUSPENSION,WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,WHEELS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY 1 0 0 0 0
Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (73). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.

Official NHTSA Defect Investigations (1)

1 OPEN

Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)

Official Federal Inquiries: NHTSA opens a defect investigation when safety screening or consumer defect trends indicate a potential unreasonable safety risk. An open investigation is a formal inquiry and does not by itself confirm a defect or result in a mandatory recall.
OPEN Preliminary Evaluation (PE) ODI Action #PE26004
Opened: 2026-05-26 • Currently Active

Rear Toe Link May Separate

Affected Component: SUSPENSION:REAR

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received two Vehicle Owner Questionnaires (VOQs) reporting left rear toe link separation in certain Model Year (MY) 2023-2024 Rivian R1S vehicles. Both VOQs report component separation while driving, causing the vehicles to swerve across multiple lanes of traffic. One incident resulted in a collision with an adjacent vehicle and roadside barrier.  In both separations, the bolt that maintains the inte...

Active federal investigation. Official NHTSA File →
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.