Rivian Recalls Nearly 35,000 Delivery Vans Over Seat Belt Misuse Issue

According to the NHTSA, the delivery vans were made beginning in December 2021 and ended in November this year.

A Rivian electric pickup truck sits in a parking lot at a Rivian service center in South San Francisco on May 9, 2022. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Rivian Automotive announced on Dec. 3 it is recalling 34,824 delivery vans due to an issue with the driver’s seat belt that may prevent it from working properly in the event of an accident.

According to a recall notice posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website, certain Rivian electric delivery van models from 2022 through 2025 may have seat belt pretensioner cables that can become damaged from repeated misuse. Seat belt pretensioner cables ensure the belt remains tight against a driver or passenger’s body in a frontal or side collision.

According to the NHTSA, the delivery vans were made beginning in December 2021 and ended in November this year. Driver’s side pretensioner cables in vehicles built during that period could become damaged from the driver sitting on the seatbelt when it is buckled but laying on the seat rather than properly buckled across the driver’s lap.

After Nov. 8, Rivian began making electric delivery vans with a seat belt misuse detection feature, the recall notice stated.

Rivian said in the recall notice that it has released an over-the-air software update for the issue, and it will also inspect and replace any faulty pretensioner assemblies at no cost to owners. The potentially affected vehicles are also covered under Rivian’s eight-year, 100,000-mile new vehicle limited warranty.

The Irvine, California-based EV manufacturer will begin mailing notices of the issue to owners on Jan. 19, 2026. Rivian owners can contact the company’s customer service team at 888-748-4261 and use recall number FSAM-1770 for reference.

Owners can also contact the NHTSA’s vehicle safety hotline by calling 888-327-4236. The NHTSA number for the Rivian recall is 25V816. However, Rivian electric delivery van owners won’t be able to search the NHTSA website using their vehicle’s VIN until Jan. 19, the NHTSA noted.

To date, there haven’t been any accidents reported from faulty driver-side seat belt pretensioner cables, the recall notice stated.

The Epoch Times reached out to Rivian for comment on the recall and the addition of a seat belt misuse detection feature.

The seat belt pretensioner issue is the sixth safety recall announced by Rivian so far this year. In February, the company recalled certain 2025 R1S and R1T models over an issue with headlights not illuminating properly in cold weather.

In early June, several hundred of those same model Rivian vehicles were recalled due to a manufacturing defect in the seat belt anchorage.

A week later, Rivian issued a recall for faulty turn signals in its R1S and R1T EVs, followed by a recall in August for a handful of 2025 model year vehicles that had improperly grounded battery connections that could cause the vehicle to lose power.

Lastly, the company recalled nearly 25,000 vehicles in September due to potential issues with older versions of Rivian’s self-driving software.