Rivian’s software bug can block the reverse camera on 100,700 electric trucks and SUVs

Rivian is recalling about 100,700 electric trucks and SUVs because a software prompt can cover the rearview camera image at the exact moment a driver shifts into reverse. The recall, filed with federal regulators on September 16, spans three model years of the automaker’s entire lineup: the R1T pickup, the R1S SUV and the newer R2 crossover. A free over-the-air update already reaches most of the affected vehicles, Rivian said, and no crashes or injuries have been tied to the defect.

A safety prompt that blocks the rearview camera when stability control is off

The defect surfaces in a narrow set of circumstances: when a driver has turned off the vehicle’s stability control and then shifts into reverse, a safety alert asking the driver to re-enable that system can appear on the center display and overlap the rearview camera feed “until the vehicle moves,” according to Rivian’s own account of the issue. Because the prompt briefly blocks part of the camera image rather than disabling it outright, the condition can cause the display to fall short of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 111, the federal rule that governs how much of the area behind a vehicle a backup camera must show the driver.

Rivian said the issue affects about 100,700 vehicles across model years 2022 through 2026 for the R1T, 2022 through 2027 for the R1S and the 2027 R2, which only recently began reaching customers. The recall was reported on the defect description and population figures Rivian submitted to regulators, which describe the malfunction as intermittent and tied specifically to the stability-control prompt rather than a hardware failure in the camera itself.

A recall that covers three model years of Rivian’s entire lineup

Because the recall spans nearly every vehicle configuration Rivian has sold to date, it covers more than half of all Rivian electric vehicles delivered in the United States since the company began deliveries in 2021, a scale unusual for a still-young automaker whose combined R1T and R1S production has only recently crossed six figures. The R2, which just started shipping to customers this year, is included even though the crossover accounts for a small fraction of the total population caught up in the campaign. Rivian has built roughly three vehicle lines since its founding, and this single recall now touches every one of them at once, from the earliest 2022 model-year trucks to R2 units that left the factory only weeks before the recall was filed.

The recall carries National Highway Traffic Safety Administration campaign number 26V-597, and Rivian’s own recall-information page lists a Transport Canada number, 2026-443, reflecting the vehicles the company also recalled north of the border. Rivian filed the recall on September 16 and made the remedy available a week later, on September 23, timing that put a fix in owners’ hands within days of the paperwork reaching regulators.

Software fix already reaches most of the fleet

Rivian said “more than 95 percent of impacted vehicles have installed the software update” as of its most recent count, and a per-model breakdown put that figure at 95% for R1 trucks and SUVs and 96% for R2 crossovers already updated within days of the remedy becoming available. Because the remedy installs over the air through the vehicle’s existing cellular or Wi-Fi connection, most owners never needed to schedule a dealer visit or bring their vehicle to a service center to receive it, a distinction that separates this campaign from recalls that require a physical part replacement.

The automaker said it is “not aware of any customer reports, accidents, injuries, or fatalities related to this condition,” language that mirrors how Rivian described the defect’s real-world impact to regulators in the recall filing itself. Owners who have not yet received the update can check their vehicle’s software status through the Rivian app or by contacting Rivian’s service line directly, and the fix remains free regardless of how many miles a vehicle has logged or whether its warranty coverage has lapsed.

A decade ago, a rearview-camera problem of this size would typically have meant a wiring harness or a camera module replaced at a dealership over weeks or months. Because Rivian’s vehicles receive updates the same way a phone does, the company was able to push a fix to most of its fleet before regulators had finished processing the paperwork, even as the recall count itself still had to be reported the same way a traditional hardware defect would be, all 100,700 vehicles at once rather than in staggered batches tied to service-center capacity.

Rivian has not said what triggered the original coding error that let the stability-control prompt overlap the camera view, only that engineers traced it to the display software rather than the camera hardware. The company’s recall filing leaves open whether a similar prompt-overlap issue could resurface in a future software release, a question regulators are likely to revisit if new complaints arrive after the September 23 remedy reaches the small share of the fleet still waiting for it.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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