Rivian Updated The R2’s Manual Door Release, And People Are Mad

The driver and front passenger can easily open their doors in an emergency. Rear passengers, not so much–and people are angry.

Photo by: Patrick George

Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

Feb 11, at 6:48am ET

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The Rivian R2 features an updated manual release mechanism for the rear doors.
The company faced some backlash after R1S and R1T owners documented how they jerry-rigged their cars to make it easier for kids to escape in an emergency.
The R2’s system is similar to that on the facelifted R1 models, where a piece of trim has to be removed.

It’s 2026, and electric cars are still being fitted with electronic door handles. They look cool, but they can quickly become a dangerous feature when power cuts out after an accident, and the people inside can no longer exit the vehicle.

In Rivian’s case, the company is seemingly trying to improve the way passengers can get out in an emergency situation where the car loses power from the low-voltage battery, but hundreds of fans and owners have made their opinions known online–and it’s not pretty.

The latest Rivian R2 prototypes have a revised manual release system for the rear doors, which should make it slightly easier to access, at least compared to the facelifted R1S and R1T.

On the more expensive R1 vehicles, Rivian tucked a manual release cable behind a removable plastic panel on the door card when it refreshed its flagship SUV and pickup. That was arguably a move in the wrong direction, seeing how the pre-facelift R1S and R1T’s regular handles would operate both the electronic release and manual release.

Now, on the R2 prototypes, the manual release for the rear doors is yet again behind a plastic cover, but it’s now a little easier to get to the cable. As YouTuber JerryRigEverything explains in the video, rear passengers have to pop out a small plastic panel to access the release cord. Meanwhile, the driver and front passenger have a proper handle to pull on when the battery dies.

Zack Nelson, who shot the video, doesn’t pull out the cord, so I don’t know how easy it is to find and pull. Hopefully, it’s better than on the Gen 2 R1S and R1T, because on these vehicles, some owners have modded the release mechanisms to make it easier for kids and adults to open the door after an accident.

Source: Rivian

It’s also worth noting that the R2 is still in the prototype phase, and this design could change when series production kicks off, but one thing is sure: Rivian fans and owners are not thrilled about the R2’s rear door manual release. Hundreds of people have flooded Reddit with comments, saying this is a mistake and that the company should have adopted a better system.

“If this is what is going into production, I’m out,” said one commenter. “Rivian said a few months back that they were rethinking the emergency release. I hope this is not their actual solution.”

What do you think?

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“Not thrilled with this either,” said someone else. “I don't understand why they can't just mirror the front seat release system in the back.” Another person commented, “Fishing for a hidden wire to unlock the door in an emergency situation should never be an acceptable design. If they can design a backup handle in the front, they can do the same in the back to be fully compliant and easier to operate.”

Rivian, the ball is in your court.