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Anyone spot or use a manual tonneau in the wild (or in the shop) yet? I'm not even sure if Rivian has even announced an ETA.
Manual Tonneau sightings?
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Haven't even seen pics. I think I'm going to remove it from my order. I might even wait until the power cover is available again.
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34 Posts
I decent, mostly waterproof cover is important to me. I started with the powered version and bailed when it was clear that it needed to be reengineered. During a conversation with a Rivian rep. he noted that there are many first time pickup buyers in the preorder group. Apparently, in New England, many of those own a Subaru - which are mostly wagons. I guess I'm model New England buyer. I'm OK with a manual tonneau as long as it's functional. Day to day it's going to in place and not removed. When I do use it, it's either coming completely off (rare) or just a panel or two to facilitate loading. My hope is that one can simply slide panels around while loading the entire bed.
I agree- a secure dry bed for storage is very important to me and a key feature that I was looking for, was the automation of the cover as I place and remove items often in my current truck. Manual is better than nothing but I'm very disappointed that an automated cover is a far-off dream.
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39 Posts
Manual cover has not been released yet. 10/21 email from Rivian says "early 2023". It also says, before then, they will release images and info. And, once available to ship, they will ship the covers to those with the option but have already taken delivery. It's easy enough to picture one in your head, basically the same existing bed, but instead of the powered cover, you manually slot four interlocking cover panels (from the back, while tailgate is down).
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As we saw with the powered tonneau, the devil is in the details.
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39 Posts
Shrug. If you or anyone else want to read into what isn't said in an official capacity, and bank your time on speculation... knock yourselves out.
I took delivery of a mechanical tonneau truck last weekend. the slots are there to slide the slats in from the back. I would expect locking the tailgate would make the slats secure, as well as plastic is secure. love the truck.
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796 Posts
The slats are aluminum extrusion, not plastic. Not impossible to get through, but at least as secure as the cabin interior which is secured only by glass.
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796 Posts
My automated cover is a reality. And it works just fine, thank you. Not something I normally would have paid extra for, but it came with my LE and I am finding it useful and very weatherproof. The improved version is in the works, so if that's what you want then you should order it. If you order manual or "no tonneau" then you can't retrofit the automated one. If you order "no tonneau" you can't even retrofit the manual one. So order what you want.
At this point I think it's still speculation that you won't be able to retrofit a revised tonneau if you don't order one. The email they sent about it said they are "moving to a design without integrated side rails" but it is not clear if that means the design of the bed only, which would preclude adding a tonneau; or the design of the overall system, which could potentially allow a retrofit to trucks without integrated side rails.
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39 Posts
Right. About as secure as the working powered cover. In truth, nothing is secure. If someone wants through bad enough, they will find a way.
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39 Posts
If I read you correctly, it's a misinterpretation of what was said. "moving to a design without integrated side rails" refers to those who pick "no cover". Right now, in their parts supply chain, there is only one truck bed available: railed. So until the rail-less bed trim pieces are in inventory and in the production stream, and if you were to take delivery before then, you'll get a railed bed regardless of cover option.
If things go as planned, this time next year there will be two bed trim variants: railed (power/manual) and rail-less (no cover). It's unthinkable for them to change body structure (more cost, more production delays, etc.). And if body structure is unchanged, then it's possible to retrofit maual to powered. The question then, is will they sell the powered tonneau parts to anyone? Obviously, no parts, no conversion.
As for aftermarket options... that's about as productive/moot as guessing the next Powerball numbers.
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796 Posts
I would argue that's it's absolutely clear that the new design MUST work with the current bed/integrated rails, because the primary purpose of the redesign is to fix the problem on the 15,000+ existing R1Ts which have the rails.
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796 Posts
Actually, I think you are probably right about this, but until we see a manual it's tough to say. Certainly it's not something they will be selling anytime soon, as all the redesigned automatics will be dedicated to fixing existing vehicles.
My only concern would be the "stop" on the tailgate end of integrated bed rails which prevent the automatic from coming out of the slot. The manual wouldn't/couldn't have that. And the manual bed might also be modified to cover up the opening where the automatic is stored. If the bed design is different between automatic and manual, then retrofitting might be a problem.
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39 Posts
Yes. They are not going to abandon existing customers and make a powered 2.0 cover that isn't compatible with customers who have already paid for and taken delivery and are awaiting a fix. Of course, the fear mongers and shorts would predictably advocate a different outcome. And for as long as they are in the ramp-up phase, production and warranty will have priority on parts allocation... just like how they're reluctant to sell you wheels and tire sets up until recently.
Right. Until it's real and in the flesh, we only have what they've described in interviews and other forms of official communication.
Either way, to answer OP's question, no one outside of Rivian has seen the manual cover because they haven't released or produced any... and it isn't "early 2023" yet.
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