Rivian’s Dual Triumph: Production Milestone and Safety Excellence

Rivian celebrates producing its 100,000th vehicle and the R1T pickup’s top safety honor from IIHS, setting a new standard for large pickups in 2024.

Rivian has reached a significant production landmark, with its CEO RJ Scaringe announcing the completion of the company’s 100,000th vehicle at its Normal, Illinois facility. Celebrating this milestone, Scaringe shared an image of the milestone vehicle, a white R1S SUV, on X (formerly Twitter), highlighting this achievement for the electric vehicle manufacturer.

In addition to this production milestone, Rivian’s 2024 R1T model has garnered top honors in safety from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), achieving the Top Safety Pick+ designation. This rating represents the highest level of safety recognition and is an improvement over the R1T’s previous status as a Top Safety Pick. Remarkably, the R1T stands out as the only large pickup to secure the Top Safety Pick+ for the year 2024, with the Toyota Tundra also noted but in the Top Safety Pick category.

To attain the Top Safety Pick status, vehicles must achieve good ratings in various crashworthiness tests, including the small overlap front, moderate overlap front, and side tests. Additionally, they must have good or acceptable headlights and perform adequately in pedestrian front crash prevention tests. The distinction for the Top Safety Pick+ comes with the requirement of a good or acceptable rating in the updated moderate overlap front test, which now includes a dummy in the rear seat to push for enhanced second-row safety. The IIHS noted that the R1T performed exceptionally well in this updated test, demonstrating a low risk of significant injuries and maintaining proper seatbelt positioning throughout the crash scenario.