A Furious Rivian Owner Spray-Painted 'Junk' On His Truck and Built a Whole Website About ItMost frustrated car owners write a scathing review, fire off an angry email, or vent in a forum. Jake Burns went much further. He took his Rivian R1T, spray-painted slogans like "DON'T BUY JUNK" and "RIVIAN IS JUNK" across the body, and parked it directly across from the company's Denver showroom for everyone to see. Then he built a matching website — rivianisjunk.com — laying out his entire ownership saga.The stunt exploded on Reddit, and the timing couldn't have been worse for Rivian, landing just days before the company's new R2 was due to arrive. One man's grievance became a public spectacle for an EV startup that hardly needed one.How It Got to This PointBurns, who posts under the names Jake Burns and philociraptor, says the display was years of frustration finally spilling over. The last straw, by his telling, was a roughly $1,000 charge Rivian tried to bill him to replace the 12-volt battery in his Quad-Motor R1T. On his site he explains that he was an early believer — he reserved the truck because he bought into the company's vision. That's worth noting, because this isn't someone who came looking for a fight. He arrived as a fan.A Long List of ComplaintsThe battery was simply the newest entry on what Burns describes as a growing list. He claims the truck he received differed from the configuration he ordered, and that problems began soon after delivery: phantom braking, rusted tow hooks, drivetrain noises, rattles, and electronic glitches. Videos on his site appear to support some of it, seeming to show the steering wheel shaking at low speeds, strange noises under acceleration, and driver-assist features behaving unpredictably — none of it a good look for a vehicle in the R1T's price range. His most serious allegation involves what he calls an unresolved steering defect.Not Every Owner AgreesTo be fair, plenty of Rivian owners in the same Reddit thread defended the brand, with several reporting tens of thousands of mostly trouble-free miles. Others recognized the pattern, though. One user posting as Huskerzfan said his truck spent a serious stretch in the shop — more than 3% of its mileage racked up on trips to service centers, and 12.5% of his lease spent driving loaners instead of the truck he paid for.Bad Timing for a Company Under ScrutinyEven if Burns is an outlier, his protest lands at a rough moment. The R1T already carries a reputation as one of the less reliable EVs out there, with a Consumer Reports Predicted Reliability Score of just 18 out of 100 — exactly the kind of headline a growing automaker dreads. Burns framed his crusade bluntly, arguing the public deserves to see what happens when a company gets every chance to prove its quality and comes up short.AdvertisementAdvertisementWhether you view him as a wronged customer or someone who went too far, a larger question lingers as Rivian chases its next chapter: when your earliest believers are the ones spray-painting your product, what does that say about where the company is headed?Related reading:Rivian Is Cutting Hundreds of Jobs After Launching the R2The 10 Worst Cars to Own During a Gas Crisis10 Car Accessories You'll Actually UseJoin our Newsletter, follow our Instagram page, and connect with us on Facebook.
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