Front Drive Shaft Update

[Ovrland Bill]

Would you accept a top IA executive messaging me saying, “engineering investigating and analysis with supplier.” That is a direct quote from a message exchange on January 23, 2026.

Not questioning your veracity at all, but I believe we all deserve to hear about this from the primary source.

 

[Logsplitter]

Here is an excerpt from an email from Ineos HQ, which is part of a chain of emails between Ineos and myself. I have been in communication with them regarding the issues I’ve had with my vehicle. I have not received any clarity regarding which issue have been rectified and which are still under investigation, but I trust they are looking into the prop shaft issue.

“At this stage, we want to reassure you that every concern you have raised is either already subject to full root cause investigation or is currently part of on-going quality improvement work on early-build vehicles. This work helps our engineering teams to further strengthen the product.”
I’m pretty sure they are trying to sort a fix

 

[Tazzieman]

I doubt many, if any, drove at sustained US commuter speeds for 10k+ miles....

Or parking outside malls in Florida...

 

[parb]

Here is an excerpt from an email from Ineos HQ, which is part of a chain of emails between Ineos and myself. I have been in communication with them regarding the issues I’ve had with my vehicle. I have not received any clarity regarding which issue have been rectified and which are still under investigation, but I trust they are looking into the prop shaft issue.

“At this stage, we want to reassure you that every concern you have raised is either already subject to full root cause investigation or is currently part of on-going quality improvement work on early-build vehicles. This work helps our engineering teams to further strengthen the product.”
I’m pretty sure they are trying to sort a fix

the thing is... they can do nothing with the existing customer base and still be completely truthful in that sentence.
my immediate followup would have been, are you planning to introduce either a fix or a technical document describing the problem and what the owner can do to minimize being at risk for the problem to happen to their vehicles?

activity without an outcome so such a corporate "we say nothing" answer.

 

[skinny_tom]

activity without an outcome so such a corporate "we say nothing" answer.

This. Ineos is a major corporation. I suspect we are caught in the era of large bureaucracy investigating things rather than doing what the emerging car world is used to; ACTION.

I'm not ready for an electric car yet, but I'm more than ready for the pace at which those companies improve, implement and evaluate. (And burn through cash.)

Suppose Ineos began to replace the failing joints with an updated one. No promises that it's a 100% fix but it will be "better." Then the next generation of failures are met with the next improvement. In essence, we would be the Beta Testers of the drive shaft conundrum.

Would that be acceptable? Ineos is warranting (is that a word?) the drive shaft failure for unmodified cars and then some. Would you be willing to accept an imperfect update for free with the thought that it may be better than the last?

I bet their lawyers would never let them do it. Too much liability. It may come down to the fan base; Teslas fan-boys will accept anything that company presents as new and cool and are willing to accept the risks. Rivian makes (according to some evaluations) the least reliable car in the United States and continue to sell out of product. Seems to me like Ineos customers demand a perfect vehicle from day 1 and anything less in unacceptable. With that, we may have our answer as to why we're being treated to the corporate gaslight.

 

[Dokatd]

. Rivian makes (according to some evaluations) the least reliable car in the United States and continue to sell out of product. Seems to me like Ineos customers demand a perfect vehicle from day 1 and anything less in unacceptable. With that, we may have our answer as to why we're being treated to the corporate gaslight.

Can you cite this? I have owned 2 Rivian so far and have put considerable mileage on the first one. I have not found there to be any reliability issues to date. Sure there was a niggle or two on our 1st gen but those were minor annoyances at best. Neither truck has left us stranded and neither has had any drive train failure. We tow a large wake boat with them too.

Genuinely curious, I try my best to not be a Fan Boy, but Rivian has made it hard not to be. Plus the new Scout is based on Rivian architecture and software. I have one on order.