Rivian's Factory Is A Safety Nightmare For Workers
Good morning! It’s Wednesday, October 23, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Rivian Unveils Trio of New Electric Vehicles
1st Gear: Scores Of People Injured At Rivian Factory
Workers at Rivian are dealing with some really nasty safety concerns at its Normal, Illinois factory. They’ve suffered injuries from cracked skulls and foot fractures to back lacerations that require surgery and amputated fingers. One person even said she complained to doctors last year about vomiting bile with a “Rivian blue” hue after painting R1s without a respirator.
Despite the fact that Rivian has just one factory, it has racked up more “serious” U.S. safety violations than any other automaker since the start of 2023. That is… not great. Workers at the plant say there are plenty of incidents that don’t make it onto government reports, too. From Bloomberg:
The electric-vehicle maker received initial citations for 16 serious violations in the past 21 months from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Volvo AB, Nissan Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. each received no more than 10. Volkswagen AG, BMW AG and Subaru Corp. saw none.
Fellow EV maker Tesla Inc. and Chrysler maker Stellantis NV, both with much larger workforces than Rivian, also received fewer initial serious citations. But unlike Rivian, Tesla also got three “repeat” violations, which carry heavier penalties, and Stellantis received two.
Rivian says that its record compares favorably with other manufacturers. “The health and safety of everyone at Rivian is our top priority, and we’re proud of our strong safety record — which continues to improve year over year,” the company said in a statement.
But government findings and interviews with current and past employees at Rivian paint a picture of a money-losing company that struggled to put in place the procedures, equipment and training required to keep employees safe. The alleged safety shortfalls come as the company ramps up production of delivery vans for Amazon.com Inc. and $100,000 luxury SUVs popular with celebrities including Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, and looks to access hundreds of millions of dollars of state subsidies. They also highlight potential challenges for the US government’s goal of accelerating EV output to create good jobs in economically underdeveloped areas and help slow climate change.
The volume of complaints, citations and serious injuries at the Rivian plant “are all red flags,” said Deborah Berkowitz, who reviewed the records at Bloomberg’s request. She served as OSHA chief of staff under President Barack Obama and is now a fellow at the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University.
Rivian says it is devoted to worker safety, saying it has committees that regularly review factory processes and recommend changes. It also says employees can bring concerns to supervisors or report them anonymously. The automaker says its self-reported rate of work-related injuries and illnesses this year has actually been better than the industry average for light duty manufacturers in 2022 (the last full-year of data available.)
To be fair to Rivian, OSHA itself said that since it began inspections in 2021, the automaker has “has improved their safety and health team and are very cooperative with the OSHA process.”
Rivian says that as part of settlements with the agency, almost all of the violations OSHA initially labeled as serious were ultimately downgraded from that category or dismissed. “Initial citations should not be confused as final citations, and to suggest otherwise is incredibly misleading,” a Rivian spokesperson said.
Former OSHA leaders, however, say initial citations — which are issued after the agency has investigated a job site and considered the company’s perspective — reveal more about workplace hazards. OSHA agrees to downgrade citations because its priority is for companies to address hazards, whereas litigating a dispute for years could leave them unresolved, according to former OSHA head David Michaels.
“OSHA’s objective is to get the hazard abated,” said Michaels, who ran the agency from 2009 to 2017 and is now a George Washington University public health professor. “And so OSHA is often willing to reduce both the penalties and the number of citations in order to get that settlement.”
Settlements often require the employer to make broader safety improvements in addition to the abatement required by the citation, according to OSHA.
Employee interviews have shined a light on the hazards they face in Normal, where Rivian has quickly become one of the city’s largest employers.
I really don’t know what the deal is with these upstart automakers having such dangerous working conditions, but they’ve got to take better care of their people. The old Silicon Valley adage of “move fast and break stuff” doesn’t work when its the workers’ bodies that are breaking.
OK, I don’t want to give too much more away. You should head over to Bloomberg for a full picture of what some of these folks at Rivian’s factory are dealing with when it comes to safety. Bloomberg also talks to United Auto Workers union president Shawn Fain about Rivian’s push against unionization.
2nd Gear: Trump Is Just Saying Shit About Cars Again
Donald Trump loves getting on stage and yapping. It’s what he’s best at. Now, he’s yapping about making interest rates on car loans for vehicles made in the U.S. tax deductible. Trump made the announcement in Michigan, a crucial swing state. From Automotive News:
“I do not want it to benefit other countries. I want it to benefit us,” Trump said Oct. 22 at a rally in Greensboro, N.C. “Deductibility of interest is great, but only if the car is manufactured in the United States.”
Trump has increased his focus on U.S. automakers in recent weeks as he has sought to assuage voter concerns about domestic manufacturing jobs, repeatedly pledging to restore industries that have closed factories as supply chains have shifted overseas.
Trump said his plan to allow car buyers to write-off the loan interest on their federal taxes would be a boon to U.S. car sales.
“Why the hell would we give them taxes if they manufacture the car in China, Japan or lots of other places that stole our business over the years?” Trump said. “I think that is going to be great for Detroit,” he added referring to the U.S. auto manufacturing hub, located in battleground Michigan.
Since this is Trump we are talking about, the plan lacks any details. He hasn’t said anything about tax breaks on cars made by foreign automakers here in the U.S.
In addition to tax breaks for car buyers, Trump has pledged to impose steep tariffs on cars and other products made in Mexico, China and other countries. Economists have warned that could cause household prices to spike and serve as a drag on economic growth.
Trump’s focus on manufacturing jobs comes as he and his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris are in a tight race in the seven battleground states, with the former president ahead by 1.1 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average of polls.
Trump reportedly spoke of the “glory days” of the American automotive industry. He said his slum lord father, Fred, considered the “definition of luxury” was to buy a new Cadillac every two years.
I’m so tired, folks. We’re still two weeks away from this godforsaken election.
3rd Gear: There Are 200,000 Places To Charge Your EV
There are now 200,000 public charging ports available across the United States, a number that has pretty much doubled since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration. It means there are now EV chargers in all 50 states, and it puts the national charging network ahead of schedule to meet the Adminstation’s goal of half a million chargers by 2030. From the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation:
Marking the most significant transformation to our transportation system in a century, the deployment of more chargers is happening thanks to both public funding and private sector investment. New charging stations funded by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program, Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) program, and Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability and Accessibility (EVC-RAA) program have all come online within the past month or so, bolstering private investment that’s bringing multimodal charging solutions to communities and creating fast charging hubs along key travel corridors. As of September 30, 2024, drivers can travel 57.8% of the most heavily trafficked corridors nationwide with the assurance of finding a fast charger at least every 50 miles. By the end of next year, we expect coverage on 70% of those corridors.
The Joint Office has been working with states, local communities, and industry to build a national EV charging network that gives people access to the convenience, performance, and cost savings of electric vehicles. Currently, plug-in EVs make up nearly 10% of the U.S. light-duty vehicle market, with even more vehicle options becoming available to meet growing demand.
To ensure the national public charging network’s reliability, the Joint Office has advanced key standards, including the J3400 connector standard, which was recently established as a recommended practice. This standard will make a greater portion of the existing public charging infrastructure accessible to a wider range of vehicles.
Our efforts go beyond installing new chargers. We are upgrading broken chargers and bringing the national charging network—along with the good paying jobs it entails—to every community, rural, suburban, or urban.
I’ve got a small-ish EV road trip on the docket this weekend, so we’ll see just how good this infrastructure really is. Please pray that I do not get stuck on the side of the road in a Rivian.
4th Gear: 700,000 Hondas Recalled For Bad Fuel Pump
Honda is recalling 720,810 vehicles in the U.S. because of an issue with a fuel pump. Basically, this high-pressure pump can leak, which can increase the risk of a fire, crash or some sort of bodily injury should it ignite. Not good. From Automotive News:
The recall affects the 2023-24 Honda Accord and Accord Hybrid, 2023-25 CR-V Hybrid, and 2025 Civic and Civic Hybrid.
The fuel pump, made by Hitachi Astemo in Japan, was improperly produced, leading to cracking that can cause the leaks. The problem is particularly prevalent in lower-mileage vehicles, according to NHTSA documents. A telltale sign of the defect is a fuel odor wafting from the vehicle while driving or idling.
[…]
The solenoid, or magnetic coil, component at fault in the fuel pump will be replaced with a new part with improved dimensions and baking conditions.
American Honda said in a statement that it was encouraging owners of affected vehicles “to take them to an authorized dealer for repair as soon as they receive notification.”
Honda says it has received 145 warranty claims dating back to February of 2023. Luckily, there have been no injuries or deaths related to the issue.
