Impact of User-Adjustable Vehicle-Dynamics Tuning on Vehicle Durability Rivian Automotive, LLC

Format:

Book

Conference/Event

Author/Creator:

Demiri, Albion, author.

White, Dylan, author.

Khapane, Prashant, author.

Borton, Zackery, author.

Conference Name:

WCX SAE World Congress Experience (2026-04-14 : Detroit, Michigan, United States)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Vehicle dynamics.

Data acquisition and handling.

Computer software and hardware.

Embedded software.

Chassis stiffness.

Vehicle ride.

Fleets.

Telemetry.

Durability.

Local Subjects:

Vehicle dynamics.

Data acquisition and handling.

Computer software and hardware.

Embedded software.

Chassis stiffness.

Vehicle ride.

Fleets.

Telemetry.

Durability.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Warrendale, PA SAE International 2026

Summary:

Software-defined vehicles offer customers a greater degree of customization of vehicle controls and driving experience. One such feature is user-adjustable tuning of vehicle ride and handling, where customers can vary ride height, damper stiffness, front-rear torque balance, and other aspects of vehicle dynamics. While promising a great customer experience, such a feature can expose the vehicle to a wider range of structural loads than those in the nominal design condition, particularly when such tuning is extended to cover spirited "sport" mode driving, off-road driving, et cetera In this paper we present a novel methodology combining Road Load Data Acquisition (RLDA) data and real-world telemetry data to estimate the impact of user-adjustable vehicle-dynamics tuning on structural durability. In doing so, the method combines the physics of damage accumulation (from RLDA data) with user behavior (from telemetry data) to present an accurate assessment of the impact on durability, moving beyond traditional durability methods that do not model a range of real-world usage behavior. The study has been conducted using one instrumented vehicle (RLDA) and de-identified telemetry data from over 20,000 Rivian customer vehicles. The study analyzes the impact of variations in ride height, damper stiffness of active dampers, and roll stiffness of the suspension on vehicle structural durability. By combining usage frequency of the different settings with the damage accrued in these settings, the methodology estimates the high-cycle fatigue pseudo-damage variation for a wide range of customers and compares real world damage risk with the damage accounted for in the baseline durability testing. Through the analysis, we recommend a way to optimize the Accelerated Duty Cycle (ADC) for Over the Road (OTR) testing to minimize real-world risk, while keeping the duty cycle simple and practical for testing, id est, test for an optimized combination of a few dominant settings and not a wide range of settings. The approach also suggests a path to a real-time fleet monitoring system to identify high-durability-risk customers and develop mitigation strategies

Notes:

Vendor supplied data

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license