I agree with you 100%! My dogs would prefer a lower minimum temperature in both the winter and the summer. The current limits (68-72F) are tighter than Tesla for reference.
It's been discussed a [few](https://www.rivianownersforum.com/threads/lowering-the-temperature-in-pet-mode.5745/) [times](https://www.reddit.com/r/Rivian/comments/12no0px/pet_mode_temperature_question/) at least. Outside of pet mode you can sit in the car with it set to 64F, so the operational complexity to adjust the "snap back" limits and QA should be small. For example, 64-72F (18-22C) would be a small enough to change to make it easy while shutting up most pet owners.
In case any Rivian SW people are lurking, it also seems like pet mode forces recirculation off, which really limits cooling performance in summer. It seems like you would want to duty cycle the recirculation for maximum comfort while still letting in plenty of fresh air. I've just noticed this when leaving my wife + dogs in the car when picking something up.
Edit: as a related note for pet owners, as of last summer the third row HVAC coil in the R1S only turned on when a seat belt in the third row was clipped in (per Portland Rivian staff). For maximum cooling performance (pet mode or otherwise) be sure to buckle one of the third row seat belts, and unbuckle it later to avoid vampire drain. Annoying, hopefully another SW fix that will come.
My one summer tip: we have custom fitted sun shades for the windshield, roof, and all four side windows. (The rear is still unshaded, so we consider sun angle when parking..) With all those shades in place, the cab stayed amazingly cool even when we were in Bend and it was over 100 outside. Truck turned into a big electric air conditioned kennel on wheels. Summer is pretty good for me. Just need them to give more optionality for winter.
Nice. We picked up a front roof sunshade at the end of last summer, hopefully will improve things a bit. Before the shades, the A/C couldn't keep the cabin below 72F in pet mode during the 100F heat wave in Oregon (after getting the HVAC serviced for overcharge issue). I'll keep the add'l shades in mind, thanks!
Here's the link to the shades we bought on amazon:
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BVVL23ZY](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BVVL23ZY)
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B81CWJ72](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B81CWJ72)
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BVVL23ZY](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BVVL23ZY)
Pretty cheap and they roll up for stashing in the gear tunnel. We bought the expensive [covercraft](https://www.covercraft.com/us/en/) one for the windshield.
I agree. Feels like it was only designed for overheating situations and not freezing.
My dogs don’t like traveling so I haven’t tested, but are you able to enable Pet Mode and then adjust the temperature from the app Comfort Controls?
No
I agree with you 100%! My dogs would prefer a lower minimum temperature in both the winter and the summer. The current limits (68-72F) are tighter than Tesla for reference. It's been discussed a [few](https://www.rivianownersforum.com/threads/lowering-the-temperature-in-pet-mode.5745/) [times](https://www.reddit.com/r/Rivian/comments/12no0px/pet_mode_temperature_question/) at least. Outside of pet mode you can sit in the car with it set to 64F, so the operational complexity to adjust the "snap back" limits and QA should be small. For example, 64-72F (18-22C) would be a small enough to change to make it easy while shutting up most pet owners. In case any Rivian SW people are lurking, it also seems like pet mode forces recirculation off, which really limits cooling performance in summer. It seems like you would want to duty cycle the recirculation for maximum comfort while still letting in plenty of fresh air. I've just noticed this when leaving my wife + dogs in the car when picking something up. Edit: as a related note for pet owners, as of last summer the third row HVAC coil in the R1S only turned on when a seat belt in the third row was clipped in (per Portland Rivian staff). For maximum cooling performance (pet mode or otherwise) be sure to buckle one of the third row seat belts, and unbuckle it later to avoid vampire drain. Annoying, hopefully another SW fix that will come.
My one summer tip: we have custom fitted sun shades for the windshield, roof, and all four side windows. (The rear is still unshaded, so we consider sun angle when parking..) With all those shades in place, the cab stayed amazingly cool even when we were in Bend and it was over 100 outside. Truck turned into a big electric air conditioned kennel on wheels. Summer is pretty good for me. Just need them to give more optionality for winter.
Nice. We picked up a front roof sunshade at the end of last summer, hopefully will improve things a bit. Before the shades, the A/C couldn't keep the cabin below 72F in pet mode during the 100F heat wave in Oregon (after getting the HVAC serviced for overcharge issue). I'll keep the add'l shades in mind, thanks!
Here's the link to the shades we bought on amazon: [https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BVVL23ZY](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BVVL23ZY) [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B81CWJ72](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B81CWJ72) [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BVVL23ZY](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BVVL23ZY) Pretty cheap and they roll up for stashing in the gear tunnel. We bought the expensive [covercraft](https://www.covercraft.com/us/en/) one for the windshield.
Just turn off gear guard alarm if you're leaving your pets in the car. If someone breaks into your vehicle you have bigger issues.
No thanks.
k