High pitched sound normal?

It's a high-pitched tone, definitely not static.

I only hear it at slow speeds and I'm not bothered by it (just aware of it).

 

this an irritating sound should not be normal for any car and there are no excuses for this considering all the development they put into this car.

Toyota needs to fix it.

 

Its an electrical whine. What do you want them to do? I guess they can sound insulate it?

They not even bothered to put base rubber on the top glove compartment (which they did put on the Gen2) what do you think they are going to sound insulate the battery? No chance.

 

More than that: With all the development that has been put into the internal combustion engine for a 100 years, I don't understand how these engines still make this strange roaring low-pitched sound!

Someone has to do something about it! :suspicious:

 

LOL funny.

But we like Roaring sounds instead of whine. Wild women compared to Old women which one would you prefer to have?

 

Brand new 2010, 400 miles now.

I first noticed the whinning when we bought the car. The salesman insisted that all of them sounded like that. The car was idling with engine on, we were standing 30ft away. Its loud, intermittent whinning.

To put it in a better perspective,

When in EV and its not making the noise, the people walking down the sidewalk do not hear us coming, sometimes crossing in front of us without looking.

When the car is whinning, people walking down the sidewalk stop, turn, and look with awkward glare to identify the "deer whistle" approaching them.

Extremely annoying, and not normal. If this is normal I would have heard it on other 2010's I've stopped next to in traffic or standing in parking lots. My truck coasting in neutral is quieter.

I know some of you have mentioned the inverter. To me it sounds similar to a bad power steering rack.

 

The electrically driven A/C compressor can make a noise like that. You don't hear it all of the time, only when it is running hard.

Tom

 

I love the sounds the Prius makes, it makes me feel like I'm in the future!

 

It's not the engine, it's a motor thats making the noise. I believe the GIII whine has more to do with the motor/generator gear reduction than the inverter.

This is a quote from a Toyota engineer, "For a look at the rest of the ’10 Synergy Drive system, we asked Advanced Powertrain Program Manager Justin Ward what was new and different. “From a propulsion point of view,†he says, “one big difference is the gear reduction.

“We bumped the voltage up from 500 volts to 650 and were able to use a much higher-speed traction motor, which optimizes efficiency in its operating zones,†Ward says. “You lose some low-end torque with that higher speed, but you gain it back with the gear reduction, and you get some loss-reducing advantages in the system.â€

 

Mrs. Voltan and I love the whiney sound of the Prius. It is the sound of... the future.

 

I don't know about your car, but mine makes a big low-pitch roaring noise every time I press hard on the accelerator. I found that each and every gas car I used do the same. I was hoping they could fix this 100 year long issue with gas engines. :suspicious:

 

My IV has 2 types of high-pitched whines:
•1: The Regenerative Braking, as it slows me down from about 15mph to zero.
•2: The Inverter - I never heard mine until a few nights ago. It was a hot night, and I never really have my windows open. This time I had the moon roof and windows down as I drove slowly (around 25mph) through the neighborhood. I could really hear the high-frequency squeal coming from the car and echoing off the houses. I even put the it into EV Mode to see if it was sill there, and it was.

Oh, and for the person that mentioned the sound of the air conditioner.... It doesn't whine...it BUZZES. Sounds like a cheap 12volt tire air compressor (I used to used to keep in the boot of my previous vehicle in case of emergency). It is especially embarassing if I use the Remote Air Conditioner to pre-cool the car on a hot day. The pitch of the BUZZ goes up and down depending on the demand to cool...but never whines!

 

Nice summation. Your description of the "loud whinning noise" is spot on. Engine running or EV, it is present.

I would be willing to believe it was normal if it was consistent with something attributed to coasting, accelerating, braking, but its not. It goes higher and lower, on and off regardless if the car is moving or not. It is not the A/C compressor, just turn off the A/C and the fan when you hear it.

The pitch seams to get louder when the car is at running temperature. I have also noticed it does not matter what time of day your driving.

 

I forgot to mention one possible source that I haven't investigated. My MINI Cooper had an electric power steering pump. Quite loud, and whines whenever you turn the steering wheel. It was so loud, I used to turn my wheel back and forth in parking lots to get clueless people walking down the MIDDLE of the lot to hear me and move their asses out of the way!

I haven't really noticed that sound from my Prius...but that is a possiblity. open the hood, power up the car and have a friend listen as you turn the wheel back and forth?

 

Which would I prefer? A hybrid of course

 

The inverter generates/converts power to/from the two electic motor/generator by using high speed high voltage pulses, hence the high pitch sound.

You can see if this is in fact the sound you hear by putting the car in Neutral: this will turn off the MGs and make the inverter silent. If you also have the ICE off and A/C off, and still hear the noise... then I don't know...

 

I hear the whine now on a Prius III 2010. I had the windows down and wondered if it was normal. Verdict seems to be YES!?

 

The Prius is the quietest car I've ever owned (at all speeds). So I think you should get it checked and fixed (under warranty). It shouldn't sound like that.

 

This is indeed a Gen III specific issue. Attached is a recording of the noise that I captured with my iPhone (use headphones when you listen to it).

I had a manager at my Toyota dealership listen to it and they are very familiar with this issue, but there's nothing they can do about it. The vibe I got from them was something like 'we know these cars are making really annoying noises, and we realize it sucks, but we just sell them, we don't make them.'

Please voice your opinion directly to Toyota by calling 1-800-331-4331 and opening a case #. If enough people call, perhaps Toyota will do something about it. Let them know that you are dissatisfied the irritating high frequency pitches coming from your Gen III Prius.

 

The only way to "fix" this is to take away all the HV electronics. That isn't going to happen.

Of course the dealership won't do anything, the car is acting exactly as it should.