2011 prius = the rattle machine

6500 miles and no rattles on mine so far. Knocking wood (outside of Prius... don't want any rattles!).

Bob.

 

Bought 2 new 2011 Prius cars 3 months ago, both have about 3000 miles now and BOTH are solid and quite as can be. In fact , one of the things we noticed about both the cars in the first weeks were how truly, solid and quite they were. Not one annoying rattle so far, and I pray none show up!!!!!!

 

I have no rattles either at almost 9000miles... Makes me wonder if they addressed the rattling panels in the more recent lots of Prii coming off the assembly lines. I bought mine at the end of February, and it has been nothing but quiet. Only rattles to be found are when I put my phone, Ipod, or other junk in the cup holders and drive over bumps. Hopefully the car stays quiet and panel rattle free.

 

Everybody who gets a rattle-free Prius each month for the past two years or so have wondered the same thing, but the truth is, rattle-free Gen IIIs have existed since inception.

 

Just now noticing some rattles in my 7700 mile 11 Prius, also just increased the tire pressures, I think I'll back off a bit on the tire pressures, I also noticed the ride is not as comfortable, I must have a tender tush. Currently running 40-38 on EP20's.......

 

5,200mi first rattle started this week Rear hatch. It's loud, too!
Tire pressure has stayed the same all season: 42/40psi

 

Wait till winter when things get a little cold. IF you don't have any rattles, you will. WIth so many plastic joints and extremely high tolerances Prii are built to rattle. Many of us have sort of turned finding rattles into a hobby, searching through engine compartnments, totally emptying out the hatch cavity, stuffing rags in holes in the frame, pulling acorns out of the ventilation system, putting wads of duct tape under the rear license plate and on and on. Many are elusive, sucn as the rattle that occurrs in the little window in the passenger side synchronized to engine rpm's or to a particular bass note in a piece of music. Others can be cured by pulling up on the center console or taking out the glove box and moving some of the wires around. Dealers rarely help. All in all I look at it as part of the Prius experience. 50 MPG cures a multitude of sins. That's why I nicknamed mine "Rattles".

 

I like your attitude.. You are a "my glass is half full" kind of guy.

 

No rattles in summer, lots in winter. I just accept it.

 

http://we0h.us/Prius/Prius-Rattle-Repair-Gen-III.pdf

Some other thread on PC had cures for the common rattles. I created a PDF document of the original posters instructions. Here it is again for those following this thread. I do not remember who posted this originally or what the thread name was, sorry

Mike :tea:

 

I am picking out my Prius tomorrow. A II in silver- I was told there are 3 of them. Would it be weird of me to go thru each one and see if I hear rattles? What is the best way to do this? Where am I listening to? Worth a shot?

 

If these are new cars, I'm not sure this exercise would be fruitful. Most of these rattles develop over time.

Tom

 

Add to that, many rattles are less detectable in summer heat so it might be the first cold days before you notice any. It is also possible that Toyota has made some fixes by now to the G3s based on dealer feedback (or by lurking on this forum) so new owners might not ever experience these noises.

TO ALL MEMBERS OF PC:
Maybe it would be worth the effort to track the trend of Prii with rattles by posting (perhaps on a new thread) your date and plant of manufacture. Since many here have had zero complaints about rattles, perhaps there's one shift or plant responsible for either really great or shoddy assembly. We could ascertain that with some data.

 

That'd just be as fruitless as trying to find a defective Mac by plant of manufacture.

30K now with no rattles, but what if that's only because I live in Redondo Beach where it's basically mild year round?

 

Great - you own one of the good ones...are you willing to post your date and plant of manufacture?

 

Remind us how we can find that information.

My point was my non-rattler could be a rattler in a colder city.

 

Date is on driver side door post, the other information is in the VIN.

Edit: I am looking for a VIN decoder that lists the Japanese plants but I haven't located one yet. The plant number is the 11th digit of the VIN and 0-9 indicate which Japanese plant and assembly line the car was born at.

 

32kcolors: Here is how to get the date and plant of manufacture:
Look at the highest sticker inside the driver's door pillar, it should be black with silver inscriptions.

The upper right corner will have the date of manufacture as MM/YY format.

The VIN number (centered just above the bar code) contains the plant code. It is position 11 and there are 3 Prius plant codes:

0 = Tsutsumi plant line # 1
1 = Tsutsumi plant line # 2
5 = Fugimatsu plant

Here's my car's info (and it had severe rattle problems):
Plant code = 0
Manufacture date = 01/10

 

In case someone wants this info in a document, I made it up with the info from above.
http://we0h.us/Prius/Prius-manufacture-date-plant-location.doc


Mike :tea:

 

Oy now I'm worried about buying the car. Maybe I'll look at inside of door and avoid the plant phoenixgreg has. ha