Loud metallic slapping sound when driving over lane reflectors - AUDIO RECORDING NOW INCLUDED

NO, that is not what is being talked about. Some folks call them road turtles, when googling the term I found that "Botts Dots" will bring up the image of the item on the highway. They are used to mark pavement and also crosswalks and stop bars along with other items.



Botts' dots - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On some roads, lanes are marked only with a mix of Botts' dots and conventional reflective markers, eliminating the need to repaint lane divider lines. Botts' dots are rarely used in regions with substantial snowfall, because snow plows damage or dislodge them.

Many states in snow-prone areas of the Midwest and Northeastern United States use Stimsonite reflectors placed into protective metal castings, which allow them to be plowed over without being dislodged from the road surface. These pavement markers are usually augmented with reflective paint and delineators placed on plastic or metal posts at regular intervals along the edges of the road. In California and other locations in the Southwest United States that experience occasional but significant snowfall, the Stimsonite reflectors are placed into recessed pockets in the roadway, which allows visibility during dry weather but permits a plow blade to travel across the reflector without dislodging it, with no special protective castings needed.

 

Interesting..... What keeps the snow plows from ripping them out of the ground?

 

I added more info to answer your question in my post above along with a wiki link for more information.

All I know is that when you drive over them the Prius will make the sound that the OP is talking about. And as I stated earlier, this subject has been brought up before on this board. I don't have links to the post's, but do remember them.

 

Very interesting.... I love that someone thought nailing them down was the best idea at one point. up here they're playing with solar powered LED lights to mark the lanes. I didn't like the idea at first thinking it was a waste of money. But the first time I drove on a road with those I fell in love with the idea.

 

The torn boot should definitely be replaced under your extended warranty, before it runs out. It's not the cause of this problem, but it can cause an expensive failure if not fixed.

I have the exact same sound you have when I drive over traffic dots. Metallic, like the exhaust pipe banging against the body. But I've only had it happen when driving over the dots with my right two tires. When I drive over them with my left side tires, I haven't noticed the sound. That's odd, because the exhaust pipe runs along the left side of the car. But, it could be that I wasn't driving over the same kind of dots or my speed was different. I'll keep trying and I'll watch this thread.

 

If you did get a "good" diagnostic and fix, please post back exactly what was done. I would love to make that noise go away on our car. It is most unpleasing especially since I like to drive with the windows down during the spring and fall months.

 

@Preeeus and @dorunron , my support to this thread, I have the same problem.

So far, nothing's fallen off. Just the annoying noise. I just do my best not to change lanes, unless I absolutely have too.

 

I have a 2013 Level2 that I have owned since 3300 miles on it. It now has about 84K on it & also makes the same noise you are describing. It is most prominent on the square lane reflectors but will make the sound on the round ones if the speed is high enough.

I don't think anything is broken but something is obviously contacting together that wasn't intended to or at least wasn't damped properly.

The other interesting detail is we also have "rumble strips" in California to wake up or remind inattentive drivers whom are drifting off the roadway. They are cut into the asphalt & the sound doesn't happen when drifting into the rumble strips even at 75+ MPH. So that implies it has something to do with the front suspensions upward travel and not the downward travel. I also think it is caused by the "sharp" upward travel the square reflector cause. It's also definitely coming from the front suspension from what I can ascertain.

Since it hasn't caused any known mechanical or drivability issues for me I haven't tried to figure out exactly what the noise is.

None of my CV boots are torn or damaged or leaking.( I change my own oil & typically drop the whole under car airflow panel).

 

This caught my attention because I had a 95 maxima that had this exact problem, and I only noticed the clanking sound going over reflectors. At one point it bumped one of my hubcaps off.

Turns out the front struts were shot...had about 100K miles at the time. After replacing the struts the problem went away.

 

I wish it were that simple. If that is the case, everyone's struts here were shot when the cars were brand new. Quoting my post, I stated that Toyota even heard the sound on a new one on the lot when trying to determine the problem. I have noticed this noise since I bought the car new with 7 miles on the odometer.

Not all Pri do this, but several do and this has been discussed before on this board.

Loud metallic slapping sound when driving over lane reflectors | PriusChat

 

We (PriusChat) went over this problem 7 years ago when the 2010 just came out. As I remember it was a problem with the brake pads rattling around. I never did fix the problem with mine. I can't stand the runaround you get from the "service" department.

 

I think I know what you are talking about - there was a TSB about brake caliper pins rattling or something like that. The problem I had on my other car was louder than that (which I did notice on my Prius as well and I never got it fixed either).

 

This noise is normal and appears to be common with Toyota's. My 2006 scion xb did the exact same thing.

 

They never plow snow here. Ever.

 

Probably has something to do with global warming or the amount of hot air the liberals have been generating recently

 

Sounds like a great "satisfying" dealer experience.

Do you mind sharing the dealer for reference? There are some good ones out there, but there are some out there that prefer profit to service and it is nice to know where a particular dealer maybe on that scale.

 

Not that I think this is your problem, but my Prius had a "rattle" under the dashboard whenever I hit most any bump. It involved how the parking brake was attached to stuff. I removed a bolt, pushed the mounting bracket to the rear (rather than the front) of the mount and inserted the bolt backwards to hold it in place. Problem solved. There wasn't enough tension keeping the part that was rattling from smacking other things.