I purchased a 2020 Prius Prime Limited last August and have found it to be the best car I've ever owned. With one exception... wind noise. When driving above 40 mph I cannot leave the rear windows open. The noise is a deep, low rumble that is almost painful. Passengers have commented as well. Not quite as bad with front windows down, but still annoying to the point that you wouldn't want to keep the windows down. Perhaps this is a personal issue, with my own hearing abilities. I admit I've played in a rock band for many years, but other riders with me have noticed it as well. Has anyone here experienced this and, if so, is there a solution to fixing or at least abating the problem. Thanks
Pretty much every car I've owned (10 at least) do exactly that. If I want to open the rear windows I have to open all of them.
That's unfortunate. I'm sure it has something to do with the aerodynamic design of the car, but I would also think it would be something that designers would consider. Oh well. It's not a game changer for me.
Every car in the history of ever does that as far as I know. I've owned or driven quite a number of cars over the decades and I can't recall a single car that didn't do that. I cringe when I see people driving down the highway with a rear window open and no other.
It is an artifact of being a hatchback, and it occurred in every hatchback I owned. It likely happens in wagons and SUVs since they have the empty chamber in the rear also. Never was a problem in a sedan.
I can't say I've measured it, but I know that when someone rolls down a rear seat window in a sedan it's uncomfortable enough for me to tell them to roll it back up.
The noise is the car's way of saying you're going too fast for open windows. Close them and turn on the air conditioner and save some gas. Right around 40-45 mph is the break even point where A/C is more efficient than dragging a car with open windows through the air.
Have you tried installing window visors? They range from the cheap glue-on one to the very expensive snap-in types. It'll change the pitch of the noise and you can keep the windows "cracked" in all weather, to let the hot air out of the cabin. I put them on all my cars. Hope this helps.
Appreciate the responses and, in context, they seem to make sense. Although in the many decades I have been driving, many of them with a clunker with no AC, I've used the trusted Four-Forty Air Conditioning system and never noticed the truly ear thumping noise I have with the Prius. As mentioned here, it's probably due to the design of the car. Again, a minor issue compared to the other qualities of the car, but was curious if there was a solution.
What? You aren't supposed to leave the windows open when you drive. It is detrimental on the fuel economy. You're much better off using the A/C.
Now that I think of it, that was the rule of thumb years ago. Since the Prime's air conditioner is so amazingly efficient, that break even speed is probably much lower than 40 mph. Maybe so low that you wouldn't get much breeze from the open window. I don't know if anyone has done a study on that with a Prime. Probably not. I just run my A/C about 99.99% of the time.
Yeah, you're reacting to the helmholtz resonance of the empty car body vs. the windstream going past the windows. Same principle as blowing over the top of a bottle, just that you've got a big bottle singing contrabass/subsonic. Cars with smaller interior volume (sedans) won't react as strongly. Wagons and hatchbacks (Prius is close enough between) will react more strongly. Cars whose shape allow the passing air to flow very quickly, directly across an opening (like the rear window) will react strongly. Cars whose shape rams the air out of the way and keeps it from hugging the sides of the car won't react as strongly. The Prius is a natural for making noise in this situation. I'm sure the designers considered it and "driving with back windows open" lost out to other features long ago.
Well now I have to roll down just the back windows to see if my car does it! I've played bass and rhythm guitars in a few church bands...what did you play? I have hearing loss but it's because of all those years on Air Force and Navy flight lines around jet engines.
I play guitar and bass in a six piece band, gets pretty loud, ,but I'd like to think we sound better than the sound coming from the windows being down in my Prius.
