Gen 3 Dashboard rattles & creaks

Well thats what bugs me whenever I called them. They will always say it is the first time they have heard of such problems. They seem to think that we are all idiots and we live in closed doors and don't social with other Prius owners such as using this forums etc. So what do they do? They do what they do best, to cover up and tell you that it is the FIRST TIME they ever heard of such a problem, and yes you are very right thats where the problems comes from and thats why they are having trouble today and surprising enough they are still not changing their attitude. Shame.

I personally think I have nearly worked out 99% of the rattling issue. One last remaning and I am at a loss as to what to do with it.
It is mainly coming from the lower glove compartment. I've foamed up as many places as I could in that area around the lower glove comparment I am running out of ideas but when I figure it out and test it for a while I will let you guys know.

And no it has nothing to do with your seat belt or the seats. The seats are fine. Front seats I mean.

TOYOTA are you listening? Because if you have not done so far then you should do so because there are many reporters that lurks around these forums, so take your time real long with this rattling.

Even I have figured out a few of them by now? How come you have not fixed any so far? The car is coming close to the one year mark since it first came out so whats taking you so long with the Rattling issue and the Radio issue?

 

My Prius now has 1000 miles and has some of the same problems of squeaks from the dash area. I had the center console "repositioned" and tightened by the dealer and that fixed the main noise. The bottom was rubbing against the edge of the housing it's attached to. A strip of felt also worked when placed between the two pieces before I took it to the dealer.
There is another noise somewhere in the dash on the right side that can be heard when the weather is cold. When the car sits out in the sun for awhile I hardly hear it.
Cusiously, flat surfaces AND large bumps produce no sound, but the "in-between" bumps in the road do.
It's frustrating at times, but there is some comfort knowing I'm not alone. Thanks to all who have posted!

 

I am very close to find nearly all the rattles. I am sure you will have more new rattles in the future. I think mine is so server because the road in the UK is absolutely terrible. It is as if we are driving in a third world country so the rattles comes very bad and at early stages.

 

Hi guys. I have a slight rattling noise coming from what I thought was the seat assembly. I took my car in for service at Toyota Santa Monica and they performed the Front Seat Squeak TSB on the driver's seat. It turned out to be a big headache as the mechanic scratched up my steering wheel as well as other parts of the car when taking the seat apart. I had to take the car in two more times for them to repair the damages. The good news was, I thought, the noise is gone but now after four weeks or so it's back. The crappy part is it's now louder than before! What's happening now is when I apply the brakes and the driver's seat back moves forward, there's a slight rattle coming from the base of the seat somewhere. Now I have no idea what to do as I'm afraid to take the car in for more repair work since they scratched up the interior pretty good the last time. I have already tried inflating and deflating the lumbar support and various other seat adjustments. Anyone with any other ideas as far as what else I could try??? Please help!

 

It might have been mentioned before as this is a really long thread, but there is a product made by Turtle Wax called "Squeek No More" which is a silicon spray. With a wand, you can safely spray noisy plastic intersections followed with a wiping rag to stop some dash and interior squeaks (don't get any on the cloth interiors!) Now the deeper dash rattles are tougher to solve, of course. There's something else that you can do and that's to purchase a small tub of plumber's grease at Home Depot which is silicon based. Don't use it on interiors, but you can apply it on all the door seals which is sometimes the source of body noises. By door seals, I mean all black rubber around the the doors and hatch seals. Over time, they dry out and can create noise as the car body twists during normal driving. I usually wear a latex glove to apply this grease sparingly along the seals. Under the hood, there are 4 plastic contact points that press against the the hood when it is closed. Over time, they dry out and can create a noise too. Just a small dab of the plumbers grease on them can help if the noise originates from there. Again, this is all done to solve noises on an older car. I'm surprised by all these complaints on the G3. Maybe I got lucky as mine seems fine (for now).

 

Thanks Greg I'll try it. If it works it will be better than tearing the dash apart.

 

Good luck Tom. Again, I'm really surprised to see all the complaints about squeaks in the new G3s. Squeek No More can usually be found in automotive stores such as Autozone, O'Rielies (formerly Checker) and Pep Boys. If you have a deep dash noise that is behind the surface intersections, it could still be a dealer solve. Squeek No More can stain cloth so be sure to guard against that.

 

Have any of you found where dashboard squeaks in the Gen3 Prius are located? If so, would you please post them following this message and give your solutions?
It seems that if we all work together we can at least narrow down and possibly eliminate some or all of these problems.
For instance, I found that the center console was rubbing against the right edge of the U-shapped housing at the bottom where it connects. Solution: have the dealer re-position the console and thereby give it some space from the housing.
Any others identified and solved?
Thanks!

 

My Corolla and Camry squeaks just like the Prius. I had hoped that the Prius would be different, but I am not surprised by any means that this is a perpetual issue. Back in 2007 after I noticed this with the Corolla which was my second consecutive car. I had talked to people about Toyota's alleged quality at that point and the reoccuring issue.


Personally for myself, I'm not loyal to Toyota despite the Prius being my third Toyota. I just happen to really want the Prius and I have gotten extremely good deals on all my Toyotas. The incentives have always been good vs. Honda or some other brands I've been interested in the past. So for the price I paid and what I got it has concidently been Toyota. Plus again, I really just had to get a Prius, (thanks James Sikes for helping lower my buy price).


That's about the extent of it though.

 

Here's a quick item to try: Remove the rear cupholder in the center console. Just slide the console back, and you can lift that cupholder straight up. No force needed; it just gently rests in the console, and could be a source of rattling.

 

Welcome to the world of Prius.My 2007 is full of rattles,in the dash,the seats and the suspension.My 2007 KIA Optima on the other hand has none.I thought Toyota was the one which set the bar for quality.

 

Sad to hear that. Seems like Toyota really don't think people care about rattling issues.

 

I just posted this in the OTHER thread about rattles. The passenger-side rattle on mine was the lower glovebox door damper, on the right side of the door. It doesn't fit snugly on it's two mounting posts. Some plumbers grease almost completely cured it, but shim washers would be better.

 

My center console had a lot of rattle noises. I had first tried adding a piece of rubber at the lower part of the console near the floor (near the cigarette lighter) as it worked for my daughter's Prius but it it did not help much for my car...

I then disassembled the top part of the bridge console and sprayed silicon on it before reassembling, it made no difference (except it smelt bad for a week!).

Then I found out that by inserting something in the crack between the console and the armrest, the noises would stop. I wanted to insert a piece of rubber there but did not have any at hand. I had a box of Armorall wipes and decided to try that. I folded 1 wipe several times until I had a small roll. I forced it in place with a credit card. It was easy to insert as the wipe is moist and slippery. It disappeared almost totally once inserted and... no more noises! I did that a month ago and so far so good.

This is the type of wipe I used


The folded and rolled wipe is inserted in the space with credit card to push it in (no risk of scratches)


It's pretty much invisible once done.

 

I just discovered that source of a noise too. With a plastic tool (so as not to guff the plastic), I lifted the sky bridge up a bit and sprayed silicon lubricant with a wand under there. Yep - same bad smell so I'll see if that stopped the creaking. If not, I will use your idea. Thanks.

 

I did the same thing a few months ago but I went to Home Depot and got a 6 foot section (the smallest you can buy) of the tubing that is used for wrapping around water pipes. It is soft foam type black rubber and it has sticky tape on the seams. I cut small pieces and trim them for fit before pulling the protective tape from the sticky tape. I made mine about 1/4 inch or so and that seemed to work well to stop the rattle. It beling black blends right in to the plastic area. I have used pieces of this material for other rattle problems as well. I gave another idea I found about rattles in the glove box and posted it at the end of the other section in this forum on rattles titled "Do you hear rattling noises."

I too HATE rattles and will not stop until they are fixed.

 

I've had my 2010 Prius for 9 months and the creaks and rattles have multiplied. Disappointing but I still love the car for other reasons. I took the car to the dealership a month after I bought the car. The dealer claimed there was no noise at all. However, I found a long thread of gray clay, the exact same color as the dashboard and center bridge, in my glove compartment after I picked up my car. Apparently my Toyota dealership tries to fix the dashboard rattles by stuffing the gray clay into trouble spots and they forgot to remove the extra when they finished checking out my car. If they put some of the clay in my dashboard it did nothing whatsoever because the noises remain the same. Still thought it might be of interest to those of you considering fixes to dampen dashboard rattles and noise.

 

He's Gumby Dam It!

I'm sorry, I just find it funny that your dealer would tell you they could find nothing, but then return you a car with clay inserted in the dashboard.

I'd be so tempted to return and demand an explanation for the mysterious clay appearance. Especially if they are saying they couldn't hear any noises.

Hmm..seems to me clay insertion isn't a spontaneous or random act, unless you are under 10 years old and likely to eat it at some point.

Someone should compile a book of auto dealership experiences. Sometimes the stories are so ridiculous.

 

After a week with my new Prius iv, I heard a lot of squeaky leather noises coming from the car this morning every few seconds. Luckily, they disappeared as soon as my wife got out with her bag.

 

Even after with all the media spotlight they are still doing it. Still lying and still hiding the truth. Very disappointing.

Anyway There are two or three sources of the problem when it comes down to rattling. After extensive foaming and etc I finally have a temporary rattle free Rattlus.

After I fixed the problem of the passenger side the rattle start to come from the centre.

For now I will address the centre console.

3 very major ratttle source are.

1. The Park button. The entire unit need to be taken out and foamed up. Foam as in Toyota anti rattling kit not your shaving foam or any other kind of foam.

2. The Plate of the gear stick. It make a bit if a rattling but not major. Again this is done by using Toyota anti rattlign kit. This you have to use a very thin type of felt.

3. The most major one atleast I think for me. The centre console is made of two halves and what it is making the rattling is when the joint of the two halves are not so tightly held together anymore.

You have to strip the top part of the centre console first befure you can see the joint. Superglue it. On top of that put more foam. Underneath the the sky colum put more anti foam around it like what most people have been doing so far. Vola no more rattling from the centre.

Next I have to tackle the arm rest. Everytime I put my arm on it, it makes creeking sound like haunted house.