Dash Rattle... already!

I have a rattle too! Currently about 5000 miles on the car and notice a rattle in either the center console or the area where the shift knob is. I think it's because that area connects the dash to the center console. Guess it might also be because the car is lowered 2"?

 

After a bit less than 3 months, my new Prius II developed a "cold weather" dash rattle. It's somewhere in the neighborhood of the glove compartment and happens with and without items in the compartment. It always starts when the engine hits a particular RPM. I can kind of manipulate the rattle a bit when I increase or decrease my speed, but that's not a real fix of course. My husband assures me that this can be fixed, but I'm not convinced. For now I'm just playing the radio just a bit louder.

 

Gotta tell you, I'd be really unhappy to have a consistent rattle in a new car. My 2009's dash gets a little bit of rattle in one spot, but very infrequently. If everytime I got in my new car and it rattled, frankly, I'd be pissed that the dealer has to take the dash or whatever apart. Toyota is supposed to sort these things out before selling the car, you know, NVH engineering.

I had a 2005 CBR600RR Honda motorcycle that had a consistent rattle when new. Turned out to be an easy fix - press on the plastic tank cover to stop the rattle, remove the cover to find a plastic shroud over the ECU showing a wear mark, glue some foam in tank cover, problem solved.

Fixing rattles in a Prius may not be so easy.

 

Success to report:

Our Prius has had a left-side dashboard rattle since new. It never got any better or worse in our first 5K miles.

I scheduled a service appointment with our dealer's Master Service Tech for yesterday morning. He had not experienced this noise before on the Gen 3 cars but when we did a test drive he said he heard the rattle too, and spent about 4 hours taking the dash apart and diagnosing a number of potential causes. This is a very busy part of the car's electronics and there were a number of cable-runs that, though properly installed, might be vibrating against a hard surface and transmitting the rattling noise. Though I cannot be more specific (as I wasn't going to pester him by standing over his shoulder for hours on end) he said mitigated a number of potential areas with zip-ties and then added foam where he felt it would do some good. After he buttoned it back up, we tested it and our Prius is now totally quiet.

Just wanted to add this result to the on-line data base for future owners.

 

I picked up a 2010 Prius a few days ago. I haven't had any rattles yet - I wonder if they fixed anything this late in the model year or if I'm just waiting to get started ....

 

Just out of curiosity, did the Tech let you observe how the dash was removed and then did you get a good look at the underside? If removal is not a big tear-down, I think I will approach my dealership for the same service. If I can get pictures, I will post them here.

 

what's the manufacture date on your Prius? mine was October. You should be able to find it on the driver side door jam.

 

I have a rattle around the hsi screen/windshield area that goes away if I tap the dash - as well as a rattle by the left drivers side speaker, which is clearly the door panel rubbing against the center console. I think the tsb may fix the first one, some felt for the second. My 5k service is due, we'll see what the tech does for those, plus the as yet unidentified rattle from the hatch area.

Does every major dealer have a master tech? I'll be going to San Francisco Toyota on Van Ness.

 

Is there a TSB for this?

 

August actually.

 

My 3 week old 2010 has a few rattles and creaks at certain rpm's and on certain road surfaces. Worse in the cold. I'm goin gto let my wife drive tomorrow so I can feel around and try to isolate where they are coming from.

There is a lot of hard plastic in this car, so this really isn't surprising... nor is it acceptable.

 

Maybe you got lucky with yours cause mine rattles in the dash. I think I solved my hatch rattle but the dash is getting worse. I think it's mainly from cold weather; it warmed up to mid 30s last week and the car was pretty quiet. Now it's back down to single digits and rattling again.

 

Oh, well that I can understand. I've never owned a car that DIDN'T rattle in the single digits ! As others have stated there is a lot of plastic (a Toyota trend in general I think). My Subaru was the same way (09 Forester). Actually that thing rattled no matter what, the location of the rattle just migrated around the cabin depending on the temperature .....

 

My car must have heard me talking, it was quiet as a church mouse this morning despite temps in the teens.

 

That's what I thought initially, my expectations were too high. However, when I drive my 2004 Mazda 6 it's pretty quiet regardless of the temp. Today for instance, -5F (gotta love Minnesota!) on my way to work, for the most part quiet, some creaks/rattles when hitting larger bumps but a big improvement over the brand new Prius.

I guess I've always thought Toyota was known for quality and certainly thought they would trump Mazda in that category, but as far as rattles it's worse in the Prius. I know some if it is design for fuel economy; the Prius suspension is very stiff (small bumps feel like potholes) and probably more plastic to lighten the car. Just didn't expect that much noise out of a new car, especially Toyota. Anyway, I still love the Prius, just providing feedback for others considering purchasing one or others experience the same problems.

 

I can hear the infamous rattle in the dash. I like what a poster earlier described it as: a dragon fly fluttering under the dash.

Its not loud, I never hear it w/ the radio on. The car is much quieter than the one I gave up.

I'll wait for a TSB - not having the boys rip apart the dash looking for gremlins.

Do we have a central place where TSBs are posted on this forum? I'd like to bookmark it.

 

Yes, he did. Though our dealer doesn't encourage visits by customers to watch the service techs work I always manage to pop in to have a look while our car is being worked on. Of the 4 hours of total time he was working on our dash rattle, it took the Master Tech about 1 hour to dig his way into the 'work site' and another hour to button it all up when he finished. Most all the dash & center console 'gubbins' were exposed - it was quite a job (that's they put a Master Tech on it). If I had known all I was to see I certainly would have brought my camera, it was very interesting.

 

That is upsetting..

 

Wow - that sounds really involved! Maybe my dealer won't allow a "pop in visit" by me, but I'd sure like to see the "gubbins" you mention. 4 hours is a long time...I just wonder how they remove that top dash panel? Some here have purchased the service manual so maybe they can post a pdf on how the top panel is extracted. I would think one precaution is the passenger air bag system. I would not want to be messing around with that! Thanks for your updates - and I (all of us here) hope your dash is rattle-free for the life of the car.

 

YES!!! Same thing. The rattle is quite loud and comes from the gauge area. I cant attribute it to cold, hot, wet or dry weather. I had it for a few months then finally decided to take it to the dealer and they could not replicate it. The day after the dealer it was back with a vengeance!

I have found that if I make a fist and tap lightly on the dash between the steering wheel and gauges (about where it is flat) I can duplicate the very rattle. This leads me to believe it is some type of clip inside the dash. The tech at the dealer was very hesitant to take the car apart but this rattle is driving me nuts.

Anyone get it fixed???