So a few weeks ago, I noticed a rattle in the hatchback of my 2008 Prius. I only notice it whenever I'm closing the trunk. Since it's really only a minor annoyance and I'm handy with tools, it's not worth taking to a dealer or a shop to fix up. I was wondering if anyone has any clues as to how to open up/remove the inside panel. My guess is that it's a wire harness that's come loose from a cable restraint, but I'd like to make sure that's the case (and fix it with a zip tie or something). Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.
The black trim panel on the inside of the hatch is held on with 11 blue plastic clips. To release the trim panel, just grab one corner with your hands and pull until the corner comes loose. Once you get one corner loose, then you can pull off the panel pretty easily. The rattle might be coming from a loose piece of hardware, such as one of the four nuts that hold the trim piece containing the license plate lights. That happened with my 2004. I used a magnetic wand to find the loose nut.
Mine was doing that and I quickly realized it was the license plate surrounder from the dealer that was rattling against the plate. try checking that
Also pay attention to if you hear the sound when driving and hitting bumps. I managed to break a few clips on the 'spoiler' on the hatchback, so now if I slam the trunk too hard, the clips on the far left and far right sides both come unclipped and make a really annoying rattling noise when driving over bumps in the road. If I press really hard on them, they clip back into place and the noise goes away, I probably need to replace the clips and fix the spoiler. I think I have read on here somewhere that the hatch spoiler is really wimpy and breaks easily?
I think I have your rattle My 05 with 222K miles has the rattle in the hatch, took apart all the plastic and trim and did my own special gorilla tape+fabric on everything I saw and still had the rattle. Now i realize many people have used the spoiler to try to open/close the hatch and some kids even sat on it before. How do you remove the spoiler to replace/repair the clips/bolts? Thanks
