rattle trap

just got through seeing my friend's brand new 2013 Civic Hybrid in a pretty white Blizzard type color....

the interior materials in Civic Hybrid handily blow the Prius away. Honda used soft touch type materials and textures that won't scratch at the drop of a hat like the vertically grained hard plastic all over the doors and glove boxes in Prius.

also looked at the Civic steering column to find it dead on straight and inline with the seat, unlike the 'all-new' Corolla's steering column which comes out of the dash from the right and is NOT inline with the seat.

 

My interior must be wearing in, it doesn't make as much noise as when I first bought it.

 

Hopefully mine will rattle itself to sleep too.

 

'13 with nearly 14k miles. It has rattled since I got it. Everything is hard plastic, so I'm not surprised. I also don't see the dealer helping out much. The interior quality was certainly not the aspect that sold me on this car.

 

My center area (2013 with less than 4000 miles) rattles when cold. If I squeeze the 2 cup holders together, it stops. I have no idea how to fix this.

 

i'm thinking of trading in for a nice 'quiet' civic.

 

Wow, sorry to see this type of thread on the 13s. I thought Toyota listened and went with softer plastics to solve this issue after the 11s. There was a thread a week, it seemed, on rattles and noises on the G3s when they first came out. I'm one who took my interior apart (dash included) experimenting with felt-linings where plastics meet and also using thick silicon (plumber's high-temp grease) on all of the stab-lock prongs and sockets to stop the squeaks and ticking sounds.
It works for awhile but this plastic tends to dry out and get more brittle as time goes on. Sorry to report that I still get some interior noises after all of my work. Like someone said, it's the nature of the beast.

 

Ah!!!!! Riiiiiiight!
Gotta love ya! In a manly kind of way! I better stop before I get in to deep!

 

Higher tire pressures=more rattles, at least it did in my 11 Prius Liftback. 39 front 37 rear was the limit for me.

 

I think you are right. That's probably the price we pay for MPG. Also, it could be just me, but the driver's seat is not the most comfortable seat that I have ever had. On the bright side, the Prius is very economical to own, plus the car is high quality. My 2011 has 43,000 miles on it and not a penny yet for repairs.

 

Reasons I own a Prius:

1. MPG - nothing comes close for the price, really. I've checked...

2. Cheap to maintain

My reasons for owning this car do not go beyond that. And probably never will. I commute 65 miles a day and there isn't a car that can touch this car in the commuter department.

 

I live in Chicago, home of most of the time the highest gas prices in the U.S. When gas prices went to about $4.60 per gallon in 2011 that was enough for me and that is why I bought my Prius. I bought just for quality and low operating costs and it has lived up to that.

 

sinc we're changing this thread from 'rattles' to 'why i bought my prius", i think they're cool!

 

The three things that seem to exacerbate noises in the Prius:
- Cold temps
- Higher than Toyota recommended tire pressures
- Poor roads

If you get an 85 deg day on new smooth asphalt on 32psi tires- the Prius is quiet as a lamb, change any one of the above... the symphony of noises begin.

 

I removed the 4 bolts from the inside bottom of the center bin and pushed the bin forward as much as it would go, held it there while tightening the bolts.

This seems to have fixed the rattle/buzzing for now!

I say for now because I expect that they may come back over time. No idea why this would have fixed them but I'm happy it did.

 

My Prius is incredibly quiet on the freeway (probably due to smoothness) but once I hit the off ramp and regular side roads it's all over. The imperfections bring out the jingles.

 

No, that is your ears, filtering out more noise with age.

Or a weakening hearing aid battery.

 

Nope, hearing's fine. Maybe a PiP is just better.