then roll down the right rear window then left rear window see if you get a strange noise if not open right front window a little at a time I thought we had tire problems but the way the wind (air pressure) comes in it makes a hell of a lot of noise and when you talk it vibrates. I still think tires but dealer said no and wife said no but I never had a car do that before give it a try let me know please doesn't even have to be a double blind test (LOL)
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusmaybe @ May 2 2007, 02:15 PM) [snapback]434200[/snapback]</div> Guess I am glad to hear that in a sense. guess I'm not too crazy yet. I know maybe the BT Plate will take care of it. LOL, I laugh because this will make it in there at some point Im sure.
I've noticed this buffeting on many cars, not just the Prius. Wind deflectors don't seem to help with the noise, being an air pressure thing, but they're great in the rain. I just leave the windows up on the highway and toggle the air as I need it.
This happened with my last 4-door car, too. It's just just an oscillation caused by the moving air outside (low pressure) and stagnant air inside (high pressure). It's the exact same thing that happens when you blow over the top of a bottle. The frequency is just lower because of the larger volume of air within the car.
I've notice this in other cars, however I didn't try this out on my car... I find the whole "sensation" unpleasant.
Yep, that's a burble as they say in the skydiving world. Annoying to the T, although it's a great way to kill a conversation.
There have been other threads on this issue in the past. My last car, an '88 Nissan Stanza did the exact same thing. I don't have that issue very often because I rarely have passengers in the rear seat and when I do, they don't usually roll the windows down.
This is the first car that I have noticed it in our jeep G Cherokee 4 door no prob just a little road noise in the Prius it is loud and thumping and vibrates roll em up no prob. i like driving with the windows down fresh air in the country and all. NO city smog as we were used to in downtown PHX and CA.
Mine makes this very unpleasant sensation any time just one window is open if I'm going more than some speed. It diminishes very considerably if I open diagonal windows. I.e. left front and right rear. Especially if not too far open. The more aerodynamic the car, the greater the effect, I believe. That's why older cars didn't do it much.
My wife is REALLY sensitive to that. Gives her an instant headache, so we don't have the windows down on the freeway EVER. The Prius is about the worst car for this that we've had, for some reason.
The better the aerodynamics of a car, the more likely it is to get weird vibrations and oscillations with open windows. The Prius is very slippery, so opening windows at speed sets up some bad vibrations. It's not really designed for open windows at speed. There are some combinations of partially open front and back windows that work pretty well together, but it takes some experimentation to find ones that work. Tom
