2010 Prius V steering clunking noise

i have, but it's minimal and barely perceivable feeling (no noise).
this has been a problem on various toyotas and can be fixed by injecting small amount of oil in the shaft area. there is a youtube how to on RAV4 i assume prius is similar but didn't have a chance to do it yet.

how bad is it?

my son's saturn has a pop that can be heard and felt and the whole steering gear it worn out (140,000 miles).

 

i would try the oil fix first because it's so simple. mine started at about 50,000 miles, but it's so subtle, i'm not worried. and it's not getting worse at 75,000 miles.

 

Mine has been doing that since it was new. The dealer told me not to worry about it. It still clunks ocasionally when turning the steering wheel while parking or leaving a parking spot.

 

I did bring it to the dealer. It never happened consistently enough for them to reproduce it. I think they inspected it and said everything looked OK. I don't think it's serious. That was 5 years ago. It hasn't gotten any worse since then.

Your clunk sounds more serious since it just started happening. Mine is almost imperceptible. I can feel it more than hear it.

 

@JC91006 would be interested to hear how did you resolve this issue. I think I have the same on my Prius V 2012.

 

I have the same on my 2012 V as well.. it's been like that for the last +20k miles..

Oddly, I've asked the dealership about it and they (apparently) don't notice it.. IDK how they can't

Did you get yours fixed?
Is this a safety issue or just a nuisance?

 

Thank you for your note on it. Do you know how many miles you had it replaced at?
Oddly, my wife's Gen3 liftback is perfectly fine.. but she's at ~75k.. I'm currently at ~110k.. and it seems to clunk worse than when I first noticed it.

 

I may try going this route.. do you have any suggestions as to how to get started? I'm not exactly happy with our current dealership right now so was hopeful to go straight to Toyota if that is how you did it.

 

My 2013 Prius developed this clunk recently. The cause was a loose pinch joint on the intermediate steering column's lower U-joint. To fix this I took off the plastic cover that rests on the floor of the car down near the brake and accelerator pedals. I tightened that joint. this is a safety issue and I am surprised and disappointed anyone would suggest oil : O for loose steering. Replacing the intermediate steering column shaft would also fix this problem but only because it would be tightened properly.

160,000 miles on mine.

PS - I initially thought that my noise was coming from various parts in the front suspension. I looked for all those noise sources and didn't find anything wrong. I only realized it was a problem in the steering column as I was doing this troubleshooting. The first symptom had been clunks when driving at low speed - such as parking lots and running over holes or over big defects in the road.

 

This is exactly what my problem is.. I'm curious as to how you tightened the joint? Is this a steering intermediate shaft a thing that could be a DIY? (easily I wonder?)

 

Thank you for your note and for the process.. I was a good customer.. until they messed me around when I questioned my timing cover leak.. & the $2400 to R&R my engine.. when I was previously told the leak was an inspection cover gasket they've already changed out twice. I started asking questions and the service writer got short and defensive with me. All I wanted to know was the answers to my questions. (and he copped an attitude with me) I sent the Service Manager an email about my experience and I never heard back from him. It's been crickets.. I've vented here on a separate post. still not happy with that experience and we've been going to them for years.