Are Prius' PRONE to SQUEAKS & RATTLES?

Keep in mind not all Prii are alike.

Your 2004 was part of the 2004-2005 hard plastic dash, which inherently will have more rattles than softer plastic like what was found in the 2006 through 2009 and now in the GenIII it is different again but still softer than the 04-05.

 

My front passenger seat rattles. But, I think its due to how I put the seat cover on and not the car. Its actually much quieter then my old Camry. The Camry was more "luxurious" and the Prius is "utilitarian". The Prius is so quiet compared to the Camry.

 

My only two complaints were with the rattles and the craptacular radio in my Two. Most of the rattles were fixed, but it still had a weird one with the tailgate. I ended up trading for a car that best suited my needs for sun and fun. When they make a Mustang convertible Hybrid I will let ya know what I think of that

 

Hi mtbjay my 2010 Prius rattles a lot!! it was driving me crazy but I decided to stop worrying about it and pump up the volume with a good heavy metal LOL !!! , in my case there are more pops and cracks than rattles itself seems that the cheap plastics in combination with the hard suspension makes the noise more noticeable very annoying but hey I get 51 MPG so that's why I bought the car. I just hope our voice and all of us here make Toyota aware that there is a design and quality problem in the car.

I went to the dealer many time for the rattles, here in Florida dealers are brutal they almost laughed in my face, they told me my car has nothing!!

Hope the mid cycle refresh for 2013 comes with a bunch of stuff improved!

I'm one of those who likes to keep my cars for at least 2 years after paying them off, this is the first time I will jump the gun and buy in 2013 a newer version or moving to another car.

Good luck in your decision, if you are looking for MPG this is the best car for that, however there are other nicer options out there less expensive but also less efficient!

 

I wonder if these squeaks & rattles are from chassis flex? Having a swaybar in the front but none in the rear will cause the chassis to twist on bumps which could turn into squeaks & rattles once the chassis loosens up.

We need feedback from someone that has installed the chassis braces before they had squeaks & rattles and see if they don't have any after a time. I personally have had many cars that I installed chassis braces on, and the car was stone quiet for as long as I owned it, which that included several years of autocross use.

If that is the case with the Prius, then it needs to come from the factory with a rear swaybar as well as the front swaybar to lessen the chassis flex. A strut tower brace and under body chassis braces would help also.

Mike

 

The twist beam rear axle is a sway bar. Take good look at it and think about what it does when you try to move one rear wheel up or down.

 

But is it strong enough to balance the twisting motion from the front suspension to the rear suspension? The car as stock, has a huge amount of rear steer while driving in heavy cross winds. Others have said, in suspension threads, that after they added a rear swaybar that the wandering (rear steer effect) was eliminated. That tells me the chassis is twisting as the front swaybar is trying to hold the car flat, but the rear axle is not strong enough to prevent the rear from leaning, which causes a chassis twist, and rear suspension alignment moving around as it twists. With the chassis twisting, it will loosen up and cause squeaks & rattles. How much flex is how fast the chassis loosens up. A vehicle braced well, or designed to have a rigid chassis not requiring braces, & with swaybar's that are balanced front & rear, will not have a twisting chassis and not loosen up.

Take a vehicle with a flexible chassis and drive it on some rough roads or continually push it in the corners for a while, and it will turn into a rattle box If it is always driven on smooth roads and not pushed hard in corners, it will very likely stay tight and pleasantly quiet

Mike

 

It's been days since the OP posted and he hasn't had any activity since then. It seems like he's tossed a grenade and ran. I'm not sure it's worth posting further until we hear back from the OP.

It seems like the OP is referring to the Gen 3, so posting Gen 2 experiences are pointless. Their interiors are totally different.

 

Another Prius hater :der:

Ban the fool :moony:

Mike

 

Just got this car, no noise except from the road, tires, and occasionally the engine.

 

Mine, now with 10k on it, has a bunch of squeaks and rattles. I took it in the first time at 5k for them. They fixed some. It went back last week for its 1st oil change and squeak repair. When I picked it up they said they could not duplicate the squeaks. I said "get in". We drove around the parking lot and he heard every one of them. It goes in Wednesday to get them fixed.

Last time they gave me the "its plastic" excuse. I said if thats the case then why doesn't the metal engine make a lot of metallic noises? I pointed out that the rubber door gasket doesn't make any kind of rubber squeaking sounds. Then I suggested we get into a Camry and go for a ride and listen to their plastic dash.

 

Got it back today and so far it seems OK. They said they "foamed" things. Whatever foam is. But it does sound like its fixed now. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

From TSBs I've looked at for other automakers regarding interior squeak and rattle repairs, it seems pretty standard practice use pieces of foam or foam tape to fix them.

Try Googling for foam tape rattle repair tsb.