Gen 3 Dashboard rattles & creaks

After watching the Prius assembly videos on Youtube... and changing out my Level II's head unit... I'm surprised it doesn't squeak more than it does!

Slapped together, push-to-fit, plastic-on-plastic.

Don't get me wrong... I love the car... but the "carrozzeria" is a cross between a Tinkertoy and Lego sets!

Full Disclosure: I just watched an hour-long special on the engineering and assembly of the Bugatti Veyron

 

Except in the very specific case of the YouTube armrest creaking there is nothing "to find". It is quite apparent in the video and thus should be easy to demonstrate.

Maybe my problem is that I'm just too non-confrontational and willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. I just figure that if it is under warranty and I can demonstrate it that I should give the dealer the chance to fix it. Maybe I have one of those rare dealers. Then again, maybe I have figured out that the way you treat others does have an impact on the way they treat you. Calm, friendly, persistence, without exhibiting anger, works more often than not. (50% of the time ... it works every time!)

 

It isn't just Toyota or Toyota dealerships, I had a new Honda Accord with a few rattles and the dealer was impossible. I was happy to see that dealership go under a few years later. I fixed the rattles myself and the Accord ended up being a good dependable car, I drove it for 7 years and had no serious problems.

 

A Prius without rattles...
A Honda without rattles...
A Prius with rattles....
A Honda with rattles...

...what is the world coming to....

 

25,000 miles on my Prius and luckily no rattles yet at least.

My 2007 Honda Fit however drives me crazy with dashboard rattles.

 

By just breezing through this thread I'm wondering if the earliest of the 2010s had better quality control.
I bought my 2010 III in June of 2009 and have had virtually no problems. Not rattles,creaks, breaking problems before and after the recall. All is OK

 

I have a friend with a G3 that was built earlier than mine. It was rattle-free, but now that it is a year old, yep, it's starting to rattle too! So you might have one that seems fine, but give it some time and trouble can start.

Now that I'm "tuned in" to the passenger buzz sound, I can faintly hear it in his Prius too. Add to that, his lower glove box is rattling just like mine did. He wants me to fix his - but the caveat is I had to "break" the front cover panel off of my lower box to remedy the rattle. I'm not sure I want to take that risk with a friend's car!

 

I noticed a faint ticking from the glove box(es) yesterday, so last night I stuck some of those small felt sticky pads where the doors closed. Made them a bit snug and tight to push shut, but stopped the noise. I'm keeping fingers crossed the 'internal' rattle does not appear.

 

I watched that a while back--pretty impressive. There's also a series called Ultimate Factories, and they've had episodes on the Porsche and Ferrari factories--also pretty impressive. Search YouTube if interested.

 

This is a followup to my original post. After four trips to the dealer (Oxnard, CA. Toyota), the service manager, who was quite patient and committed, arranged for a district technician to get involved. They supplied us with a nice Camry loaner and kept the Prius for two days, presumable disassembling the dashboard, glove box, center console, etc. We are delighted that all five rattles are now silenced, as we otherwise liked the car a lot and are glad we don't have to endure the expense of trading it in. Thanks for your helpful responses. JN

 

I don't have a SG, but could always get that buzz about 3/4+ the way up on the HSI. See my discoveries about this noise on page 36 here. The stuffed rags above the right strut have solved that noise completely. But the funny thing is, you solve some rattles and more evolve. I found out that the climate control module below the radio is make of 2 types of plastic. I snapped it out and put silicon between the white and black plastic pieces. Luckily, I could unscrew it a bit, add the silicon and re-tighten. That rattle is now gone too.

 

It would be nice if the service dept shared (in detail) exactly what they did, where they placed any materials, so that others could learn from them what they did to silence the noises.

It seems like every service dept is pretty much on their own to figure this out. And while I realize the rattles appear in different spots for different people, there still must be some areas of commonality and some learning that can take place.

 

I took my car in on Monday morning (-8c) to have the dealership solve the rattling my car has.

Got the car back and it was hovering around 0c out - seemed pretty quiet.

Next morning, -8c again... all the same rattles.

Sigh.

I noticed they just stuck black felt tape in a bunch of spots, and now some of the panels don't line up. I hate dealing/fighting to get stuff done right.

-Iain

 

it's just the loose change you,ve left in different compartments.

 

To fix the ARMREST CREAK: You will be happy to know I was able to resolve this one. Simply remove the top off of the console. and you will see little fingers that rub up against the plastic console, you need to cover the contact points with felt. I put felt with sticky backing on it (got from michaels craft store).
good Luck!

 

This is EXACTLY when I get my rattle. I will try your suggestions and see how it pans out.

 

It completely solved that noise but it took me weeks to finally discover the cause. The A frame holes into the engine compartment are present on both passenger and driver sides - I plugged them both to be sure.

Some here were concerned the rags could trap moisture in rainy climates. I can't speak to that as it hardly ever rains here. If you are fearful of possible corrosion maybe styrofoam would also work. The rags immediately stopped that "buzz". Please be careful as you force the wadded rags up in the "rabbit hole". You don't want to dent the fender in the process.

 

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From reading everything online it seems that everyone's Gen 3 rattles, creaks, or makes noises to some extent. I have been told that this is due to the eco-plastics that are used to construct the dash. Its not as soft and pliable as most normal car's dashboards are, so thus it creaks a bit. I wouldn't suggest having a Toyota service dept take the dash apart. That would probably only lead to more noises and frustration.