Interior electrical noise

I too have noticed a high pitched beep coming from the dashboard of my Gen III. Only a bit annoying at low speeds without music. But I think I can live with it.

Can't tell anything about the nav. Haven't got one.

 

I haven't yet seen the GIII owners manual, but the GII manual had two facing pages about "unusual noises". Basically they say "anything you hear is normal". The car is quite busy, doing things you wouldn't think it would do when it does them. Lots of systems that "set up" just in case you might need them. Even when you're not there, some operate.

For example:
1. The inverter will run to keep the 12V system fully charged if you are in certain operating states.
2. The A/C system is electric and will run even if the engine is not running.
3. The braking system doesn't use vacuum for boost, it uses hydraulic pressure, derived by an electric pump. It will run even if the car is "off" and the FOB is not present.
4. The fuel vapour recovery system will cycle hours after you last ran the car. It will also test itself from time to time as required by programing.
5. You may hear the A/C system operating control doors/motors (remember, it is a heating and cooling system, also called "climate control").
6. You may be able to hear the electric motor and inverter run when on electric drive.
7. When you shut off the car you may hear very strange sounds as the car depressurizes the fuel and vapour recovery system.
8. When you shut off a GII car you will hear the coolant transfer pump putting hot coolant into the thermos.

There are others as well.

Many of these sounds you will not notice when the car is new. You get more attuned to the car as you spend time with it and begin to wonder about what the heck it is doing.

Be aware, even if you are "not using the Nav" IT doesn't know you may not need it's help and so it keeps up to date on your position and the map details of that position.

 

Ive noticed a strange buzzing noise 4 or 5 times in two months that Ive owned my car. Ive only heard it at night. Its a buzzing noise that sounds like a siren far away... The only way i can get it to stop is turn the headlights off, and back on, and then the noise goes away instantly. Im not sure if this is a problem or not.

 

We pickup ours last Friday. My wife is complaining about a low volumn high pitch noise probably coming from under the hood. It sounds like a high voltage transformer and we hear that when we accelerate with the gas engine running. Anyone else experience that?

 

You will hear many different noises generated by the Prius. I drove mine today before delivery and remember the noises well from my 2003. These are most normal for the vehicle, sometimes it sounds like a motor humming, or a buzzing, it's just nature of the beast.
If you are having something different don't hesitate to contact your dealer. I pretty much suspect your hearing the Electric Components of the Hybrid System...you will get used to them in time and never give them another thought! Best of luck...

 

oy. I hear all sorts of noises as I drive the car without the radio on quite a bit. Most annoying is are high pitched tones that are specific to certain levels of the accelerator being pressed.

After a few weeks, I realize you'll desensitize to them.

 

So far, I've identified:

• brake accumulator pump - when I touch the door handle
• air conditioner compressor - out side the car to the front and sides both otherwise muted in the cabin. This is the single loudest noise with the engine off.
• inverter whine - not constant, I have to hear it echoed off of a wall with the window down

Bob Wilson

 

GeorgeW,

If it's a electrical "HUM" as your describing, it could be something else. I noted turning off the headlights and back on helped one person. But I don't recall if you mentioned at night? In any event if you find something like that...Might be worth on a oil change or visit to the dealership to ask. If the car appears to be operating without any issue and no warning lights, I suspect it to be some operation of the vehicle, but we need SOUND on this, to hear it. If I could hear it now, I could better tell you what I think....Keep the group posted please.....

It's a little one of those freak sounds...I used to hear my Nav CD run and it took a while to figure it out...now it's all coming back to me.

 

I've got about ~450 miles on mine. When I pull out of the drive way in the morning with a cold engine, I can hear a slight whistling electrical motor like noise echoing off the houses as I go by at 15mph pulling up to the security gate. I can vary it's pitch by tapping the throttle. I don't hear it at any other time of the day. I'm very sensitive to what my vehicle is doing and the various sounds so to "me" I just know the people in the next county can hear it but not really. I had the wife pull it out and drive it while I was standing outside and I can't hear it unless I'm in the vehicle so I'm sure I'm still in my own personal "break in" phase of owning a Prius.

The first time I ever rode in a Prius, it was quickly obvious there were a lot of things going on under the hood and on the vehicle that normal car owners don't notice or hear. It's all good. I'll bet yours is fine.

 

That is inverter whine. The inverter converts DC into high frequency AC for the drive motors. The conversion process produces a small amount of mechanical noise or whine - completely normal.

Tom

 

When I drive mine past other cars or walls with my windows down I can hear a clicking outside the car bouncing off the surfaces. Speeds up and slows down based on my speed...sort sounds like something is slapping the wheel wells or something like that. Anyone else notice it?

 

I guess we just have to learn more about the noises and get use to them! I feel like sitting inside a robot with all the small noises! Never expected that kind of experience when we were thinking about getting the car, or even test driving the car.

I also believe that it is the noise of the inverter. But we will check it out at the dealer and let you guys know. Proud to be a Prius owner!

 

Thanks Bob for the response.

I'm not sure if I can get an audio recording of it. I hear it frequently but not all of the time. I also only hear it while driving in the city with various levels of acceleration. Sometimes it reminds me of some of the tones that they may ask you to identify during a hearing test, other times it is louder.


Very annoying when you just want to drive in quiet though, especially since it is not constant and changes in pitch and sound. I'll keep an eye out on what else is running in the car the next few times it pops up.

I'm hesitant to bring it up to the dealer until I can figure it out more...the car seems to make so many noises as it is, I'm sure they'd dismiss it without my ability to replicate it.

 

Not sure if it's applicable, but it could be the Plasmacluster--from the owner's manual:

Plasmacluster will operate in conjunction with the air conditioning fan motor when it is turned on.
This air conditioning system adopts plasmacluster technology, which helps to keep good air quality in the cabin by emitting positive and negative ions through the driver’s side vent.
A slight noise may be heard during operation. This is not a malfunction. Also, static electricity may be discharged near

 

I know that sound...mine does it too and it is annoying. I'm pretty sure thats the inverter. Very high pitched sustained whir...

 

I have the same noise of the inverter but goes together with a metal grinding noise on/off not all the time, I went to the dealer and the answer was "YOU DIDN'T NOTICE THAT BEFORE" which is wrong my wife just got with me in a long trip and asked me what is that new noise? is driving my crazy!! so I'm not the only one, the car has 6K miles and the sound wasn't there months ago, also noticed the dealer did not write down the problem on the service sheet? The Toyota dealers need to be more honest.

They told me was the ABS pump and is normal? is not normal they will fix the problem and release the fixes on the 2012 when the plug-in model will be available

Shame on Toyota, I just saw the video in youtube today about the rough start knocking sound WOW I hope I don't get that is pretty scarry!!!

check it out:

 

The Gen III uses a VFD type display panel for the display up under the windshield. VFDs use a high voltage inverter, so it is entirely possible that you might be hearing that. Regular cars get around this problem by continuously running a noisy gas engine.

Tom

 

Hi Tom is not the VFD screen, actually the noise is coming from under the engine and reflects to the passenger side inside the car, I will do some investigation this weekend but can't get much around the confined space of the engine.

I'm electrical engineer and spent much of my life re-designing and developing all kind of jobs, also studied physics had my own lab where I did lots of investigations and personal projects so I will go to hunt this annoying noise before gets worst.

The noise occurs in all kind of situations, I eliminated the probable sources by testing the car in different hybrid stages, the noise persist with:

- Gas engine off
- With the car cold or warm
- The AC off or on
- Rolling or complete stop
- without lights or lights on

I will try to record the noise and post the WAV table here tomorrow

if is not the car during movement, braking, AC or gas engine then must be the coolant pump used by the inverter which is the only part working, I don't mean the high pitch humming which is normal for this piece of equipment

this is an intermittent cracking grinding noise