Buzzing

I actually hear more noises in my Gen 2 than my 2015 Gen 3. The only buzzing sound you should be able to hear is possibly the brake accumulator pump, will activate every couple times you press the brake. Any other buzzing sound probably wouldn't be normal.

 

could be inverter whine, maybe drive another to listen.

 

My guess IS also that you are hearing the inverter whine.
I believe from Gen 2-Gen 3 Toyota shrank some components, and the inverter in Gen 3 is different.

I never owned a Gen 2. I don't really hear or I am able to ignore the whine with the my Gen 3 Prius. If yours is consistently noticeable, you might want to bring it up with your service department.

 

you should have your dealer check it, it's under warranty. They'll tell you if it's normalactually the AC on the gen3 is quite loud, especially noticeable when you are outside the car with the AC on

 

Listen to loud music for awhile, or leave the window open on the highway for a while, or fail to use required hearing protection at work. It will damage your hearing enough you will be like most of us, unable to hear above about 8 kHz.

 

Or just wait a few years, until your high frequency hearing thresholds drops below the frequency of the whine

At one time, the horizontal rescan of some traditional TVs, at 15.75 kHz, really annoyed me. By age 40-ish, that problem was completely gone. The TVs didn't get quieter, my ears stiffened with age and shut out that buzz. (In that era, I could confirm specific frequencies with lab equipment at work.)

Recently, 50-something and playing a swept tone generator found on YouTube (lacking access to the previous lab equipment), I could hear up to only 13 kHz. So could my brother.

But dad could hear only to about 1.5 kHz, with his hearing aids in place. No wonder he couldn't hear the shrill feedback oscillation of those devices when he took them out in the evening. I had to retrain him to turn them off, not only to quit annoying us, but also to improve battery life. This may also explain why he has more trouble understanding some females with higher pitched voices.

 

what?

 

A whine alone is not a safety issue, so there will not be a recall.

But if some units are significantly worse than normal, and enough owners complain, there might be a TSB (technical service bulletin).

If the middle-age service writers and technicians can't hear it (aged related hearing loss seems to be inevitable), seek out the youngest staff available. You might need to try several of them, as loud music has caused a lot of premature hearing loss in young folks too.

 

it's buzzing, not fuzzing.

 

Inverter whine is "normal" in a Prius. I hear mine most of the time, and I'm 67. It's a good sound. Tells you you're saving money.
I suspect it would be hard to eliminate as it's a 5-10 kW device. Lots of energy there.

Perhaps some might complain about the exhaust note of, say, a Mustang? Or maybe not? It's easy to fix though. I'm told bananas up the tailpipe do it.

 

Yes, it's probably inverter whine. I can always tell when a Prius or other hybrid is driving by me. It's a distinct sound.

No one has mentioned it yet in this thread, but there is also the VPNS speaker that also emits a sound that some describe as a spaceship or flying saucer sound. I've never heard a real live flying saucer before, so I'm not sure.

 

good point about the vpns, but only up to 15 mph. perhaps o/p hears it while traveling slowly with windows down.

 

Most of the time, huh? If it continues when you're far from your car, that good sound might be tinnitus.

Seriously, at first I thought that whine was gear noise.

 

You'll hear the generator whine any time you're slowing. Our previous Civic Hybrid made a similar sound.

 

any speed?