I just drove my new 2011 IV with sunroof/sloar option and leather home yesterday and I noticed a sporadic low pitch rattle coming from the rear inside area. I will remove everything from the back today and see if it goes away. Any hints?
Be sure to check under the hatch area where the spare tire is stored for any loose items that may have been left in the storage tray or around the spare tire.
Yeah, check in the rear storage area. If there is nothing there which is loose, there is a chance it could have been the license plate rattling against the body of the car. That has happened to others as well.
Look at post #6 as a possible cause/solution. A member here found the spacer in his hatch was the culprit: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...ueak-rattle-finder-multi-mic-stethoscope.html
I am so disappointed that I found no sake! But one of these things fixed the problem. 1. padded the tag on the back 2. removed the car care kit 3. stuffed a towel around the jack stuff
Since I've seen many suffer from it, I'm still sticking with it being the tag lol. Whatever it was, glad you were able to solve it!
I have a similar sound (I think, based on the description, and the variety of sounds coming from this car ). I have narrowed mine down to the gas tank being full - when I fill up, for the first 3rd of the tank or so, every time you are slowing to a stop, or moving from a stop, you hear the low thudding in the back. I drove for a week with the entire content in the rear removed (including spare, jack, covers, storage etc etc), and still had the sound. At the time I was very concerned. Then I put the spare back in (don't know why!) and went to the dealer. They 'fixed' it by adjusting the spare tire! Which I kept telling them had been out of the car all week. But sure enough, the sound was gone (and so was a third of the gas). Filled up two weeks later, the sound returned. I thought it may be the wheel covers on my winter tires flexing or something, so off they came too - no difference. A week later, gas goes down, sound goes away. Now I am not sure if this is just the sound of the gas sloshing around, or if the gas tank itself is somehow loose, and moves around a bit when it is full (i.e. heavy) - the only thing is that I did not start hearing this until recently, but I am fairly certain at this point that it is related to having a full tank of gas.
