2011 prius = the rattle machine

Very strange, I have a 2011 and it's rock sound and doesn't make a squeek! Even after getting t-boned by a deer at 65MPH still no rattles or shakes. Took out front fender, passenger door, passenger rear door, rear quarter panel and still rock solid. Love the car.

 

My 2011 Prius 4 (nearly a month old and 1500 miles) has just developed a creaky dashboard. The bridge and dash creak and groan all over, left to right, especially over small bumps. The cold seems to make it worse.

Not yet a problem on the highway, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Definitely feeling let down, given Toyota's reputation on quality and given that the Prius is on track to become their flagship car.

My "new" car suddenly feels like an old haunted house! I wonder if these creaking sounds go away on their own after a while? I heard about rattle problems on the Prius before purchase, but didn't expect them to come on so soon. :-(

Also, are creaks/rattles etc covered under the 3yr/36K warranty?

 

I think the Prius is so quiet—and starts to get expensive when it's fully optioned out—that the rattles seem more objectionable.

My Fit isn't particularly quiet, it's cheaper too, and little imperfections don't seem to bother me nearly as much.

 

Sorry to hear that you are one of the unfortunate owners with a "rattler". Many here have really quiet Prii - and some (like myself) got one with ticks, rattles and squeaks. Nope, it never gets better so my suggestion is to take it to your dealer and ask them to take the dash off and add the necessary felting between parts to stop it. It should be covered under warranty.

They will probably require you to demonstrate the noises so pick a road near them ahead of time where you can easily duplicate the rattles. Be prepared to leave your car with them for up to 3 days and don't expect a free loaner. This is major surgery for a Prius.

 

During our one year service last week the service tech was able to locate and eliminate the loud rattle in the hatch area, free of charge. The service record says a right rear plastic panel was removed, packed with foam and replaced. Rattle is gone. I bought the tech a steak dinner.

 

Thread bump

Plant 5: OK, I think I've finally got some annoying rattle coming from what seems to be the exhaust heat shield from the front of the car. The hatch area has been rattling as usual but I put it down to the bigger wheels. Also the sunroof rattles a bit and I can't hear it when I close the covers. I haven't read all the thread so I presume someone else has this exhaust rattle.

 

I have only had my 9k mile 2011 for a few days but I have to say it mercifully has no rattles or plastic buzzing noises at all in the interior. I am extremely sensitive to those sorts of sounds and I'm not hearing any!

 

My R2D2 rides like a buckboard wagon over rough roads. Lots of buzzes, sqeaks, uncomfortable seats,wind noise. I long for my previous Toyota Avalon comfort, quiet & smooth ride. Have taken one long 125 mile trip since getting car 12/10. Thats it! I kick my butt everytime I get in & drive it( & wife of 58 years feels the same) & long for Avalon again. The upside is at the gas pump - but we only have less than 7,000 miles since purchase, so that's really a moot point.
Younger owners without arthritis will probably not mind the discomfort & enjoy this new tech toy. My son loves it when he drives it & wants to buy it from me - at a price a dealer would give me at trade-in value. We're just gonna keep driving it. Hard to admit to making a bad choice for so much $$,$$$, but here it is!

 

Rough ride and rattles ar proportional to the amount of overinflation of your tires above the recommendation on the door sill. I found that for me the best balance is 39 front 37 rear. Overinflation to improve mileage sounds great, but remember there is no free lunch!

 

Our '05 Prius developed a buzz in the dash around 30,000 miles, and found it was coming from a trim piece on the passenger side. We pried it out a little and put a thin scrap of clear plastic (from packaging) and the buzz went away. The '05 remained fairly rattle free through the rest of it's stay with us (130,000 miles). We always made sure we emptied the under floor storage bin in the rear of the car after a trip.

The '11 still hasn't piled up a lot of mileage, but so far no rattles or buzzes, thankfully. We did take a good vacation drive from Maine to Florida and back during the month of May. The car was a pleasure to travel in and we keep the tires inflated 40 PSI front/ 38 PSI rear.

Anyone having rattle or buzzing problems with their Prii should make sure to empty all cargo, make sure that anything lose is properly tied down or cushioned and that the rear under floor container is seated the way it should be. Check the storage bins in and under the "flying bridge" and attached console, too. Lose change and other stuff can make a pretty good racket when you're driving on coarse pavement. After that, if you still hear a rattle, at least you might be able to pinpoint and mitigate it.

 

I've not noticed any rattles or squeaks - I did notice however a slight whooshing noise a couple days ago. I kept thinking the right rear window was down a bit, checked, it wasn't, then thought maybe the door hadn't been closed completely - stopped and checked, nope, it was closed...the only thing I could figure was it had something to do with the venting for the battery. I've only heard it a few times so far, will keep trying to figure out where it is coming from.

 

Bringing this back up to date cause I have more complaints! lol...

Every time I think that I'm "over it" then soon after the rattling rattles the sh*t out of my right ear (loudest rattle on passenger side). I really really really like the Prius and would absolutely buy it again, but, as OP said "Come On!"

Thanks for reading, I just needed to let off some steam. Had a less than satisfactory day and on the way home all I could hear were the rattles.

 

Plastic, fantastic... you gotta love it.

 

Well, almost a year with the big red Prius and it's still the quiet one. There was a buzz on a back road a couple of months back, and I thought, here we go with the rattle/buzz afflictions! Not. Got home and found a set of keys (3 keys on a ring) that my wife had placed in the upper glove compartment. Took them out and the buzz came out with them!

So far, this car has been great. Hope everyone here can chase down and eliminate any rattle or buzz that pops up. And I also hope the big red Prius in the garage doesn't decide to develop any, either!

 

It seems that just about any cargo you haul in the door pockets,, glove compartments or console is fodder for rattles. Nothing inside the vehicle is designed around noise abatement. Even the glass is so thin that I sometimes mistake wind noise for an opened window. The car is just made for the sake of weight reduction and it certainly does show it ugly face when it comes to quality. Hopefully Toyota is listening.

 

Unfortunately, until we decide to get serious and do something about the goofy physical rules that govern our neighborhood, a car that gets superior MPG is going to have to be light and aero as it can. I haven't found the Prius to be an overly noisy car. Prius is a purpose built car to get us around as economically as possible and it does that extremely well. I don't know any other 5 passenger car that comes close.

What kind of roads do you drive on BZzap? I noticed that tirerack is selling Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus tires and reviews indicate that it's a really quiet and easy riding tire. Maybe that might help quiet your Prius?

I live in Maine and our roads aren't the best, especially now that we're going through the dreaded deep freeze and thaw cycles. I do lower the tire pressure a bit during road break up to ease the bigger shocks to the car. Another thing that I've done is line the bottoms of the console bin, cup holders and the upper glove box with thin rubber pads that I cut to fit. Helps dampen out some of the noise that cargo makes when it bounces around on the hard plastic.

Then there's always hearing protection if the Prius cacophony gets too much to bear.

 

They are not listening...selling too many cars can do that you a company

 

When the weather chilled here in the SoCal desert this winter (down into the high 30's some mornings), I noticed some rattling around the sunroof. I figured it was metal contraction. Pop it open a bit, it goes away. Close it up. It comes back. Fortunately we don't have many days like that and now that temps are moderating again I have not heard it in a while.

The second rattle-trap has nothing to do with the car: I bought a Proclip console mount holder for my iPhone and if the pavement is rough at all, it vibrates and rattles like crazy. I've had to remove and reinstall it several times and it seems to be ok for a while. It may also be the result of some cold weather impact on the plastic on plastic. Overall I like the Proclip mount very much. Except when it starts oscillating on some drives.

 

The only time I've heard a rattle is from the trunk cover in back when I've gone over a rough patch of train tracks.

Questions to all those with horrible rattles:

1. Are you inflating your tires past the sticker on your car?
2. Do the roads suck where you live? I mean are the rough roads?

Just wondering as I know when I had my Focus and I tried to figure out a way to get more than 20k out of a set of tires because the car aye them up, I tried the max pressure on the sidewall and my car rode rough and rattled like crazy. Tires are part of the "shock absorption" in vehicles. If you have them blown up to max or past max your ride will be rougher and more rattles can occur. Not too mention it wears down parts on the interior from extra vibrations.

Just some thoughts here.

 

Here in Arizona, we refer to the Prius as the "Rattler."