2012 Prius v Groaning Noise

I've had it happen with and without passengers.

 

I bought my prius v3 on April 29 2012 and the groaning noise has been there since day one. I brought it back to the dealer twice now and they claim they don't hear it. But, they asked me to leave it overnight which I am going to do tomorrow night. I hope they hear it this time. It's there all the time whether it's hot or cold out or dry or wet. It is getting worse. If they can't fix it, I will pursue the lemon law for Washington State.

 

NHTSA ODI ID Number : 10445290

No documents or status available.

 

Is there something we can do with this ODI ID Number? Can we be a part of this complaint or do we file our own?

I also live in Los Angeles and have had this noise since we first got the Prius V in April of 2012. The car is at the dealership tonight for the second time, hoping that they will hear the noise this time since they didn't hear anything the first time.

Will probably call the Torrance office tomorrow if the dealership cannot find a solution.

 

We have a relatively new V2 that does not have the groan. However, we had this problem on a VW Passat. It took weeks of troubleshooting but it turned out to be tire noise. I was convinced that the problem was a bad wheel bearing but changing tire brand fixed it. For those of you having the problem, please report which tire you have. State tire brand, model, size and mileage. Let's see if a pattern emerges.

 

I wish it was as easy as changing tires and/or wheels but been there, done that. I started off with Michelin Energy Saver AS tires on oem 16" wheels after buying my "v" the beginning of Nov. 2011. Developed the groan later that month under cool/wet conditions. Took the Michelin tires off and replaced them with Blizzak WS70 studless winter tires on the same oem stock wheels. Groan still present under cool/wet conditions. Just before spring rolled around I bought new American Racing custom wheels and had the Michelin tires mounted on those and around the end of March I bolted that set-up on the v. I went 2 or 3 weeks without any groan and I thought maybe the problem was gone, which could have pointed to the wheels as a problem. No such luck. Weather got cool and moist and the groan reappeared. I also might add that I made sure that the lug nuts were torqued to spec during both the winter and spring change-overs. I don't know what the answer is but it's not tires or wheels.

 

I have had the groaning/moaning sound (possibly from the brakes) since day one with my new 2012 Prius V. I brought it back to the dealer three times. The first two times they stated they didn't hear the noise. The third time they did hear it, so they cleaned and lubed the pads and shim plates. The sound was gone for two days but is back again. I will be bringing it back for the fourth time this week.

 

My groaning noise went away maybe it was the car breaking in I now have almost 19k miles on my V.

 

Great! Maybe there's hope after all. I only have 8k on mine but I have noticed recently that it occurs less often and for a shorter period of time.

 

The third time I brought it back to Toyota, they did hear the groaning and they cleaned and lubricated the brake pads, calipers and installed a brake kit (shims) on the rear brakes. It helps a little. The groaning noise is not as bad. If I let the car roll back to a stop without applying the brakes there is no groaning when I move forward. (But, this is not a safe way to stop.) That's why I think it is something to do with the "hill holder" or driver braking assist or whatever they call it. When the driver hill brake assist engages, it does not seem to release completely when it should (when the car moves forward). I don't think you will see a service bulletin on this problem too soon since it is not a safety issue, but it is very annoying.

 

Yes, I do. My 2012 Prius V3 has had that groaning/moaning noise since the day I got the car. It's there whether it's 40 or 80 degrees out. It goes away after I drive a couple or three blocks. Then, it comes back if I park the car for about an hour or so. I took it back to Toyota three times. The first two times they didn't hear the moaning but they did the third time I returned it.
They cleaned the pads and calipers and put a shim kit in the rear brakes. It helps a little but the noise is still there. I was hoping the noise would disappear after a while but the car is 7 months old now and the noise is still there.

I think it has something to do with the "driver hill assist" feature or the "hill holder" as some cars call it. There are five or six sensors involved with the hill holder feature and my hunch is that one or more of those sensors is not working as it should. As with other Prius owners, I am hoping Toyota will issue a service bulletin on the problem once they have the correction figured out.

 

It's interesting to me that mine just started making that noise at about 4300 miles, and it only groans about a dozen times -- very obviously with the revolution of the rear wheels, since it speeds up as I do.

 

We have had the "v" since March 2012. Car is always parked in the garage over night. Noticed the "groan" this past summer,especially if the car had not been driven for more than one day. I,too, believe that either the emergency brake or parking brake is not fully releasing. I am currently experimenting with parking the car and not setting the emergency and/or the parking brake and attempting to further diagnose the problem which quickly goes away with the first couple of brake applications. Just read another post which mentioned the "hill assist" feature. I am going to now include applying/releasing the brake pedal before I move the car forward (on initial start up) to try and further diagnose the cause of the groan.
I found you cannot shut off the power switch without the car selecting the "P" switch to the on position (an obvious safety feature). Anyhow after carefully reading the owner's manual concerning the "parking" brake (They choose to call it a parking vs. emergency brake), It tells you to release the parking brake by FIRST applying the regular brake pedal and while holding it, then release the parking brake. The car had not been driven in a day or two, so I first tried releasing the "parking" brake as I described, then I stepped on the regular brake pedal moderately hard prior to selecting "D" on the shifter. When the car then moved forward, the "groaning" sound was absent. I will do more tests and see if this was just an isolated event or the sequence I described has a predictable effect on the "groan".

 

See the post about this on the main forum.

 

Add me to this list...

I have a new Prius V Five (purchased in August 2012) driven a little over 2,500 miles, and I'm experiencing the same noise that papaRich described as an "owl hooting" -- hence, it's not so much of a "groaning noise" for me. The noise is exactly the same as kcwl recorded in his YouTube video

but mine is much, much more pronounced! My problem is especially noticeable when making left turns, but disappears after a few hundred yards of driving. The "hooting" definitely "oscillates" with the rotation of the tire and emanates from my rear right side. Unlike others, I do get this noise also when driving in reverse, albeit it's not as loud.

I'm able to reproduce this problem every single morning for the past 3+ weeks (100% Toyota "reliability" ;D) after it's been sitting in my garage for a few hours, but sometimes after merely parking for 10 minutes on the parking lot after dropping off my daughter at school. The weather is currently in the mid 50s and (as typical for the NW area here in Tacoma, WA) damp, moist, rainy, you name it.

I've been at the dealership twice now: The first time, the techs couldn't reproduce the problem, but a week later when I asked them to leave the car outside parked overnight, they finally confirmed the squeaking. According to a (admittedly very friendly) service rep, I wasn't the only one with this issue, but she assured me that this was did not pose a safety concern, and the engineers at the Toyota headquarters were "working" on it..

Since this is a very frustrating, embarrassing, and time-consuming situation to have a *new* car with such a flaw, I came across this forum only to find out that this noise was not so new at all. The first posting is dated back at the beginning of 2012 with Prius V owners experiencing problems in 2011, which leads me to think that Toyota hasn't come up with anything, yet.

And yes, I can confirm papaRich's comment that Toyota has put a lockdown on any work in regards to the noise. My suggestion to replace the brakes with new ones were denied because they were not allowed to do so.

I never had such an issue with my 2003 Camry or my 2002 Rav4 and neither with my two loaner cars (2012 Corolla and 2012 Camry LE -- both with 4000+ miles) that were given to me while my Prius was in the shop.

DD

PS: Everyone needs to send a link to this discussion to their dealers!

 

The german version of the Prius v (called Prius+ here, Version ZVW40) has the same problem.
It happens after parking in the night. Even without using the parking brake.

My Toyota dealer says that it is a known problem and Toyota Germany is working on it. They will publish a "Technical Service Bulletin" shortly and we will get some parts changed.

Now I'm waiting

 

Well, considering that this problem has existed for quite a while already, I wouldn't hold my breath that this issue would be fixed anytime "shortly" -- whenever that is...

But please keep us posted!

 

I found your analysis of the groaning noise extremely interesting since I have the same problem with my Prius V3 since day one and every day for the past seven months. When you say "reverse polarity on the generator," do you mean the electric motor? Does that mean the groaning noise will never disappear for those of us who brake lightly?

 

I had the same problem for months and despite my complaints, no solution could be provided by Toyota. Recently, I began using my emergency break after parking the car and much to my surprise, the groaning noise no longer occurs.