FM Radio Static When Regenerative Braking/Coasting

Check your 12v battery terminals for corrosion or loose connections. In my experience noise coming into the radio comes from corroded terminals on the battery or cables from the battery. Probably the most likely is the Negative battery cable where it connects to the chassis on a bolt below the rear passenger side light cluster. Again check to see if it doesn't have some corrosion on the connector and that it isn't loose.
I think the next most likely is on the underside of the wire terminal that connects to the positive post. Mine had a bit of green colored corrosion on it when I changed my 12v. If you have any corrosion use a wire brush to scrape it off and a light dab of dielectric grease (not vaseline) when you reconnect. I hope this helps.

 

I've been having an intermittent problem on the AM band in my 2005 (never in the 2006). I have paid dealers much money to check all the grounds - nobody knows nuthin' (except the cashier). Toyota customer care knows nuthin'. It is NOT spark plug noise; trust me, I know exactly how that sounds (my first car was a '53 Chevy).

I can hear the Prius controllers when accelerating, decelerating (generating power from the rear wheels), when the engine starts or stops, and when other Prius stuff is going on. Each function has a different sound, and I can recognize what's going on just by the sound now. This isn't computer software where they can just label a defect as a feature and keep on selling the darn stuff. I don't need audio feedback to keep me up to date on the controller functions.

Then the weather turns cold and it disappears completely. Or not. I even paid to have the antenna mounting hardware tightened. That wasn't it.

The noises are not terribly loud, but certainly are annoying - and the noise indicates a problem in the function of the vehicle. This is not restricted to weak AM stations, nor does it matter which end of the AM band I'm on. There's no problem on FM1 or FM2.

I could try the above suggestions again; they make perfect sense. It's obviously a bad ground problem SOMEWHERE, but it can't be found. I'm on 12-volt battery #2 in the 2005.

Professor Chaos - is that you Butters?

OLD GUY STORY: I had a 1984 Oldsmobile Ciera with a loud whining noise in the radio. After weeks of work, I accidentally found that the negative battery terminal moved even though the terminal nut was TIGHT. The threads in the negative side of the side-terminal battery were not tapped all the way down to the bottom. Weird.