Gen 2 Rattle

[T3Dan]

Afternoon all - having had several months of quiet, trouble free driving, my Gen 2 Prius has developed a particularly annoying rattle from the speedo/instrument panel. Seems to come and go depending on the road surface and the speed driven on the m'way.

I can't see a particular cause, and I may just have to put up with it, however I'd be interested to know if anyone else has had this issue in the past?

[korat102]

In the 9 years I had my 2nd gen Prius, the only issue like that was an occasional mild buzz from the centre of the dashboard. If I pressed down on the dash above the display, it'd stop for a while then gradually come back again. I never did get to the bottom of it, didn't fancy tearing the dash out for that. Could have been a couple of bits of plastic rubbing or a loose cable making intermittent contact with something. Source of buzzes and rattles can be really difficult to locate.

Does yours go away if you press (gently) on the instrument panel or anything around it?

Sounds daft but something I've seen is a small object put on the dashboard dropped down to the windscreen where it can barely be seen. That can cause annoying rattles.

[T3Dan]

Phil - yes, that's exactly it and it does stop when you put a hand on the top of the instrument panel. As you say, I have no desire to rip out the entire dash for the sake of a rattle, so I will just have to put up with it. At one stage there was a rattle coming from the upper glove box, however that seems to have gone, only to be replaced by this - infuriating...

I feel a bit daft moaning about such a tiny thing, but I guess that's evidence of the rest of the car being perfect!