Dashboard Farting! Common Problem?

[Birty]

Only way to describe it really! Noise comes from area to the right of the steering wheel near the windscreen. It only happens under certain revs for a short time but it drives me mad!! Its a deep sounding vibration. Also center console rattles unless i apply very light pressure with my arm and also a rattle from center area near display which goes if i push the top of the display up towards the windscreen slightly.. Mini acro prop between lower and upper display area would sort it! Really destroys the driving pleasure at times but would love to know if its a common problem? 2009/10 tspirit model..

Pharppppp, there it goes again!!

[Duffryn]

Well I have exactly the same problems Birty, So I made a mini acro prop out of a bit of half-inch diameter dowel. Painted it black, and stuck a little felt pad on each end, and forced it in midway along the centre display readout. Cured that rattle, but then there's still all the others that seem to happen at random.......and frequently!

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Common area for rattles and strange noises.

Mine used to need pushing like yours but then after the dealers attempting to fix the rattle (and failing - I gave up asking), I now find I have to squeeze the top and bottom above the speed display until they half click into place stopping the rattle.

The gen3 Prius, especially the early ones, were just rattle buses. I've heard the newer ones aren't much better which is why I think asking £22k for a base model and £28.5k for the PIP is taking the ****. A car of that money shouldn't rattle like a 10 year old city bus.

Best solution is make do. You fix one rattle and another appears. Just turn up the radio.

[PeteB]

I must be lucky!

My 2012 Gen 3½ Prius T3 hardly ever rattles, and indeed since buying my first Prius in 2002 I've virtually stopped using any of the audio features (the Gen 1 had an AM/FM radio, and CD player AND cassette player!) because I enjoy the peace so much.

Cars in the 70s and 80s generally needed a good radio to drown out the engine.

I did hear on the Gen 3 that for the 2012 revision (which I refer to as Gen 3½) one of the changes was some stiffening of the chassis to improve handling (no idea what they actually did). Add the T3's 15" wheels, which give a more genteel ride than the 17"ers on the T4/Spirit, and maybe that's part of the reason that the trim isn't shaken about so much.

That said, my winter tyres are slightly less comfortable than the Dunlop summer tyres that came off, but it's still not too bad.

[barrycoll]

No body rattles on a 2013 T Spirit, but the use of a silicon spray into any plastic/plastic junction usually stops them, if and when the might occur

The sun roof rattles when partly open though!!!!

Pity they are not finally assembled in Stuttgart

[Birty]

Thanks all.. Radio turned up and silicon spray it is then!! On a plus side the stereo unit is actually a quite good sound!!! Phaarppp

[RunningInPleasePass]

I think Toyota are going to have to up their game with the next Prius and concentrate on the interior quality more then they have in the past.

They are going to be up against far more competition soon with hybrids, for example:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/audi/a3-etron/

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Shhhh, or they'll close this thread too :)

[Duffryn]

Does anyone know where there's a giant tank of silicon spray stuff that I can drop my car bodily into? Another apparently new rattle introduced itself today grrr !

I'd readily accept a few less mpg in exchange for a (much) better quality cabin/dash.

[Chris Dance]

Our 2011 Prius T Spirit only had rattles on rough roads. Our recently purchased 2014 T Spirit has no rattles and is a joy to drive. My mate had 2010 T spirit. He got fed up with the rattles etc and earlier this year P/X for a Yaris.

[kithmo]

My old 2010 gen 3 had the same rattle, it turned out to be the front wing vibrating.

[Birty]

I think all roads are rough.. aren't they??

[Joseph D]

I think all roads are rough.. aren't they??

No.

You can tell the counties that have money. ;)

[Cyker]

I must admit, the new type of tarmac they've used in our road has stood up incredibly well; The only downside is it seems to be completely non-porous so when it rains the whole road turns into a lake, but so far not a single crack, pothole, melt ripple or any of that kind of annoying crap has appeared :D

[MEP's Yaris GS]

I think Toyota are going to have to up their game with the next Prius and concentrate on the interior quality more then they have in the past.

They are going to be up against far more competition soon with hybrids, for example:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/audi/a3-etron/

37mpg in HV (if it can be called that) mode. No thanks, I'll stick to my 70mpg :D

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Yeah but it's from the VW group who can do no wrong to the uK motoring journos. The Prius poisoned the world and ONLY did 75 mpg, yet Audi do a car and suddenly 29 mpg ain't too bad in charge mode.

[Cyker]

Um, actually it says it does 37mpg in ICE-only mode, not HV mode.

The 29mpg is when the ICE is driving the car AND charging the Battery.

These are pretty reasonable figures when everything is loaded onto the ICE; I doubt the HSD's would do much better if you could force them into such modes, esp. given the low torque of the miller/atkinson cycle.

If you're driving it right tho', you should never need either of these modes - Like the HSDs, the best economy will be gotten from energy recovery and letting the ECU figure out the optimal power flow.

They might be useful for certain edge cases, I'm sure you recall all those hypothetical situation/what-if threads that have caused many arguments in the past

I like the idea of the e-tron as it's a 'normal' car, but the Auris and Yaris kinda fill that roll too. I suspect it will have much higher running costs and esp. repair costs than the HSD's tho'.

At least it'll give Toyota a bit of a kick up the ubik; I feel they've been sitting on their laurels a bit too much lately so hopefully they'll step up their game a bit. Maybe even start listening to their customer base more! ;)

[MEP's Yaris GS]

Um, actually it says it does 37mpg in ICE-only mode, not HV mode.

Well they call it 'hold' mode, which I assume is equivalent of HV in a PiP.

Regardless of what mode it is, and how it works, it seems to be the best real world figure they could get out of it, which is shocking IMO. If it isn't a HV mode, then shame on Audi for doing what I'd call only half an attempt. Seems they have decided to go down the conventional gearbox method route though, again interesting to see how well it works regarding efficiencies when compared with the Prius.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I doubt people buying it would be interested in the economy. The plug in aspect is just a compliance car to get round the average fleet fuel economy figures maybe?

But with a 30 mile EV range (real world of 20?), it is still useful for most shorter journeys with the back up of an engine. I think it will sell in the same way the BMW i3 is.

And as Cyker said, maybe it'll give Toyota a much needed boot up the ****. The competition are catching up fast. The number of BEVs and plug ins has increased significantly this last year. The Mitsubishi being just one.