Dashboard Vibrating Noise

[CTS03]

Hello

I own a new 5d Corolla TS in Greece for less than a week and I have about 800Km in the Odometer.

I would be very happy with the car if I could not hear a very annoying vibrating noise coming from the dashboard. I guess that this is the same sound, which has been described in previous posts both for CTS (Maxgordon, Chris Peterson, et al) and Yaris TS (clarky, et al).

The noise is triggered even by slight irregularities of the road surface and then continues even on absolutely smooth surfaces. It is not heard if I keep pushing my hand on top of the dashboard. A first visit to the central TOYOTA garage in Athens did not help; the technician suspected the plastic frame in front of the instrument’s window and put some intermediate adhesive, but this was not the problem.

I think that either something is loose within the dashboard (cables, vent pipes, radio, etc) or it is a failure in material selection and assembly; related to differential thermal expansion of the plastics and the metallic body.

I suspect also that the installation of the alarm system may have altered the stability of the dashboard. The two wires of the internal movement sensors are at least squeezed between the dashboard and the supporting columns (pillars?) of the windscreen; this should normally create no problem but it is certainly a non-ideal situation.

So, It would be very useful to have any information about the dashboard noise problem.

Is it a generic problem in TOYOTA cars?

Is it a generic problem in TS models with the harder suspension?

Could it be related to work done for installing the alarm system?

Has any local TOYOTA garage found a solution? Otherwise, is TOYOTA going to find a solution?

I certainly cannot live with a car making a dashboard noise, which I always considered unlikely for the new cars even of the worst manufacturers.

Best Regards

[Chris Peterson]

hi there,

I'm from Greece too, I own a three door TS.

I think your sound is generated by the part holding the CD and the two vents. Like you press the upper part of the dashboard and hear this irritating creak, if you push the cd you might hear something similar. Dont push it too much though, it'll get worse.

Unfortunately this was the only creak I didn't eliminate. Mainly because although it can be solved with foams or similar materials inside the dashboard and around the cd, I didnt bother cause I think I can live with that. Also, what I did was swap all the green leds on the dashboard with red ones. Now it's all red inside, I love it, but as you can understand this specific creak aggravated.

Make sure you're not hearing the co-driver's seat which rattles alot when unoccupied and can send you ghost hunting.

I've got some good news though.. I've done 15000km'h up to now, all on these athlious (that means ****y in Greek) roads in our country and the interior remains solid and fine. By means of comparison, I have personal experience of astras and golfs which, though seemingly very robust initially, soon yielded to the Greek road hardship. What I mean is that in terms of overall structure the car is fine. These are petty annoyances spotted by people like us who, by definition I believe, are very demanding... hence the nameplate choice...

think about it.. in a world where people have learnt to judge the quality of a car by the sound of its closing door, don't we Toyota people sometimes feel we lack true recognition for something that is of true quality, yet doesnt show that much? Would it matter that much if our, say, BMW creaked a bit?

probably not.. cause every single passenger who noticed would simply cast some stereotyped comment on our deteriorated roads..

[Chris Peterson]

Oh, one more thing.. since we're discussing quality and I think I heard the make Audi being talked about, please visit the J.D power official site and see the 2003 list of nameplates based on their initial quality according to their latest research(in America). There you'll all see what an Audi, a Mercedes and a VW is all about..

personally, I prefer a couple of creaks to an Audi...

[Chris Peterson]

here you go.. people are not as happy in an Audi or in a VW as in a Toyota, a Lexus or a BMW.. sorry!

[corsol]

what I did was swap all the green leds on the dashboard with red ones. Now it's all red inside,

Hi,

could you describe(text, pics,...) how did you do that??

....and about CD-radio problem go to(there is some info):

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.p...=ST&f=4&t=4549&

[Imek]

If the sound starts around 4000 rpm - I don't know.

If it's present all the time - its plastic frame of the windshield vent - it hits top of dashboard, or vice versa. Try holding it with your hand while driving - the sound will disappear.

[corsol]

If the sound starts around 4000 rpm - I don't know.

If it's present all the time - its plastic frame of the windshield vent - it hits top of dashboard, or vice versa. Try holding it with your hand while driving - the sound will disappear.

...agree...

that could be one source of rattling

[CTS03]

Thank you all for your response

As Imek suggested, the noise might arise from the plastic frame of the windshield vent since it dissapears by holding the vent with my hand. However, it also dissapears when I push my hand in many other sites on the dashboard, e.g. above the RadioCD.

I guess that we would have to insert some soft isolating material around some/all of these plastic frames (vent(s), radio)?

Concerning my ideas for the built quality, I always considered the dashboard a "holly" part of the car and the absence of dashboard noises a minimum quality requirement. It is also typical for the car magazines to correlate the built quality of a car with the dashboard noises that appear after many years of operation (not new!!!). This critirion was satisfied in many cars, almost including also a Yugo !!! I am a reasonable person and I always accept that there might be a fixing probem in a seat or the trunk lock or a belt support, which can be spoted easily and be repaired. However, the dashboard is a complex structure .... and I think that this is a very challenging part for the material and engineering capabilities of a car producer. It should be also indicative for the company's efforts appointed in the enginnering and manufacturing of a particular car model.

Concerning the sound and quality of Corolla TS doors, I can judge them as perfect and consider that my previous car was a BMW Compact. Corolla's doors can also close easily while in BMW you should better have shligthly openned the windows! I do not know about the Audi A3, but one reason I did not buy a Leon or Golf 1.8T was the low quality look of the door supports and their somehow irregular openning (negligible resistance to open until sudden locking at a preset position). I also did not like the long travel and the metallic clunk of their gear shift during changes. The Leon steering wheel was also very "heavy" for driving in curvy roads (Of course, corolla's steering wheel is "lighter" than needed).

As for the comment of Chris Peterson about the conditions for cars in Greece , I think that we usually overestimate the existing problems. In most areas, our cars never feel low temperatures below 0C (reduced range of thermal cycling, no harm on starting engines), there no salty roads, etc. Our city streets may have several irregularities but they have asfalt. Just compare this with the "cobble" streets that are usual in several cities in north Europe (apparently to avoid ice-skid).

Best Regards

[mytbyte]

Chris, how did you change the interior lec lights to red? I know that it's very Audi-esque but it would fit corolla interior better than green, I guess (true it is claming, but still...)....can the CD LCD display color be changed as well (in software or...????)

[Bobby]

the noise comes from the plastic borders of the stereo touching with its frame...

there are two solutions,

No.1 you can do what I did, I just putted a straight through muffler, that way you wont even hear the rattle...

No.2 I assume that you would need the uninstall the stereo from the dashboard and put some cushioning to reduce noises...

[srd]

if your car is still that new take it back to toyota and demand that they fix it after all it should be still under warranty,at the end of the day you should'nt be paying good money for faulty products,but if you don't pressure and annoy the garage they wont take youre case seriously,always remember you the customer has rights in that kind of a situation,but it's up to you to act apon them

[CTS03]

The dashboard noise certainly comes from the region above the center of the RadioCD.

The plastic board, the frame that supports the vents at the left and right side of the RadioCD and the RadioCD are not in good contact at the center of the RadioCD (just above its display), because of some bowing of the plastic board and the frame that probably results during thermal cycling of the car during the day. Thus, gaps of sub-mm and mm size are created between plastic board/frame and frame/RadioCD and the structure easily starts vibrating! Otherwise, everything is in good contact at the edges of the RadioCD!

I do not consider as a solution a dealer to start inserting “garbage” to fill these gaps. Most of the bowing seems reversible and I will first try to improve the long-term flatness of the plastic board by keeping systematically some heavy items (e.g. manuals) on top of the radio when the car is parked! Great TOYOTA !!!

I have read about Radio-gaps problems in the topic “New Corolla Gearbox & Engine Mount Issues”, but I do not know if they were also related to bowing.

[CTS03]

Let me help others not to also ruin their satisfaction of a new car for 15 months.

The dash noise problem was cured only after removing the dash and fixing everything properly underneath.

[spwolf]

I have read about Radio-gaps problems in the topic “New Corolla Gearbox & Engine Mount Issues”, but I do not know if they were also related to bowing.

yes, that is the same problem... Welcome to the world of soft plastics.

It is easy to see why my MR2 is so quiet (with top down) and without any rattles (top down) when the dash plastic is harder than the bumper :-).

I think problem of soft plastic is pretty much the #1 problem in the whole industry now, since due to its properties it will change after usage and millions of heat/cool cycles...