Model S Squeaks, Creaks, and Rattles

[howardc64]

IDed quite a few rattles + clicks. Here is a summary + remedy.

1. left glove compartment latch. This is what rattled when driven at highways speeds on pavement with a particular roughness and therefore frequency. Wife put a little pressure on the center or left side of the glove compartment. It stops.

UPDATE: This wasn't the latch after all (Although I learned my VIN 9919 car has the updated felt interior design which rattles less than earlier plastic designs). It was the plastic panel in the footwell facing the center console.

2. rattle inside the panel just before the C pillar on driver side between the rear passenger window and panoramic roof. I think Tesla had to pull this panel off to apply factory anti squeak TSBs on a recent visit. There was a loose clip in the same panel on the passenger side after the TSB work. Now one appeared on the passenger side.

UPDATE: This was a slight loose clip internally

3. Driver's seat has a high frequency clicking noise over even slight bumps on the road. From the front seats, its sounds like its coming from the C pillar area. But sitting in the back, its coming somewhere from the lower front seat. Would only happen when I drive and not my wife so weight seems to matter. Finally, I shook the seat back while she was driving and able to reproduce the click noise reliably.

UPDATE: This was determined to be excessive play in the seat base. Got a new seat installed and the sound is gone. New seat was completely new including all new leather.

4. This one I have no yet isolated. There is a distinct fairly loud but rare clicking noise that sounds like its inside the 17inch screen. I can't correlated to anything yet... car body momentum... HVAC... etc... I wonder if it is the same diagonal brace as post #97 (link) But mine is click rather than creak and not specific to turns or bumps.

5. Dash would rattle under certain pavements that lost some of the smooth top surface (due to studded tires). Dash was removed to install the new defrost vent and rattles seems to have appear after this. Tech applied felt to interior clips. Rattle gone.

6. Rattle inside passenger side A pillar. Tech said my VIN (9919) was around the time when Tesla changed the speaker mounting of the A pillar speakers (from hot glued to rubber padded is what he said). A pillar trim was removed and felt added to the speaker and trim clips. Noises gone.

7. Rear lift gate make squeaks when rear tires goes over bumps. Only happens over these speed bumps near my house. Seems to occur first thing in the morning with cold temps. Not yet fixed.

 

[scottshipman]

I too have this issue. I have driven newer production MS and the black liner (top of door panel) is secure at the end of the door, whereas on both of my doors, it can be depressed what feels like an 1/8th of an inch. A creak clearly comes from both panels being loose at that location.

Has anyone had tesla tighten/reapply/resecure the door panel in question? My car is in today, and I have asked them to tighten. It wasn't until I drove a new car, that I noticed there is a Huge difference between my car and the new ones in this respect. (vin in the 2900s).

 

[Tacket]

I too have this issue. I have driven newer production MS and the black liner (top of door panel) is secure at the end of the door, whereas on both of my doors, it can be depressed what feels like an 1/8th of an inch. A creak clearly comes from both panels being loose at that location.

Has anyone had tesla tighten/reapply/resecure the door panel in question? My car is in today, and I have asked them to tighten. It wasn't until I drove a new car, that I noticed there is a Huge difference between my car and the new ones in this respect. (vin in the 2900s).

I have the same issue -- please let us know if the fix worked!

 

[eco5280]

I've got a rattle noise that sounds like it's under the trunk, or part of the rear axle or something. Sometimes it sounds like pings of rain or hail hitting the rear glass. Sometimes it sounds like gravel pinging up and hitting the axle or battery or something right there. Thing is - it will happen when I'm stopped sometimes. Almost like a mouse caught in the trunk but I looked Any ideas?

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Fixing rattles is not covered under the written warranty!

I don't know why, but I wanted to read my Model S written warranty. Did you know that under the written warranty, fixing rattles is not covered?

I was totally shocked when I saw this. However, obviously Tesla fixes rattles and even has a special form to complete when such a complaint is filed. Just goes to show that Tesla is exceeding the warranty expectations as stated in writing. It's a little bothersome that they would exclude rattles in the warranty in the first place and that they have not updated their documents to reflect the actual field policies.

Here is the language under warranty exclusions:

General appearance or normal noise and vibration, including, but not limited to, brake squeal,​

general knocks, creaks, rattles, and wind and road vibration;
​

Am I reading the above correctly? lol

 

[tomas]

I don't know why, but I wanted to read my Model S written warranty. Did you know that under the written warranty, fixing rattles is not covered?

I was totally shocked when I saw this. However, obviously Tesla fixes rattles and even has a special form to complete when such a complaint is filed. Just goes to show that Tesla is exceeding the warranty expectations as stated in writing. It's a little bothersome that they would exclude rattles in the warranty in the first place and that they have not updated their documents to reflect the actual field policies.

Here is the language under warranty exclusions:

General appearance or normal noise and vibration, including, but not limited to, brake squeal,​

general knocks, creaks, rattles, and wind and road vibration;
​

Am I reading the above correctly? lol

You'd probably find this in most auto warranties, as mfg needs some out clause to avoid responsibility to tear entire car apart repeatedly to find a customer-reported rattle that cannot be reproduced.

Actual is they'll fix under warranty if they can, just like most manufacturers.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

You'd probably find this in most auto warranties, as mfg needs some out clause to avoid responsibility to tear entire car apart repeatedly to find a customer-reported rattle that cannot be reproduced.

Actual is they'll fix under warranty if they can, just like most manufacturers.

Yah, I thought it was oddly interesting. But then again, I've never read the warranty on my other cars so maybe the exclusion existed in those as well.

 

[eco5280]

Audi specifically covers things like squeaks for 6 months. Then you're screwed for the rest of your warranty. And the dealers don't budge on that. Consequently, I'm done with VW Group for the forseeable future. Our window rattled and squeaked and I literally said - if I can find a way to BREAK THE WINDOW MECHANISM, you'll fix it, but if the window goes up and down, you won't touch it? They said yes. I erred on the side of NOT breaking anything and sold the car.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Audi specifically covers things like squeaks for 6 months. Then you're screwed for the rest of your warranty. And the dealers don't budge on that. Consequently, I'm done with VW Group for the forseeable future. Our window rattled and squeaked and I literally said - if I can find a way to BREAK THE WINDOW MECHANISM, you'll fix it, but if the window goes up and down, you won't touch it? They said yes. I erred on the side of NOT breaking anything and sold the car.

Toyota's policy (don't know about warranty language) for the Prius was that rattles would be addressed only during the first 12,000 miles.

 

[Ashbee]

I have a few rattles and noises - car delivered 4 weeks ago -85 D
- The rear passenger side door makes a clicking sound in addition to the regular sound from the lock specially when opened after it's been closed for several hours
-continuous rattling sound comes from the back what appears to be from the "C" pillar especially when going over the irregular paved surface or bumps
- [COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961)]knocking sound that seems to come from lower part of driver door whilst driving, particularly on bumpy road The seat belt receiver (hard plastic) bumps against the bottom of the seat (hard plastic) making the knock.[/COLOR]
Any one with similar problems

 

[tomas]

Had the seatbelt one. Get round adhesive felt pads at Home Depot and put one on seat belt mechanism where it is hitting seat base. You'll never hear it again.

 

[Puslinch]

I sent mine back to Telsa in London last week to sort all the noises and the random PAX mirror. All sorted...Gary

 

[morbot]

Made an appointment to do a drive-along with a Tesla tech... they give you a print out form you can document each creak/rattle on now which should help them get it right the first time.

Just about everyone I've ever known who has bought a new car eventually notices rattles, it's not an issue unique to Tesla. I'm sure we're just demanding owners

 

[kevincwelch]

I don't think it's demanding at all. If this were a $20,000 car, I'd expect some rattles. But for $100,000, some of these rattles should have never been there in the first place, and even less so after they are fixed. But I will credit Tesla service for its efforts.

 

[Tony Lin]

yes agree! My MS has only 1500KM on it, right off the delivery, I heard rattle noises, went back 4 times, so far is fixed. Tesla address the issue with good service!

 

[kevinb]

I just read through most of these. I had plastic on plastic rattle coming from the passenger side rear seat area. I thought it was the seat belt, seat latch or parcel shelf. I folded the seat down, removed the parcel shelf and repositioned the seat belt a few times but the rattle was still there. This was on my "do to" list today. After looking around, I noticed if I pressed around the LED light above that door, I could reproduce a similar sound so stuck of piece of foam sponge between the liner and pano space and it seems to have addressed this rattle. Like other posts, I suspect it is a wire or harness that is loose and needs to be tied down. I hope this helps others.

 

[Lex]

Looks like I might as well revive this thread instead of starting a new one... seems like a very very good sign that this is not an active thread or topic :wink:

My MS has always made a noise over certain bumps on the passenger side. There is a plastic boinggg or more accurately a tighter twang sound emanating from inside my dash, in/around above the glove compartment area.

I'd love to try and find / fix it myself but I haven't even shone a light under the dash to see if there's anything accessible.... afraid of the SC opening up my dash for this.

 

[kevincwelch]

The rattles get fixed if you press Tesla. But, they always come back...at least mine.

 

[Cyberax]

Creaks, squeaks and rattles

My car is driving me mad with lots of different creaks and rattles. Service center fixed one very annoying problem (unsecured connector in the dashboard), but lots of other noise sources remain. Some of them are difficult to reproduce - you need to be driving at highway speeds on uneven pavement. I don't think that's normal - my 3-year old Chevy Volt is much more quiet.

What can I realistically expect if I press the SC to fix these problems? Can I get a sqeak-free experience? Are there any independent shops around Seattle area that have a vibration stand and can fix these issues?

 

[MrJones390]

Service Center in Los Angeles fixed every noise for me and I would expect no less for you. I complained about squeaky breaks, thud during low speeds and wind noise and they went even further to put an acoustic noise dampening blanket on the HVAC.