Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Everlasting pursuit of a dashboard rattle

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Solved it today! Let’s see if it comes back. I will post again.

Tried to attach video but file too large, sorry.

When driving over bumps, this sound would come from the dash area. Not always, and I was unable to pinpoint certain conditions when it would occur. The sound resembled a loose or broken plastic clip. Car is 7 months old and I first noticed at month 1. I saw a post in another forum that it could be HVAC related and solved the rattle by adjusting the climate control:

Rattle was present while in Manual climate control.

Switched to Auto / not Synched - rattle still present

Then switched to Sync - rattle gone

Then switched back to Manual to see if still Ok - yes, still no rattle

Not sure if this is a long term fix yet, but I hope it helps you deal with the maddening noise.
 
Solved it today! Let’s see if it comes back. I will post again.

Tried to attach video but file too large, sorry.

When driving over bumps, this sound would come from the dash area. Not always, and I was unable to pinpoint certain conditions when it would occur. The sound resembled a loose or broken plastic clip. Car is 7 months old and I first noticed at month 1. I saw a post in another forum that it could be HVAC related and solved the rattle by adjusting the climate control:

Rattle was present while in Manual climate control.

Switched to Auto / not Synched - rattle still present

Then switched to Sync - rattle gone

Then switched back to Manual to see if still Ok - yes, still no rattle

Not sure if this is a long term fix yet, but I hope it helps you deal with the maddening noise.
Glad you solved yours!!

I’ve given up at this point. I took every removable component out of the car excluding the MCU, dash “Skeleton” and AC System. Mine seems to be coming from under the windshield/ on the firewall.
 
Glad you solved yours!!

I’ve given up at this point. I took every removable component out of the car excluding the MCU, dash “Skeleton” and AC System. Mine seems to be coming from under the windshield/ on the firewall.

Had rattle that sounded for sure like it was dash. Turned out to be loose front strut bar nut and loose upper control arm bolt
 
  • Like
Reactions: Art VandeIay
Glad you solved yours!!

I’ve given up at this point. I took every removable component out of the car excluding the MCU, dash “Skeleton” and AC System. Mine seems to be coming from under the windshield/ on the firewall.
hi 2102Guy, what did it sound like?
I have a rattle, almost like spring sound actually, coming from right in front of the driver when going over rough road, but typically, when both front wheels go over something at the same time (like train tracks, bump, etc).
SC wanted me to approve potential 4 hour charge to find out what it is.
 
Glad you solved yours!!

I’ve given up at this point. I took every removable component out of the car excluding the MCU, dash “Skeleton” and AC System. Mine seems to be coming from under the windshield/ on the firewall.
hi selfbp, what did it sound like?
I have a rattle, almost like spring sound actually, coming from right in front of the driver when going over rough road, but typically, when both front wheels go over something at the same time (like train tracks, bump, etc).
SC wanted me to approve potential 4 hour charge to find out what it is.
 
hi selfbp, what did it sound like?
I have a rattle, almost like spring sound actually, coming from right in front of the driver when going over rough road, but typically, when both front wheels go over something at the same time (like train tracks, bump, etc).
SC wanted me to approve potential 4 hour charge to find out what it is.
Mine sounds like it’s coming from something mounted to the firewall. In theory it’s possible it could be related to a suspension issue and resonating though the car. I haven’t examined. I honestly would not let them charge you 4 hours though.
 
Took me 10min to get this deep so I’ll give it a glance. Sitting in the front right now
 

Attachments

  • 4EB74C76-C2BF-40A6-A6CC-3F9A0F0C2FB7.jpeg
    4EB74C76-C2BF-40A6-A6CC-3F9A0F0C2FB7.jpeg
    409 KB · Views: 226
  • Like
Reactions: Sean. and dmwahl
Every bolt I could find was tight. I did put some vibration dampening on an surface I could find. Also put some on the control arms which I notice actually does make a general difference in quality by a smidgen.

(no difference in rattle though)
 
If this helps..one of the invoices I had for one of my rattle visits..

Concern: Customer states, "Light knock/rattle emanating from behind glovebox area of dash that sounds potentially pass
side suspension related. Occurs when suspension loads/unloads. Reproducible 100% of time. May (or may not) be
related to work done last service visit."
Technician inspected and found a motor mount not torqued to spec. Technician corrected torque and verified proper
operation.
Correction: General Diagnosis
 
And another

Concern: Customer states, "Also, passenger side suspension noise still present. Easily Reproducible"
Technician inspected and found a loose bolt in the upper control arm. Technician tightened bolt to spec and verified
proper operation.
Correction: General Diagnosis
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sean.
and another...

Concern: Customer states: Noticeable rattle emanating from area behind the MCU or behind center vent area. Recent
service that included glovebox replacement did not resolve the rattle. Need the rattle resolved/eliminated please.
Service on test drive confirmed the noise. Technician after diagnostics noted that strut brace bars near the firewall loose.
Technician re torqued the nuts and test drove the car and verified no unusual noises heard.
Correction: General Diagnosis
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sean.
@2101Guy is the noise you're hearing more like a "bobbling" or knocking sound? And do you have air suspension? I've heard a noise that the SC manager pretty accurately described as sounding like a racquetball is bouncing around on the right side of my car for quite some time now... It's a June 2016 build P90D w/ SAS. Gotta be a suspension thing. This thread and this thread seem to be talking about similar if not the same suspension noises, FWIW.

I've also got a very different, gotta-be-interior rattle around the glove box that seemed to appear after the mobile service guy replaced the passenger side airbag (recall) a couple months ago - which is what lead me to this thread. Still gotta figure that one out...

Brian
 
Brian: mine was rattling. The last one I could isolate and recreate on a test drive. Left turn low speed right We are going up onto a raised manhole cover. I could re-create it every single time. Including when the tech was in the car with me.

Mine was fully covered under my new car warranty because even though it sounded like it was a dash rattle the root cause was a suspension components
 
  • Like
Reactions: bwherry
Circling back this old thread to say THANK YOU to everyone here for your insight. Thanks to you all, I was able to fix a rattle that had been driving me absolutely crazy.

It was coming from the front center of my dash, near the center speaker, and sounded like a creaking or flexing plastic on bumps at low speed and going around banked turns at low speed.

Special thanks to @selfbp and @2101Guy for their descriptions and insight.

It turned out to be loose bolts on the strut tower braces; I’m not sure whether the bolts at the strut tower end or the bolts at the firewall end were the culprit (I tightened both) but the ones at the firewall end were looser. Borrowing and marking up @selfbp’s pic, the bolts I’m talking about are located where I circled in red, up under the cowl where the windshield wipers rest (the bolts themselves are not visible in the pic).

Posting in case this helps anyone else, as I was at my wits end. I was ready to tear down the entire dash or run a fiber optic camera down the defrost vent holes to see if something had dropped into the hvac core, so thank goodness I tried this first.




A9A9B306-045C-4F87-A24A-14EAF364B9FC.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sean.
Google lead me to this thread. Have a new to me “dashboard” rattle which is driving me to drink. Mines a 2017 MX 100D but pretty sure it’s a similar susp setup to the S.

Anyway I will investigate the bolts to the strut braces before anything more drastic.
 
Circling back this old thread to say THANK YOU to everyone here for your insight. Thanks to you all, I was able to fix a rattle that had been driving me absolutely crazy.

It was coming from the front center of my dash, near the center speaker, and sounded like a creaking or flexing plastic on bumps at low speed and going around banked turns at low speed.

Special thanks to @selfbp and @2101Guy for their descriptions and insight.

It turned out to be loose bolts on the strut tower braces; I’m not sure whether the bolts at the strut tower end or the bolts at the firewall end were the culprit (I tightened both) but the ones at the firewall end were looser. Borrowing and marking up @selfbp’s pic, the bolts I’m talking about are located where I circled in red, up under the cowl where the windshield wipers rest (the bolts themselves are not visible in the pic).

Posting in case this helps anyone else, as I was at my wits end. I was ready to tear down the entire dash or run a fiber optic camera down the defrost vent holes to see if something had dropped into the hvac core, so thank goodness I tried this first.




View attachment 776329
Thanks! Having replaced all suspension arms & stabilisator links, and putting tape and tyraps on every crappy moving plastic piece I could find.. I'm still nowhere closer to solving my rattle noise.. will try this tomorrow!
 
Thanks! Having replaced all suspension arms & stabilisator links, and putting tape and tyraps on every crappy moving plastic piece I could find.. I'm still nowhere closer to solving my rattle noise.. will try this tomorrow!
That was not it for me. But if you have the rattle, check out the service bulletin attached here. Noise is gone when I use the shop towel method, so it is the air-suspension..
 

Attachments

  • Tesla TSB SB-18-31-009.pdf
    559.1 KB · Views: 30
Circling back this old thread to say THANK YOU to everyone here for your insight. Thanks to you all, I was able to fix a rattle that had been driving me absolutely crazy.

It was coming from the front center of my dash, near the center speaker, and sounded like a creaking or flexing plastic on bumps at low speed and going around banked turns at low speed.

Special thanks to @selfbp and @2101Guy for their descriptions and insight.

It turned out to be loose bolts on the strut tower braces; I’m not sure whether the bolts at the strut tower end or the bolts at the firewall end were the culprit (I tightened both) but the ones at the firewall end were looser. Borrowing and marking up @selfbp’s pic, the bolts I’m talking about are located where I circled in red, up under the cowl where the windshield wipers rest (the bolts themselves are not visible in the pic).

Posting in case this helps anyone else, as I was at my wits end. I was ready to tear down the entire dash or run a fiber optic camera down the defrost vent holes to see if something had dropped into the hvac core, so thank goodness I tried this first.




View attachment 776329
@bmartino01 How were you able to access the bolts up against the firewall?