Fixed all my rattles from the rear seat and hatch!

[BreatheEasier]

So I was driving around and trying to nail down where I was hearing several rattles coming from the rear interior of the car. Definitely from the seat, even though I have the "fixed" version that is aligned, and more rattles from the hatch. Here's what I did to get rid of ALL rattles. I never had the sound of the back seats rubbing together like others have had.

Rattle from the "replacement" seats that do not have the alignment issue:

• The top of the rear seat panels were not snapped into the frame all the way. It wasn't obvious to the naked eye (no panel gaps), but when I pressed around the perimeter of each carpeted seat back cover, I heard 2-3 "click" sounds per cover where it was clear that the plastic snap connectors were being properly homed into the rear seat frame

Other assorted rattles from the rear

• Adjusted the rubber bumpers for the hatch by following a YouTube video. They were WAY off. Only one of 3 of the bumpers was touching where they should have been on the body. The other 3 required significant adjustment. The hatch sounds better when it closes, and no low-frequency sound buffeting on the highway any longer.
  
• It was clear when pressing around on the black plastic hatch interior trim that there were at least 5 places across both trim planes where they weren't attached properly. I could easily pull on the ends and get a 1 inch or more gap on the passenger side of the lower panel, there was 1 inch of play in the middle near the interior hatch light, and the trim around the 3rd brake light was ready to fall off.
  • I took all the trim down. It took very little effort, and it was clear many snap connectors were not snapped into place.
    
  • Found that 2 of the white snap connectors were not even attached - one was stuck in the metal hatch, one was laying inside the trim panel
    
  • Re-attached the white snap connectors to the black plastic trim
  • Re-attached the trim around the 3rd-brake light, and found that I had to spend about 3-4 min actually feeling around to really make sure every snap-connector was homed properly. This plastic is quite flexible, so patience here is important. There is a drastic improvement in how this piece is attached to the rear hatch
  • Re-attached the bottom trim to the hatch. This took patience to really get snapped in. I easily spent another 5-6 minutes making sure I heard a positive snap of each connector into place. I no longer can pull down the edges of the panel easily, and a drastic improvement in how this piece is secured to the rear hatch.

Once I completed re-installing the rear hatch trim, I drove around for about 15 min, going over rough rode, railroad crossings, and other places where I was hearing an embarrassing level of rattles and sounds from the rear over the past 2 days. Now I here ZERO rattles, and the car is much more pleasant to drive.

Hope this helps others out!

 

[JCLee]

Did you put your back seats at the most upright position or reclined? I hear squeaks and rattles from back seats only when they are reclined (either half-way or all the way) but not when they are upright, and I'm wondering if that's the same for others.

 

[CaliX]

Did you put your back seats at the most upright position or reclined? I hear squeaks and rattles from back seats only when they are reclined (either half-way or all the way) but not when they are upright, and I'm wondering if that's the same for others.

Same for me or when I raise the rear headrest.

 

[tonyb99]

So I was driving around and trying to nail down where I was hearing several rattles coming from the rear interior of the car. Definitely from the seat, even though I have the "fixed" version that is aligned, and more rattles from the hatch. Here's what I did to get rid of ALL rattles. I never had the sound of the back seats rubbing together like others have had.

Rattle from the "replacement" seats that do not have the alignment issue:

• The top of the rear seat panels were not snapped into the frame all the way. It wasn't obvious to the naked eye (no panel gaps), but when I pressed around the perimeter of each carpeted seat back cover, I heard 2-3 "click" sounds per cover where it was clear that the plastic snap connectors were being properly homed into the rear seat frame

Other assorted rattles from the rear

• Adjusted the rubber bumpers for the hatch by following a YouTube video. They were WAY off. Only one of 3 of the bumpers was touching where they should have been on the body. The other 3 required significant adjustment. The hatch sounds better when it closes, and no low-frequency sound buffeting on the highway any longer.
  
• It was clear when pressing around on the black plastic hatch interior trim that there were at least 5 places across both trim planes where they weren't attached properly. I could easily pull on the ends and get a 1 inch or more gap on the passenger side of the lower panel, there was 1 inch of play in the middle near the interior hatch light, and the trim around the 3rd brake light was ready to fall off.
  • I took all the trim down. It took very little effort, and it was clear many snap connectors were not snapped into place.
    
  • Found that 2 of the white snap connectors were not even attached - one was stuck in the metal hatch, one was laying inside the trim panel
    
  • Re-attached the white snap connectors to the black plastic trim
  • Re-attached the trim around the 3rd-brake light, and found that I had to spend about 3-4 min actually feeling around to really make sure every snap-connector was homed properly. This plastic is quite flexible, so patience here is important. There is a drastic improvement in how this piece is attached to the rear hatch
  • Re-attached the bottom trim to the hatch. This took patience to really get snapped in. I easily spent another 5-6 minutes making sure I heard a positive snap of each connector into place. I no longer can pull down the edges of the panel easily, and a drastic improvement in how this piece is secured to the rear hatch.

Once I completed re-installing the rear hatch trim, I drove around for about 15 min, going over rough rode, railroad crossings, and other places where I was hearing an embarrassing level of rattles and sounds from the rear over the past 2 days. Now I here ZERO rattles, and the car is much more pleasant to drive.

Hope this helps others out!

I only have two adjustable bumpers, the ones halfway up the sides of the trunk. The other two are on the bottom edge of the trunk and are fixed.

 

[BreatheEasier]

Did you put your back seats at the most upright position or reclined? I hear squeaks and rattles from back seats only when they are reclined (either half-way or all the way) but not when they are upright, and I'm wondering if that's the same for others.

Seats are in the 'halfway' position between fully reclined and fully upright.

 

[BreatheEasier]

I only have two adjustable bumpers, the ones halfway up the sides of the trunk. The other two are on the bottom edge of the trunk and are fixed.

There are two along the rear-most edge of the decklid, and two more along the sides of the decklid as you move towards the front of the car. The ones on the sides are the ones that meet up with the top of the tail lights.

 

[BreatheEasier]

Same for me or when I raise the rear headrest.

Headrests are in the fully down position. No one who sits in the back would raise them in my car, so haven't tried.

 

[dgstan]

I only have two adjustable bumpers, the ones halfway up the sides of the trunk. The other two are on the bottom edge of the trunk and are fixed.

You should be able to twist them and they'll adjust. But, they do look different than the other two.

 

[BreatheEasier]

Correct - and for the outer 2 bumpers, there is an inner and outer (hex-style) piece. Unscrew the entire bumper to get it to where it needs to be, then hold the middle with one hand and turn the outer hex-style piece clockwise to tighten it against the hatch to keep it at the desired adjustment length.

 

[tonyb99]

You should be able to twist them and they'll adjust. But, they do look different than the other two.

No they do not adjust.

 

[BreatheEasier]

No they do not adjust.

Interesting...mine were adjustable. In fact, my driver's side had to be unscrewed more than my passenger side. The hatch doesn't look angled or having bad gaps on one side vs. the other, so something must be off in the body where I needed to make up so much gap.

 

[MY-Y]

No they do not adjust.

Try more force. They unscrew to get longer. It is an important adjustment to reduce the low frequency buffeting from the hatch.

 

[BreatheEasier]

Here is a pic of mine adjusted so you can see what I'm talking about. The rubber "threads" are visible as I've been turning counter-clockwise to pull the bumper out further to meet up with the lower portion of the vehicle. From the factory, they were not touching the points on the body where they should have by a half inch on each side, and the low frequency buffeting was unbearable for me.

 

[BreatheEasier]

Here are pics of the other two bumpers - further up the side of the hatch, and each one has an outer and inner portion, which can be turned independently of each other, in opposite directions to "lock" the bumper into position once the desired length has been reached. These were also short of touching the body of the car by 3/8 of an inch.

 

[MY-Y]

BTW, if I hadn't discovered this as well from the MS forums, I would returned the car. Setting them correctly changed my car from a headache inducing nightmare to a nice quiet and serene ride.

Putting soapy water on them so you can adjust each to have a nice firm contact point is well worth the 20 minutes of effort. You should see a wet circle on each contact point. (Too long and your hatch won't close on its own.)

 

[smcginnis]

Some assembly required?

 

[BreatheEasier]

BTW, if I hadn't discovered this as well from the MS forums, I would returned the car. Setting them correctly changed my car from a headache inducing nightmare to a nice quiet and serene ride.

Putting soapy water on them so you can adjust each to have a nice firm contact point is well worth the 20 minutes of effort. You should see a wet circle on each contact point. (Too long and your hatch won't close on its own.)

When I adjusted my hatch bumpers, I used your soapy water suggestion and it worked perfectly, thanks!

 

[StormtrooperSD]

When I adjusted my hatch bumpers, I used your soapy water suggestion and it worked perfectly, thanks!

I've used white chalk on the hatch bumpers and adjusted them until I saw a nice footprint on the bottom side. Had to turn them out about two turns on each side before they touched.

 

[tonyb99]

Try more force. They unscrew to get longer. It is an important adjustment to reduce the low frequency buffeting from the hatch.

Thanks, I had to take a wrench to them both!

 

[k05n]

I have the same issue with my rear seat on the R side. I spoke to the SC and they said it was from the headrest yet there is not fix for it currently. Its very frustrating!