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Anyone Have Rattles From Rear of Interior ?

JFUSION

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Joined
September 25, 2011
Messages
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City, State
Ontario
Year, Model & Trim Level
2012
I've had my 2012 for about 6 months now, I've put a lot of miles on it and it has been quite good until recent times. I don't have much to complain about MFT, knock on wood, but I do have two rattles that have shown up in the rear of the vehicle when driving on rough roads.

The first one is a higher pitch jiggling sound which sounds like it is towards the back of the second row seating, like a metal on metal higher pitch jiggle sound.

I also have a deeper rattle, when driving alone it was sounding like it was coming from the rear driver door area, but my son sat in the back today and he says it is coming further back behind the second row seats. My third row seats are almost always in a flat position. It almost sounds like seat belts hitting the hard plastic panels but when I look at the seat belts they seem protected and a decent distance away from the plastic side panels.

I'm going to be taking it in to my dealer, this is going to be difficult to locate unless they put 2 or 3 people in the vehicle and driver over some rough roads. I was just wondering if anyone else has had rattles from the rear of the interior ?, thanks for any replies.
 



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By chance do you have a hitch? Could be the ball and the arm its attched to causing the rattling.
 












The spare tire or jack in the rear well maybe??
 






Rear rattle

I had a rattle in the back. It was my license plate which only had screws at the top because of the frame I have it in. Put some foam pads under the plate and fixed the problem.
 






I have the rattle in the moonroof right above the drivers head.

Its there when the power shade is open and closed.
 






I've had my 2012 for about 6 months now, I've put a lot of miles on it and it has been quite good until recent times. I don't have much to complain about MFT, knock on wood, but I do have two rattles that have shown up in the rear of the vehicle when driving on rough roads.

The first one is a higher pitch jiggling sound which sounds like it is towards the back of the second row seating, like a metal on metal higher pitch jiggle sound.

I also have a deeper rattle, when driving alone it was sounding like it was coming from the rear driver door area, but my son sat in the back today and he says it is coming further back behind the second row seats. My third row seats are almost always in a flat position. It almost sounds like seat belts hitting the hard plastic panels but when I look at the seat belts they seem protected and a decent distance away from the plastic side panels.

I'm going to be taking it in to my dealer, this is going to be difficult to locate unless they put 2 or 3 people in the vehicle and driver over some rough roads. I was just wondering if anyone else has had rattles from the rear of the interior ?, thanks for any replies.
No problems with mine so far. You may have to go through the process of elimination. Try it with both rows folded, with all rows in the upright position, with spare removed, with jack equipment removed etc and see if anything changes. I would try that before taking it to the dealer and have them charge for the extra time. Just a suggestion.

Peter
 






Same here. It was the rear license plate. Added two more screws to the bottom, and the rattle went away.


I had a rattle in the back. It was my license plate which only had screws at the top because of the frame I have it in. Put some foam pads under the plate and fixed the problem.
 






No rattles to speak of so far. I did forget something very important and had loud rattling coming from the front passenger area. I looked... apologized, smiled at my wife and the rattling stopped.
 






I have the rattle in the moonroof right above the drivers head.

Its there when the power shade is open and closed.

I have this rattle. Mine sounds like a flutter and sounds like it is coming from the passenger side, but as soon as I touch the rim around the moon roof above my head, it goes away. Not loud enough to get fixed yet.
 






Thanks for all of the replies. My license plate has 4 bolts on it so it is good. I was playing around with the seat belts the other day and they make a knocking noise similar to what I'm hearing if they were to knock against the hard plastic panels. I thought they were sufficiently protected from making noise if they were to contact the panels but they aren't, they will make a knocking noise. It only happens on very rough roads and it might be just enough to get the belts to hit the side panels. The other item I have heard is the spare tire items when I've hit a speed bump a bit too fast but that doesn't happen very often :)
 






Another Possible Rattle?

Yesterday I was lightly kicking the splash guards to remove the built up snow/slush before parking it in the garage. I noticed that the rear guards are not as securely fastened as the front ones. I don't know if they are sufficiently loose enough to cause a rattling noise when going over rough terrain or not. I just thought I'd add this as a possible source to check for those that have them installed.

Peter
 






...I was playing around with the seat belts the other day and they make a knocking noise similar to what I'm hearing if they were to knock against the hard plastic panels...
JFUSION,

So are the seat belts the culprit? I’m available to help by forwarding the details to the Customer Service Manager in your area. For me to do that, please send a PM with your VIN, contact info, mileage, and dealer name/state.

No rattles to speak of so far. I did forget something very important and had loud rattling coming from the front passenger area. I looked... apologized, smiled at my wife and the rattling stopped.
I take it your wife doesn’t frequent this forum, ExploreThis2012? ;)

I had a rattle in the back. It was my license plate which only had screws at the top because of the frame I have it in. Put some foam pads under the plate and fixed the problem.
Same here. It was the rear license plate. Added two more screws to the bottom, and the rattle went away.
Fritzenheimer & dinom,

I’m glad you got the noise narrowed down and taken care of. :)

I have the rattle in the moonroof right above the drivers head...
I have this rattle. Mine sounds like a flutter and sounds like it is coming from the passenger side, but as soon as I touch the rim around the moon roof above my head, it goes away...
Sgt1411 & deerfarm,

I have your Explorer’s details from previous messages so drop a line via PM if you’d like help.

Cory
 






The metal on metal higher pitch jiggle sound is coming from the second row sit hinge, not from seatbelt. Try this, fold the seatback of the second row and hit the hinge with the palm of your hand, you should hear this rattling sound. Mentioned this during regular service and they'll fix it.
 






The metal on metal higher pitch jiggle sound is coming from the second row sit hinge, not from seatbelt. Try this, fold the seatback of the second row and hit the hinge with the palm of your hand, you should hear this rattling sound. Mentioned this during regular service and they'll fix it.

Is that the loose spring thing I have heard about before in another thread?
 






i have a rattle from the second seat, but it's caused by my kid's careseats. Sometimes the latch anchors will squeak as this is a metal-on-metal connection. The car seat also has a plastic rattle. If I put my hand on the seat it stops.

Do you have any carseats JFusion?
 






The metal on metal higher pitch jiggle sound is coming from the second row sit hinge, not from seatbelt. Try this, fold the seatback of the second row and hit the hinge with the palm of your hand, you should hear this rattling sound. Mentioned this during regular service and they'll fix it.

I think that is the source of the high pitched jiggle noise, thanks for that info I will definitely check that out, it really sounds like a metal hinge type of noise. Maybe a bit of grease would help it ?.

The other lower sound is like something hitting the hard plastic panels, that's why I suspect the belts. I'll keep working on that one, I need to put someone in the back area and drive over some rought roads. It takes a good stretch of rough road to re-create it, where you get successive bumps in a row. I'll keep working on this one.

I have to take the vehicle in for the infamous a-pillar panel noise, I need to check the other rattles a bit more before I go to the dealer, thanks for all of the replies and the dealer contact offer.

I don't have any car seats in the vehicle.
 






Great news. I took the truck into my local Ford dealer and reported the high pitched jiggle and the rear rattle to them. They had me drive my truck with a tech sitting in the back seat. They isolated the source of the noises to the headliner on the rear driver side just behind the rear door area. They took apart the headliner and re-attached all of the wires that run through the roof, and affixed the headliner as designed. I have not had any further noises since the repair, it seems to have done the trick. Great service from my dealer on this one.
 






Awesome! Enjoy your newly quieter car :)
 



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My rattles are in the dash, driving me nuts!
 






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