Vexing Ticking Rattle at Driver's A Pillar: Check Airbag Cover

II Kings 9:20 · May 20, 2013

Since the first week I have had this annoying tic tic tic rattle that sounds as if it was coming from the A pillar/upper door/dash area.

Unable to isolate by pressing on various trim pieces in the suspect areas.

Worse when cold and on choppy pavement at 25-45 MPH. Of course the dealer could not hear it when I had it in for the software update.

I happened to mention it as a sidebar in a post and Blk9gen asked if it was coming from the airbag cover. BINGO: Problem solved.

It can be correctred by pressing on the left upper seam or by elevating the edge slightly. That only worked temporarily so I cut a piece of bicycle inner tube to cushion the area as a permanent fix.

HondaTechAV6 · May 20, 2013

hmm... I just had the service bulletin done - harness and airbag centering.

MTAccordEX · May 20, 2013

Thanks for the tip, Kings. We don't have that, but our first rattle appeared with the warming weather. Anyone have the clear plastic cover over the screen display rattle? It's pretty loud, but goes away if you push on the lower right corner. Only does it when temps are close to 90.

bambooshoots · May 21, 2013

I have what appears to be the exact same problem. Unfortunately it was so irritating that I dropped it off at the dealership this morning to have them find the problem and fix it. I'd much rather have seen this sooner and fix it myself instead of having some tech tear open my dash to find it.

witty108 · May 21, 2013

I had the same rattle on my airbag cover. Took me forever to figure it out. I grabbed some post-it notes I had laying in my car and shoved them in the gap, and voila, no more noise.

II Kings 9:20 · May 21, 2013

bambooshoots said:
I have what appears to be the exact same problem. Unfortunately it was so irritating that I dropped it off at the dealership this morning to have them find the problem and fix it. I'd much rather have seen this sooner and fix it myself instead of having some tech tear open my dash to find it.

Don't worry, they'll likely not do anything and report "could not duplicate problem" or "unable to hear the rattle that the customer states".

bambooshoots · May 21, 2013

II Kings 9:20 said:
Don't worry, they'll likely not do anything and report "could not duplicate problem" or "unable to hear the rattle that the customer states".

Not this time...today is the second time I've taken it in for this noise. The first time a tech rode in the vehicle with me and confirmed that the noise was present.

I left the car with them on Thursday and they called me on Saturday saying it was ready to be picked up. It wasn't. What actually happened was that they disassembled the dash, breaking some clip that they replaced (according to the work order) and then called me up Saturday thinking I'd want the car back for the weekend (what???).

Today, since the noise is still there and I have time off from work, I left the vehicle at the dealership for them to take a second look at.

We'll see what happens now...anyone think that going back to the dealership tomorrow and just taking my car back without them repairing it would be a good idea? I could try this airbag cover fix real quick and if it takes care of the sound, all is well.

If not I could just take it back to the dealer; I really hate leaving a vehicle in the hands of dealerships...not sure they'd treat it with the same care as I would.

On a related note, anyone foresee the post-it/bike tube fix interfering with proper airbag deployment if it comes to that?

oOKhanhOo · May 21, 2013

I hear clicking-like noises, not a high pitch sound though, when I turn the steering wheel (full turns) at slow pace (~5MPH or less)...

II Kings 9:20 · May 21, 2013

bambooshoots said:
Not this time...today is the second time I've taken it in for this noise. The first time a tech rode in the vehicle with me and confirmed that the noise was present.

I left the car with them on Thursday and they called me on Saturday saying it was ready to be picked up. It wasn't. What actually happened was that they disassembled the dash, breaking some clip that they replaced (according to the work order) and then called me up Saturday thinking I'd want the car back for the weekend (what???).

Today, since the noise is still there and I have time off from work, I left the vehicle at the dealership for them to take a second look at.

We'll see what happens now...anyone think that going back to the dealership tomorrow and just taking my car back without them repairing it would be a good idea? I could try this airbag cover fix real quick and if it takes care of the sound, all is well.

If not I could just take it back to the dealer; I really hate leaving a vehicle in the hands of dealerships...not sure they'd treat it with the same care as I would.

On a related note, anyone foresee the post-it/bike tube fix interfering with proper airbag deployment if it comes to that?

Tell the dealer where this rattle is coming from-hopefully the same rattle.

Re airbag: It is on the front of the wheel in a module well away from this seam area.

bambooshoots · May 22, 2013

Vexing indeed.

I tried the bicycle tire tube fix. It fixed the problem....partway. The ticking sound seems to be a bit more quiet. Still aggravating though.

Thinking about taking it in to the dealership again, unless someone here is more knowledgeable and/or has experienced this problem before and knows a way to fix it.

II Kings 9:20 · May 22, 2013

^^I rarely hear it unless on really broken pavement but other rattles are so loud on broken pavement I don't notice it. I never hear it on first start in the garage and riding on smooth pavement like I used to hear it.

bambooshoots · May 22, 2013

I gotta ask, if they're unable to fix it within a reasonable amount of time, is there any recourse I can take? This Friday will be 4 weeks of ownership, of which they had it pretty much a week.

I'd just like to educate myself on what my options are at this point.

bambooshoots · May 22, 2013

HondaTechAV6 said:
hmm... I just had the service bulletin done - harness and airbag centering.

So, is there actually a TSB out for this issue?

II Kings 9:20 · May 22, 2013

bambooshoots said:
So, is there actually a TSB out for this issue?

Methinks the ticking rattle is different from the airbag module TSB but I don't know sh!t from shinola so it could be the same. If so, I'll have it done.

bambooshoots · May 22, 2013

II Kings 9:20 said:
Methinks the ticking rattle is different from the airbag module TSB but I don't know sh!t from shinola so it could be the same. If so, I'll have it done.

After driving around I'd say the sound hasn't changed at all. It was expectation bias speaking earlier when I mentioned it seemed to decrease a bit... I dropped it off again at the dealership and we'll see what they have to say in a day or two.

bambooshoots · May 31, 2013

Well, after a solid week of the car being at the dealer, they stated they're unable to locate what exactly is making the noise. Definitely not the airbag cover in my case.

They called in a field engineer to check it out on Monday the 3rd. Can't wait to hear what HE has to say about it.

WDMaccord · Jun 12, 2013

I started getting this rattle today. Like Kings described it sounded like it was coming from dash where it meets the A pillar. I remembered reading this thread and pushed down on that front left corner of the airbag cover...rattle stopped. Also today, the TPMS light came on. Checked all 4 tires. Fronts at 35 and rears at 34 just like I set them. Recalibrated TPMS and we'll see if it comes back on.

2009LXP · Jun 6, 2014

WDMaccord said:
I started getting this rattle today. Like Kings described it sounded like it was coming from dash where it meets the A pillar. I remembered reading this thread and pushed down on that front left corner of the airbag cover...rattle stopped. Also today, the TPMS light came on. Checked all 4 tires. Fronts at 35 and rears at 34 just like I set them. Recalibrated TPMS and we'll see if it comes back on.

Has anyone with a 2014 Accord experienced the airbag cover rattle? I didn't have a rattle in my three-wk-old car until driving home from work on Thursday. Now I have the very same sound coming from the front left (or so it seems). I am taking it into the dealer tomorrow at 7:30 AM to have a technician ride along. My wife and kids can hear it - not too difficult to replicate. I'll try putting some pressure on the airbag cover while driving over to the garage. I'm hoping that if it isn't the fix, they can easily diagnose and repair.

M

Mugzy · Jun 7, 2014

2009LXP said:
Has anyone with a 2014 Accord experienced the airbag cover rattle? I didn't have a rattle in my three-wk-old car until driving home from work on Thursday. Now I have the very same sound coming from the front left (or so it seems). I am taking it into the dealer tomorrow at 7:30 AM to have a technician ride along. My wife and kids can hear it - not too difficult to replicate. I'll try putting some pressure on the airbag cover while driving over to the garage. I'm hoping that if it isn't the fix, they can easily diagnose and repair.

M

I have the same issue on my 2014, let us know how it goes at the dealership!

2009LXP · Jun 12, 2014

2009LXP said:
Has anyone with a 2014 Accord experienced the airbag cover rattle? I didn't have a rattle in my three-wk-old car until driving home from work on Thursday. Now I have the very same sound coming from the front left (or so it seems). I am taking it into the dealer tomorrow at 7:30 AM to have a technician ride along. My wife and kids can hear it - not too difficult to replicate. I'll try putting some pressure on the airbag cover while driving over to the garage. I'm hoping that if it isn't the fix, they can easily diagnose and repair.

M

Car went in on Saturday - the technician couldn't find anything that was causing the ticking/rattle, but when it was returned to me at the end of the day neither of us could hear it again. Fast-forward to Monday night...ticking/rattle had returned. I took the car back to the dealership on Tuesday and the Service Director took it out with me for a ride. He heard it and kept the car to work on today (Wednesday). The technician he wanted to assign didn't free-up until late afternoon, so they have it to work on tomorrow. I forgot about this thread until this evening - I am thinking about calling the Service Director tomorrow to suggest that he looks at the airbag cover, but I don't want to tell him how to do his job.

Thoughts?

Vexing Ticking Rattle at Driver's A Pillar: Check Airbag Cover

II Kings 9:20

HondaTechAV6

MTAccordEX

bambooshoots

witty108

II Kings 9:20

bambooshoots

oOKhanhOo

II Kings 9:20

bambooshoots

II Kings 9:20

bambooshoots

bambooshoots

II Kings 9:20

bambooshoots

bambooshoots

WDMaccord

2009LXP

Mugzy

2009LXP

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