On my way home last night, I observed a new rattle coming from the passenger side of the car. It is really loud and high pitched, like it were metal on metal.

After endless searching, I finally found that my passenger seat is rattling. I can actually grab the top of the seat and jiggle it to reproduce the sound.

Haven't tried to tighten the bolts yet to see if that will make it go away. Seems like it will be a pain...

 

This may be too easy, but do you have the seat all the way back against the rear plastic panel? I had some squeeks from the rear of the seat rubbing against the plastic and just moved it forward a bit to quiet it.

 

Sparky, I have exactly the same problem. I don't know how to eliminate this other than carry a passenger - bit of a nuisance though!

Bassman, no it is not caused by having the seat too far back. As a matter of fact if you have the seat all the way back it eliminates the noise as the seat no longer has the ability to shake backwards and forwards.

 

is your rattle all the time, or only when going over rough surfaces?

I get a noise from the passenger side, but only when I am going over rough surface or hit a bump. Sometimes the seatbelt will rattle against the door under the same conditions, but it is not the seatbelt causing the noise I am hearing.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by rocketman
[B]is your rattle all the time, or only when going over rough surfaces?

I get a noise from the passenger side, but only when I am going over rough surface or hit a bump.

 

I have that rattling over bumps in the road too. I think it might be the apssenger seat being loose, but I checked to see if it was rubbing the back of the car and its not. Sounds like the whole seat might be shaking, but its getting annoying.

 

Check to make sure that the seat belt latch isn't touching the door. Mine was and caused me much grief until I simply slid the latch further up the belt and stopped the contact and subsequently the rattling.

 

The seat belt rattle is another problem, which I solve by keeping the passenger seat buckled when it is not in use.

The problem is only over uneven pavement, but about 75% of my commute is over uneven pavement, so it is happening all the time. I can reproduce the problem by just wiggling the seat side to side. This just started for me. A few days ago, there was not a peep in the car, not it is constant.

I have not had time to try to fix this, but since a lot of people seem to have this problem, has anyone managed to fix it by tightening the bolts on the seat?

I'll try to repair it this weekend, and let you know my results.

 

I had the problem of rattling when going over bumps for several months. I could never pin down the exact source of the sound. I really don't think the seat was moving and it was not the seat belt buckle. The problem went away after I took my car in for the 15,000 mile service. They must have lubricated something or fixed it by mistake as I forgot to tell them about it when I dropped the car off.

 

If your seat rattle is the seatbelt buckle, I found an easy fix today.

Just flip the buckle up and insert the blade into the seatbelt keeper. It fits fine, doesn't fall out and doesn't rattle any more.