Well, I've had my new TL for about 3 weeks, and it has developed a rattle coming from somewhere around the steering wheel. Happens almost every time I hit a small bump in the road. I've done alot of searching, and couldn't find anything that matched my symptoms exactly.

If I tap the steering wheel from the bottom, I can reproduce the rattle. It may be coming from the ignition, or somewhere in the steering wheel.

I don't thinks it's the instrument cluster, or the radio control buttons (I've seen others post those rattles)

I'd take it right back to the dealer, but I have installed a PA11-HON2Y and Dom's unit for backup camera and ipod integration, and I'm worried they'll just blame those things. I'd rather just fix it myself if I can figure it out. (and YES, I've double & triple checked that the rattle is NOT coming from anything I've installed)

Any advise appreciated.

 

It is pretty common. Probably the ignition and/or the way the airbag/horn assy is mounted. I showed mine to the dealer he showed me most of the TLs in the lot rattled when you bang the bottom of the wheel. He was willing to "tear apart the wheel" under warranty for me but figured it would not help.

I decided to fix it myself. Unhooked the battery, waited 5 minutes and disassembled the airbag/horn assy from the wheel. After a bit of "fussing" and holding the airbag/horn assy left or right as I re-tightened everything eventually got rid of it for good. Re-hooked the battery and good to go.

I realize that's not for everyone but it is unlikely a dealer will spend the time and "finesse" it like I did. I'd expect a few trips to the dealer before it is resolved.

One guy had the airbag cable reel replaced and that fixed it for him.

 

Mine is in at the dealer right now for this fix. Been there since Tuesday Morning. It's having the rear deck rattle fixed and this steering rattle fixed.

Will post when I get the car tomorrow about the results. In the mean time...driving a new TSX. It had 10 miles on it when I got it as a loaner...

 

put your hand on the cruise and audio buttons. That's where mine was coming from. Tightened it at th dealership and it's all good.

 

I had the exact same problem. It was the ignition. They replaced it and the rattle has never returned. It's been slightly over a month now.

Now I'm hearing a rattle from the area where the seatbelt is connected to the pillar. It only appears under certain temperatures. It's pretty loud too.

 

Thanks for the advise. I'll probably try this, becuase before I take it into the dealer, I'll end up removing my ipod aux-in anyway. Might as well remove a few more pieces & see if I can do it myself!

I hope it's not the ignition, because I assume there's no way to fix this myself.

 

Make sure to disconnect the battery (-) and wait 5 minutes. There is a small access cover on the bottom of the the wheel. It is about 1X2 inches. Pop it off and disconnect the 2 connectors in it. Then there T30 torx bolts on each side of the wheel. They are recessed pretty far into the hole and have a considerable amount of loctite on them so they will drag a lot when you remove them. I found it took a bit off "playing" to finally get the rattle to stop. For example I would pull on the bottom, or top, sides of the bag/horn assy while tightening the bolts and see if it worked. I did take the whole unit off just to see if it was something in there but nothing was rattling. You may be able to just loosen the T30s and see if re torquing while holding the assy one way or another works.

 

OK, I managed to get the airbag assembly off, and I now have access to the inside of the steering wheel. I followed these instructions:

https://hondacuraworld.hostasaurus.c...eringwheel.pdf

I had to run to the hardware store to pick up a torx T30 bit -- it's pretty big. Those instructions say to discard the torx bolts and use the new ones (but these instructions are for replacing the steering wheel, which I'm not doing) so I assume there's no problem in putting them back in.

Anyway...... I think I pinpointed the source -- I think it's coming from the winshield washer lever. Now I have to get creative to figure out what will stop it.

 

My guess is the new bolts are pretreated with thread locking compound. Or, they might be a different length also to accommodate the different wheel.

As far as the rattle being in the washer lever that's right near the ignition lock so it still could be the ignition lock. Try and see if the rattle changes tone depending on if the key is out, in, in and at position1 and in and in position 2. If so then it probably is in the ignition switch. Or, does the rattle change tone when the washer lever is in different positions.

As far as silencing material that's a tough one. Felt is good since it will not degrade as much as various foams will over the years in a really hot car.

My rattle sounded like it was coming from an inch or two in back of the steering wheel's mounting bolt. I was convinced it was the cable reel but luckily I was able to silence it without removing the wheel. Messing with the cable reel is a big step up IMHO.

 

Well, I had no luck w/ the ratttle, so it's going into the dealer tomorrow.

 

Just picked up my car back from the dealer --- no rattle on my short 4 mile drive home

After reading through the various rattle threads, I was fully anticipating multip-trips / iterations with the dealer. I'm not ready to call it fixed yet -- maybe after a few weeks w/o the rattle.



When I got the phone call to come pick it up, I was almost certain it wouldn't be fixed. Here's what the service order says:

"Removed drivers air bag and installed foam tape on wire harness"

I had removed the air bag myself, and was convinced it wasn't coming from that area. However, so far so good.

 

Excellent. Sometimes that's the way it goes. I think it's more a result of their luck rather than anything you missed. As long as it is quieted now.

 

3 weeks later, and I had to bring the car back into the dealer for a 2nd time. The steering wheel rattle never completely went away, but was muffled after the foam tape was applied to the airbag wiring harness.

I continue to hear that one, but I decided I could live with it. However, now another new rattle has appeared, this one much worse and coming from further up in the dash above the instrument cluster.

I'm going to pick up my car shortly -- they said it was fixed by applying more foam tape around the front-left dash area, so we'll see

At the same time, I asked them to look at the airbag/steering wheel rattle again, and now they said it is "characteristic" of the car!!! They said they could order a new airbag, but it would have the same rattle. Arrrrgh.

I just want to enjoy my new car!!!!