Thank you for informational video. Will try to see if this fixes my rattling noise as well. So disappointed in Subaru, only 44,000 miles, already had to get transmission replaced due to irregular whirring sound, now have this rattling sound. Not to mention very slow/erratically gets stuck/buttons become inoperable driver/passenger side windows, infotainment touch screen system lags often, radio/media/mute/volume/touch screen for ac/buttons become inoperable 5/10 times. Dealership Puente Hills told me these (windows/infotainment) fall under electronic warranty which ended at 30,000 miles, and will charge at least $220 for check up alone. Although these may seem like minor issues, they are incredibly irritating and I have lost confidence in ever buying a Subaru again. Will try to tough it out and try to take care of this Subaru outback 2020 base model for as long as possible. Thank you for informational video🙏
Amazing, my car has a rattle from around that same vent area, but it's a 2013. For how many generations of Subaru has this been an issue, I wonder 🤔 Well, thanks for this video, I'm gonna see if my issue is the same soon.
I have a 2020 onyx xt. Never had a car with so many creaks and rattles before. (Headliner, dashboard) so annoying. Wasn't bad new, but getting worse with just 15k on it.
I hear ya. That’s the year and model that I own. I’ve removed multiple plastic parts and lined joints with adhesive felt, which has helped, especially around the dash, the eyesight module and the sun visors. I still have a rattle in the headliner (close to the driver side b pillar) that only happens during warm weather.
Yeah I just bought a 2024 outback Onyx and I only have 1500 miles on it and this rattle (whatever the hell it is) is driving me nuts. for sure there are most rattles and creaks than any other car I remember owning. Ugh.
Thanks for sharing, my car is back without the dealership doing anything as they feel it’s normal 🤦♀️☹️. I am still talking to SOA and they are yet to talk to the dealership and trying to involve a field manager looking after Midwest. I was trying to follow the step per this video, it looks like the panel is not coming out completely and it’s connected to the instrument panel as well. I kind of stopped it there and put back the way it was, any guidance will be helpful. I’ll show your videos to the dealership once I hear back from them, thanks again!!
Yeah, when I pulled it loose on the outside it remained attached close to the steering wheel. But that gave me enough room to work and add the adhesive felt along that outer joint. Hope you get it sorted out. You might also want to do some research on the SubaruOutback.org user forum. People there have reported similar rattles that turned out to have other causes. Some report having an AC line rattling against the Inter cooler or against the firewall (I can’t recall which). Although in that case the rattle manifests at a certain RPM.
@@mikeowen000 thank Mike, just wanted to confirm what adhesives did you used to wrap around the inside plastic piece before you snapped it back the bezel ?
@@chandrakantutube I used thin peel and stick adhesive felt that I picked up at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. It’s sold in sheets and is easily cut to size. I just cut a thin strip to fit that joint, stuck it in place, then pushed the bezel back into place.
@@pbielek Sorry for the delayed response. I’ve just looked at the passenger side in my 2020, and it looks like the same configuration as the driver side. The vent mounts in a plastic bezel, which attaches to the dash behind it.
Thanks for posting that mate yeh I bought a Outback Touring model in Australia Brisbane I love the Car but yes it’s loaded with rattles and annoyingly in the passenger dash area I’m pretty sure it’s coming from that same vent it’s got that waspy buzzing noise at slow speeds ,is the passenger side vent the same as the driver side vent. Iv had 2 Technicians out with me for a test drive and I couldn’t make it buzz with him in the passenger seat it’s so irritating because my Subaru dealership can’t fix until they hear it and diagnose it. That’s said the noise from this car outback car is especially documented by many people so they must know about it ,I wish I’d of bought a different car now
That’s pretty much exactly how my story unfolded. I couldn’t reproduce it on demand for the guys at the dealership. I then took video recordings of it and called Subaru of America. I had to escalate to a manager there before I got someone who seemed to give a crap. With my video documentation, they ended up sending a regional manager out to meet me at the local dealership. He finally heard it, and replaced the vent and bezel underneath, in an effort to fix it. (That didn’t actually fix it.) That’s where I learned how to disassemble the dash, which helped me in my troubleshooting later. Ad I hear you about the rattles throughout the interior. I’ve disassembled the eyesight unit, as well as removed the sun visors and covered plastic surfaces with adhesive felt, which has helped a lot.
@@mikeowen000 Hey Mike did you have a look at the plastic corner piece fitted externally at the bottom of the wind shield ,iv put some backing tape under that as it was chattering a bit ,I managed to pop the dash n bezel out thanks to your advice too I taped behind there as best I could but it still rattled. Iv yet to test drive it after packing out the corner wind deflector what a giant pain in butt all this is ,I like the Car but I have to say after this experience I’m very disappointed with Subaru Quality mate.
@@robertwinder9730 I’ve never heard a rattle from that corner piece that you mention, so I’ve never messed with it. A couple of things that come to mind: could it possibly be the tweeter in that part of the dash? I recall hearing about another owner who had a rattle in that area and found that the tweeter needed to be snugged up. Does your rattle change with varying rpm’s of the engine? That might point to it being the refrigerant line rattling against the firewall, which a fair number of owners have encountered. I did a lot of research on the Subaru Outback Owner forum when I was researching mine (that’s where I read about the scenarios above.) www.subaruoutback.org/forums/gen-6-2020-future.233/ Good luck, man. Hope you get it sorted. That kind of thing drives me up the wall.
@@robertwinder9730 If the rattle changes with varying RPMs, I’d suggest reading the discussion at the link below. From what I recall, a refrigerant line can rattle against a metal piece between the intercooler and firewall. I also seem to recall that it’s a pretty simple fix. (I think others just zip tie a piece of insulation in place to stop it.) www.subaruoutback.org/threads/buzz-rattle-noise-solved.533556/page-2#post-6241824
Great video Mike, is the whole air vent removable from dashboard? My vents are making a crackling sounds while driving a bad surfaces. When i press them by finger, the sound stops. So there must be sime small friction between plastics which makes noise. Im planning to put some adhesive felt tape around to kill this noise. Make sense?
It does make sense. They do pop out pretty easily. I actually did that in an effort to solve my noise at one point. I used a tire lever to pry the vent loose, pulled it out, and then covered the whole backside of it, except the clips, of course. Do you think it’s the vanes (the little pieces within the vent that direct the airflow) making your noise? The reason I ask - apparently there was a redesign of the vents that went into very early 2020 models, because the little vanes would rattle. Just something to keep in mind.
@@mikeowen000 thanks for your reply. My car is late 2021 and EU specification. Theoretically i should have already improved version of the fins but never know :)
My 22 outback wilderness has been in the shop 4 times for a dash rattle that makes me insane. After work I'm going to try this. Fellow cyclist so I'll also use the lever
Hope it’s an easy fix. And yeah, mine nearly drove me nuts. If this doesn’t fix it you’ll find other good resources on the SubaruOutback.org site. I’ve read there of folks having dash rattles that turned out to be an hvac line rattling against the firewall in the engine compartment, a wire rattling in the steering column, and other causes.
@@teabag3854 Mine didn’t seem to be RPM dependent. Rather, rough road surface always produced it. Folks who’ve had the refrigerant line rattling against the firewall said that it was RPM dependent. You could probably diagnose whether yours is the same one that I had by pushing and holding pressure on the left-most AC vent while driving. If that pressure keeps the assembly beneath it from rattling, and it starts back up when you let go, it’s probably the same as mine. I searched the Outback forum and found a thread about the refrigerant line rattle that you might find helpful. Folks have linked video recordings of what theirs sounded like, for comparison. www.subaruoutback.org/threads/2-4-engine-rattle-noise.538112/page-2#post-6181921
Actually, this thread is a better starting point for investing the refrigerant line rattle. Folks have documented the solution here. www.subaruoutback.org/threads/buzz-rattle-noise-solved.533556/page-2#post-6241824
I have a rattle in my roof 2020 Forster. It’s making me crazy. I’ve taken it somewhat apart and taped and stuffed foam in there. If I press my finger on the outside it stops. But I can’t seem to fix it. And now im getting that same rattle from the drivers vent. 🤨
My 2021 Legacy with 17,000 miles has started to rattle somewhere i n the dash. This really ticks me off, its bad enough XM radio works when it wants to, now I have to deal with rattles.
We have a 2020 Outback Limited that developed an annoying rattle at about 30,000 miles. It is now in the shop for the second time, as the first time we got it back the rattle came back only worse. Our warranty expires on 10/3 2023. If this latest solution doesn't work & the rattles come back do we have any recourse?
If I were you, I would call Subaru of America and have them document your case. It certainly can’t hurt. And if there’s a record of the ongoing issue, and your warranty expires before it’s resolved I suspect that they’ll take care of you.
Hey Mike. Mine has this exact rattle. I pulled that section back but not all the way off the dash. I added felt around that edge and the rattle is still there. Does the entire piece with the vent detach from the dash? I’m thinking I now need to pull the entire piece off and see what’s going on underneath. Please let me know and thanks for the time!
I only pulled it loose on the end close to the door, like you describe. I suspect that the rest of it is just clipped on and would detach as well, but I can’t speak from experience. Good luck! Hope you get it sorted out.
Something else to consider: the Subaru engineer that helped troubleshoot my car said that there was a very early redesign of the vents in this generation of Outback, because the vanes inside the vents rattled. He looked at my car and said that I had the redesigned ones. My car has a Dec 2019 build date, so if yours was built significantly earlier, you may want to explore whether it could be the vanes. (I’ve read on the SubaruOutback.org forums of at least one other owner who solved his rattle by shoving a folded piece of cardboard in between the vanes.)
I actually just got mine. It’s 6 days old haha. It’s a 2024 model so I’m guessing it’s the redesigned ones as well. I have a video I can share but not sure how to attach here. So I’ve put felt along the entire plastic part that matches up to the vent part. Still there.
The dash on my 2022 Crosstrek Limited is rattling... with less than 1,100 miles! I NEVER would have bought this car if I knew this was going to happen.
Yeah mine started about 4 months into ownership. I went around and around with Subaru of America and the dealership for 7 months before I finally figured it out on my own. If you get in touch with SOA it will probably help. If nothing else, to be sure that it’s documented. SOA eventually sent a divisional rep out to try to fix mine. He was the first Subaru rep to at least acknowledge that it was rattling. The dealership kept saying that they couldn’t hear it, despite my providing them multiple video recordings of it, and showing them the area that was rattling. (To be fair my rattle was intermittent, so the dealership may have legitimately never been able to hear it.) Now if I can just figure out how to fix the rattle in my headliner…
Sorry to hear that, but I know where you’re coming from. In addition to my dash rattle, I had minor rattles in the eyesight and sun visor areas as well. I disassembled those areas and lined the surfaces with adhesive felt, and my car’s pretty quiet now.
Thank you for informational video. Will try to see if this fixes my rattling noise as well. So disappointed in Subaru, only 44,000 miles, already had to get transmission replaced due to irregular whirring sound, now have this rattling sound. Not to mention very slow/erratically gets stuck/buttons become inoperable driver/passenger side windows, infotainment touch screen system lags often, radio/media/mute/volume/touch screen for ac/buttons become inoperable 5/10 times. Dealership Puente Hills told me these (windows/infotainment) fall under electronic warranty which ended at 30,000 miles, and will charge at least $220 for check up alone. Although these may seem like minor issues, they are incredibly irritating and I have lost confidence in ever buying a Subaru again. Will try to tough it out and try to take care of this Subaru outback 2020 base model for as long as possible. Thank you for informational video🙏
my 2022 forester is doing the same anoying noise!
Amazing, my car has a rattle from around that same vent area, but it's a 2013. For how many generations of Subaru has this been an issue, I wonder 🤔
Well, thanks for this video, I'm gonna see if my issue is the same soon.
Creaks and rattles. It’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru.
Awesome, my Subaru XV has exactly the same problem. I will try your method.
Same on forester 2022. Looks like a factory quality issue!! Hmmm
I have a 2020 onyx xt. Never had a car with so many creaks and rattles before. (Headliner, dashboard) so annoying. Wasn't bad new, but getting worse with just 15k on it.
I hear ya. That’s the year and model that I own. I’ve removed multiple plastic parts and lined joints with adhesive felt, which has helped, especially around the dash, the eyesight module and the sun visors. I still have a rattle in the headliner (close to the driver side b pillar) that only happens during warm weather.
Yeah I just bought a 2024 outback Onyx and I only have 1500 miles on it and this rattle (whatever the hell it is) is driving me nuts. for sure there are most rattles and creaks than any other car I remember owning. Ugh.
Hi Michael, do you have some pics to look more detail please.. thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing, my car is back without the dealership doing anything as they feel it’s normal 🤦♀️☹️. I am still talking to SOA and they are yet to talk to the dealership and trying to involve a field manager looking after Midwest. I was trying to follow the step per this video, it looks like the panel is not coming out completely and it’s connected to the instrument panel as well. I kind of stopped it there and put back the way it was, any guidance will be helpful. I’ll show your videos to the dealership once I hear back from them, thanks again!!
Yeah, when I pulled it loose on the outside it remained attached close to the steering wheel. But that gave me enough room to work and add the adhesive felt along that outer joint. Hope you get it sorted out.
You might also want to do some research on the SubaruOutback.org user forum. People there have reported similar rattles that turned out to have other causes. Some report having an AC line rattling against the Inter cooler or against the firewall (I can’t recall which). Although in that case the rattle manifests at a certain RPM.
@@mikeowen000 thank Mike, just wanted to confirm what adhesives did you used to wrap around the inside plastic piece before you snapped it back the bezel ?
@@chandrakantutube I used thin peel and stick adhesive felt that I picked up at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. It’s sold in sheets and is easily cut to size. I just cut a thin strip to fit that joint, stuck it in place, then pushed the bezel back into place.
That’s a good tip! Any idea how to remove the passenger side? Seems way more hustle.
Im not sure. I’ll take a look at that side and see. Will follow up later.
Mike any luck?
@@pbielek Sorry for the delayed response. I’ve just looked at the passenger side in my 2020, and it looks like the same configuration as the driver side. The vent mounts in a plastic bezel, which attaches to the dash behind it.
Mine started doing this in the right vent. Gonna go home and try this. Thanks!
Can you share how did you remove the right side vent? Looks a bit more parts involved.
Can you share how did you remove the right side vent? Looks a bit more parts involved.
Can you share how did you remove the right side vent? Looks a bit more parts involved.
Mine is doing it too in my Legacy and i thought it was the glove box but I'm gonna try this
Thanks for posting that mate yeh I bought a Outback Touring model in Australia Brisbane I love the Car but yes it’s loaded with rattles and annoyingly in the passenger dash area I’m pretty sure it’s coming from that same vent it’s got that waspy buzzing noise at slow speeds ,is the passenger side vent the same as the driver side vent. Iv had 2 Technicians out with me for a test drive and I couldn’t make it buzz with him in the passenger seat it’s so irritating because my Subaru dealership can’t fix until they hear it and diagnose it. That’s said the noise from this car outback car is especially documented by many people so they must know about it ,I wish I’d of bought a different car now
That’s pretty much exactly how my story unfolded. I couldn’t reproduce it on demand for the guys at the dealership. I then took video recordings of it and called Subaru of America. I had to escalate to a manager there before I got someone who seemed to give a crap. With my video documentation, they ended up sending a regional manager out to meet me at the local dealership. He finally heard it, and replaced the vent and bezel underneath, in an effort to fix it. (That didn’t actually fix it.) That’s where I learned how to disassemble the dash, which helped me in my troubleshooting later.
Ad I hear you about the rattles throughout the interior. I’ve disassembled the eyesight unit, as well as removed the sun visors and covered plastic surfaces with adhesive felt, which has helped a lot.
@@mikeowen000
Hey Mike did you have a look at the plastic corner piece fitted externally at the bottom of the wind shield ,iv put some backing tape under that as it was chattering a bit ,I managed to pop the dash n bezel out thanks to your advice too I taped behind there as best I could but it still rattled.
Iv yet to test drive it after packing out the corner wind deflector what a giant pain in butt all this is ,I like the Car but I have to say after this experience I’m very disappointed with Subaru Quality mate.
@@robertwinder9730 I’ve never heard a rattle from that corner piece that you mention, so I’ve never messed with it.
A couple of things that come to mind: could it possibly be the tweeter in that part of the dash? I recall hearing about another owner who had a rattle in that area and found that the tweeter needed to be snugged up.
Does your rattle change with varying rpm’s of the engine? That might point to it being the refrigerant line rattling against the firewall, which a fair number of owners have encountered.
I did a lot of research on the Subaru Outback Owner forum when I was researching mine (that’s where I read about the scenarios above.)
www.subaruoutback.org/forums/gen-6-2020-future.233/
Good luck, man. Hope you get it sorted. That kind of thing drives me up the wall.
@@mikeowen000 yes Mike it does change with RPM’s idling uphill seems to cause maximum vibration and that’s when the buzzing rattle starts
@@robertwinder9730 If the rattle changes with varying RPMs, I’d suggest reading the discussion at the link below. From what I recall, a refrigerant line can rattle against a metal piece between the intercooler and firewall. I also seem to recall that it’s a pretty simple fix. (I think others just zip tie a piece of insulation in place to stop it.)
www.subaruoutback.org/threads/buzz-rattle-noise-solved.533556/page-2#post-6241824
Great video
Mike, is the whole air vent removable from dashboard?
My vents are making a crackling sounds while driving a bad surfaces. When i press them by finger, the sound stops. So there must be sime small friction between plastics which makes noise. Im planning to put some adhesive felt tape around to kill this noise.
Make sense?
It does make sense. They do pop out pretty easily. I actually did that in an effort to solve my noise at one point. I used a tire lever to pry the vent loose, pulled it out, and then covered the whole backside of it, except the clips, of course.
Do you think it’s the vanes (the little pieces within the vent that direct the airflow) making your noise? The reason I ask - apparently there was a redesign of the vents that went into very early 2020 models, because the little vanes would rattle. Just something to keep in mind.
@@mikeowen000 thanks for your reply. My car is late 2021 and EU specification. Theoretically i should have already improved version of the fins but never know :)
@@typerfh Good luck! Hope you can get it sorted out.
My 22 outback wilderness has been in the shop 4 times for a dash rattle that makes me insane. After work I'm going to try this. Fellow cyclist so I'll also use the lever
Hope it’s an easy fix. And yeah, mine nearly drove me nuts. If this doesn’t fix it you’ll find other good resources on the SubaruOutback.org site. I’ve read there of folks having dash rattles that turned out to be an hvac line rattling against the firewall in the engine compartment, a wire rattling in the steering column, and other causes.
@@mikeowen000 Im hoping it's what your rattle was. It sounds like the vent...was your rattle at low rpms when accelerating?
@@teabag3854 Mine didn’t seem to be RPM dependent. Rather, rough road surface always produced it. Folks who’ve had the refrigerant line rattling against the firewall said that it was RPM dependent.
You could probably diagnose whether yours is the same one that I had by pushing and holding pressure on the left-most AC vent while driving. If that pressure keeps the assembly beneath it from rattling, and it starts back up when you let go, it’s probably the same as mine.
I searched the Outback forum and found a thread about the refrigerant line rattle that you might find helpful. Folks have linked video recordings of what theirs sounded like, for comparison.
www.subaruoutback.org/threads/2-4-engine-rattle-noise.538112/page-2#post-6181921
Actually, this thread is a better starting point for investing the refrigerant line rattle. Folks have documented the solution here.
www.subaruoutback.org/threads/buzz-rattle-noise-solved.533556/page-2#post-6241824
@@mikeowen000 Yeah. I already diagnosed the firewall. The refrigerate line rattle was my very first thought but nope. 😂
I have a dashboard rattle in my 2018 Forester that’s only present in cold weather. At 70 degrees or above it’s gone. Apparently the answer is April.
I have a rattle in my roof 2020 Forster. It’s making me crazy. I’ve taken it somewhat apart and taped and stuffed foam in there. If I press my finger on the outside it stops. But I can’t seem to fix it. And now im getting that same rattle from the drivers vent. 🤨
I'm going to try this tonight!
@@melissamiehling7698 Hope that takes care of it for you.
My 2021 Legacy with 17,000 miles has started to rattle somewhere i
n the dash. This really ticks me off, its bad enough XM radio works when it wants to, now I have to deal with rattles.
We have a 2020 Outback Limited that developed an annoying rattle at about 30,000 miles. It is now in the shop for the second time, as the first time we got it back the rattle came back only worse. Our warranty expires on 10/3 2023. If this latest solution doesn't work & the rattles come back do we have any recourse?
If I were you, I would call Subaru of America and have them document your case. It certainly can’t hurt. And if there’s a record of the ongoing issue, and your warranty expires before it’s resolved I suspect that they’ll take care of you.
I've already done that & save my communication with them, Thanks for getting back to me!@@mikeowen000
Hey Mike. Mine has this exact rattle. I pulled that section back but not all the way off the dash. I added felt around that edge and the rattle is still there. Does the entire piece with the vent detach from the dash? I’m thinking I now need to pull the entire piece off and see what’s going on underneath. Please let me know and thanks for the time!
I only pulled it loose on the end close to the door, like you describe. I suspect that the rest of it is just clipped on and would detach as well, but I can’t speak from experience. Good luck! Hope you get it sorted out.
Something else to consider: the Subaru engineer that helped troubleshoot my car said that there was a very early redesign of the vents in this generation of Outback, because the vanes inside the vents rattled. He looked at my car and said that I had the redesigned ones. My car has a Dec 2019 build date, so if yours was built significantly earlier, you may want to explore whether it could be the vanes. (I’ve read on the SubaruOutback.org forums of at least one other owner who solved his rattle by shoving a folded piece of cardboard in between the vanes.)
I actually just got mine. It’s 6 days old haha. It’s a 2024 model so I’m guessing it’s the redesigned ones as well. I have a video I can share but not sure how to attach here. So I’ve put felt along the entire plastic part that matches up to the vent part. Still there.
@@martindavis9763 Hope that takes care of it. When yours rattles, does pressing on that vent or the bezel silence it?
The dash on my 2022 Crosstrek Limited is rattling... with less than 1,100 miles! I NEVER would have bought this car if I knew this was going to happen.
Yeah mine started about 4 months into ownership. I went around and around with Subaru of America and the dealership for 7 months before I finally figured it out on my own. If you get in touch with SOA it will probably help. If nothing else, to be sure that it’s documented. SOA eventually sent a divisional rep out to try to fix mine. He was the first Subaru rep to at least acknowledge that it was rattling. The dealership kept saying that they couldn’t hear it, despite my providing them multiple video recordings of it, and showing them the area that was rattling. (To be fair my rattle was intermittent, so the dealership may have legitimately never been able to hear it.)
Now if I can just figure out how to fix the rattle in my headliner…
Yeah I just bought a 24 Outback Onyx new and now 1400 miles and this rattle is insane. Never had a new car make this much noise. Real bummer.
I just bought a 2024 Legacy 2 weeks ago and it rattles like hell, $32000 and Im not v very happy.
Sorry to hear that, but I know where you’re coming from. In addition to my dash rattle, I had minor rattles in the eyesight and sun visor areas as well. I disassembled those areas and lined the surfaces with adhesive felt, and my car’s pretty quiet now.
I traded in my 2017 Legacy which had no problems, BIG MISTAKE.
Subaru is garbage I will not buy another. Same rattling sound in my 2021 subaru outback
my 2022 forester is doing the same anoying noise!
Were you able to fix it? Im starting to hate this thing. I have never had a car in my entire life that makes so much noise