[pkess3]

We just bought our brand new 2010 Subaru Forester XT last Thursday and we absolutlely love it! Only peeve we have is an annoying little rattle coming from the liftgate. I have pinpointed it to the liftgate as it does not produce the rattle if driving with the liftgate open over small bumps in the road at slow speeds. It is most common with the liftgate shut and at speeds less than 30 mph. Above 30 mph I think the rattle gets mixed in with road noise or the vibrations aren't as jarring at that speed. Has anyone dealt with this? I've read the posts about the front door vibration but this is clearly not the case.

 

[Woody '04]

i believe there is an adjustment that can be made. more common to have problems shutting the liftgate, so maybe it was already adjusted and loosened too much?

 

[Smooth]

Most likely there is a loose clip on the interior of the panel or else the liftgate latch needs to be adjusted slightly. I'd just have the dealership fix it.

 

[TC2000]

I had a similar rattle that turned out to be the license plate. I took some foam and stuck it to back of license plate around the edges and reattached it, haven't heard anything since.

 

[Mismost]

I had the same thing. Got the wife to drive as I sat in cargo area and did the "touch this-touch that" until I traced the noise to the side molding around the window....folded up a business card and wedged it under the trim piece and no more rattle. Went back home and used a bit of clear silicone between the trim and the glass, rattle is gone.

It was amazing how much noise it made at slow speeds.

Now, I chasing a squeaking/rattle that seems to coming from the lower dash cover under the steering wheel that comes and goes...it comes in cooler weather and goes away as it warms up.....odd.

 

[pkess3]

I had the same thing. Got the wife to drive as I sat in cargo area and did the "touch this-touch that" until I traced the noise to the side molding around the window....folded up a business card and wedged it under the trim piece and no more rattle. Went back home and used a bit of clear silicone between the trim and the glass, rattle is gone.

It was amazing how much noise it made at slow speeds.

Now, I chasing a squeaking/rattle that seems to coming from the lower dash cover under the steering wheel that comes and goes...it comes in cooler weather and goes away as it warms up.....odd.

Hmmm... I'll have the dealer look at it when we go back to get our plates. Although in the meantime this looks like something I'll try. Thanks!

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[GuardianAngel786]

Same problem here

I have exactly this problem (2010 Forester) and just registered to report it. The symptoms are exactly as described by pkess3. The sound gives one the impression that the lift gate is not closed properly even though it is. I also found early on that the lift gate requires a harder bang to latch shut than what I was used to with my previous car.

 

[pkess3]

I had the same thing. Got the wife to drive as I sat in cargo area and did the "touch this-touch that" until I traced the noise to the side molding around the window....folded up a business card and wedged it under the trim piece and no more rattle. Went back home and used a bit of clear silicone between the trim and the glass, rattle is gone.

I tried this yesterday after reading this. Rode in the back cargo area while my brother drove around the neighborhood. The rattle didn't seem to be as bad while I was sitting back there. It did not appear to be coming from the window though. It was actually rather difficult to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from but it is definitely related to the tailgate. As he would drive over bumps in the road I noticed that the lift gate would shake visibly. I'm definitely going to have the dealer look at this. We had this same sort of problem with our 2006 B9 Tribeca. It was much worse and sounded more like the whole liftgate just rattled. The dealer was not able to fix the problem and we just learned to live with it. I'm rather dissapointed that we are again running into this issue. The car is fantastic other than this one thing. Oh well can't be perfect right?

 

[Mismost]

I was thinking my noise was the tailgate and I had a similar problem on my Mercedes station wagon....the tailgate just rattled. In that case I used some home wedges fabbed from a chunk of tire tread I picked up off the road. A bit of band sawing, some belt sander work, a touch of double sided tape fixed that rattle. The wedges just "jammed" the door in place and left no wiggle/rattle room. A CBE fix...crude, but effective.

That old car had easy to remove carpet and I had a big piece of 1/2" foam rubber that I cut up and placed under the carpet. Really helped kill the road noise and gave it a nice plush feel under foot. Road noise is my major beef with this Sabaru!

 

[pkess3]

I was thinking my noise was the tailgate and I had a similar problem on my Mercedes station wagon....the tailgate just rattled. In that case I used some home wedges fabbed from a chunk of tire tread I picked up off the road. A bit of band sawing, some belt sander work, a touch of double sided tape fixed that rattle. The wedges just "jammed" the door in place and left no wiggle/rattle room. A CBE fix...crude, but effective.

Yeah I'm afraid I may have to do something like that.

 

[BlueBones]

I had the same problem. I put a rubber band around the the notch that the hatch hooks on to. That stopped it. Also beneath all the trim in the forester is the chassis metal which is not very thick. The rear wiper is mounted on a piece of medal that is folded over and glued onto the the chassis metal to make it thicker to make the rear wiper mount more secure. In my model (02) the glue had come away so I sprayed "great stuff" in there and it immediately fixed the problem.

 

[pkess3]

I had the same problem. I put a rubber band around the the notch that the hatch hooks on to. That stopped it. Also beneath all the trim in the forester is the chassis metal which is not very thick. The rear wiper is mounted on a piece of medal that is folded over and glued onto the the chassis metal to make it thicker to make the rear wiper mount more secure. In my model (02) the glue had come away so I sprayed "great stuff" in there and it immediately fixed the problem.

Ha! I figured it out! Mine was coming from these two rubber cone looking things that stick out of the tailgate and are made to help keep the gate snug against the body of the vehicle. If you wiggle them you can sort of hear the noise quietly and it must be amplified when the gate is closed. All i did was put some foam pipe insulation that you can get at home depot into the holes in the body that these cones fit into. Rattle noise was GONE! I'll try to remember to take some pics.

 

[born2b]

Photos please

Please take some photos and post if possible...I have the exact same problem on my 2010 Forester.
Thanks

 

[audifan]

Ha! I figured it out! Mine was coming from these two rubber cone looking things that stick out of the tailgate and are made to help keep the gate snug against the body of the vehicle. If you wiggle them you can sort of hear the noise quietly and it must be amplified when the gate is closed. All i did was put some foam pipe insulation that you can get at home depot into the holes in the body that these cones fit into. Rattle noise was GONE! I'll try to remember to take some pics.

Hi "pkess3", like many here i have the same problem on 2010 Forester Limited, last night i emptied every thing from the trunk, spare tire too, anything removable and noise was still there which leads me to your conclusion - liftgate (i also tryed removing licence plate, but some brilliant person at the dealership glued it to the painted surface of liftgate - GRRRR!). One question the foam was put into hole that cone is screwed into or is it in plasric receptacle on body ? If you could post pictures, would be helpful.


Many thanks!

 

[ForesterBill]

I, too, have a similar liftgate rattle with my new 2010 Forester Limited. I put my wife behind the wheel this morning and sat back in the cargo area. My rattle is coming from where the tailgate meets the body on the driver's side. When I push against the driver's side of the tailgate from the inside, the rattle noise goes away. The noise is coming from the area of the rubber cone so perhaps that is the problem. Anybody know if Subaru has a fix for this? I assuming it's covered under warranty.

 

[fujisan]

I know you guys are talking about the MY2010 forester, but this thread could be helpful to you. I had a similar issue with my 08.

 

[Tuned200]

I, too, have a similar liftgate rattle with my new 2010 Forester Limited. I put my wife behind the wheel this morning and sat back in the cargo area. My rattle is coming from where the tailgate meets the body on the driver's side. When I push against the driver's side of the tailgate from the inside, the rattle noise goes away. The noise is coming from the area of the rubber cone so perhaps that is the problem. Anybody know if Subaru has a fix for this? I assuming it's covered under warranty.

My 2010 has the same noise!:mob:

 

[-RC-]

I know you guys are talking about ...

It helped me alot

 

[JASONDHSD]

The first 150 miles were quiet as could be, now at 600miles all the baffles are vibrating and the tailgate is rattling. I have a Wednesday morning appointment at the dealer to get them all taken care of. Hope they fix it!

 

[dsel]

Hey all - I'm a NOOB and did a search and it looks like the problem I'm having with my 11XT is familiar. However, it's not just a rattle. My liftgate takes about 4 tries to actually close it to the point where I don't get a warning light on the dash.

Clearly this has been a problem for a while. Anyway, I'm going to bring it to the dealer, but I'm annoyed since the dealer is a haul from here and in terrible traffic.

This is why I join these forums though. Everything that's right and wrong with the car ... it's all happened before.