2012 RX450h Rear Blind Rattle

[BarneyTT]

My 2012 RX450h rear hatch blind/cover has a slightly annoying rattle, I've yet to delve into it but wondered if anyone has experienced the same annoyance and if so. what solution(s) did you find successful (other than removing it😁)?

[Bluemarlin]

Making sure it's seated properly woud be a good start. Also worth checking that the rear seats are secured fully as they can sometimes rattle too. If all else fails then strategically placed self adehesive pads should do the job

[NemesisUK]

I thought the cover in my RX was rattling, turned out to be the number plate!

[BarneyTT]

20 hours ago, Bluemarlin said:

Making sure it's seated properly woud be a good start. Also worth checking that the rear seats are secured fully as they can sometimes rattle too. If all else fails then strategically placed self adehesive pads should do the job

Thanks Bill, things on my list to look at

I recall a number of years ago on another car the blind wasn't a snug fit and went down the self adehesive pad route, have ordered some just in case.

16 hours ago, NemesisUK said:

I thought the cover in my RX was rattling, turned out to be the number plate!

😁 I will check it!

[Spock66]

Could also be something loose in the wheel well area.

[Bluemarlin]

4 hours ago, BarneyTT said:

Thanks Bill, things on my list to look at

I recall a number of years ago on another car the blind wasn't a snug fit and went down the self adehesive pad route, have ordered some just in case.

😁 I will check it!

I think they're a reasonably snug fit when seated properly Barney. I remember removing mine initially, because of rattles, but then had to replace it to cover something and it hasn't rattled since, even over speed bumps.

[BarneyTT]

5 hours ago, Spock66 said:

Could also be something loose in the wheel well area.

I'm pretty certain it's coming from the blind but will check for anything loose in the boot

3 hours ago, Bluemarlin said:

I think they're a reasonably snug fit when seated properly Barney. I remember removing mine initially, because of rattles, but then had to replace it to cover something and it hasn't rattled since, even over speed bumps.

Hopefully that's the case with mine Bill but will go through all suggestions regardless.

[Spottedlaurel]

I don't recall the blind rattling in the four years I've had mine, but I did have a squeaking noise which appeared to come from the tailgate area. I put felt strips on the little plastic flap surrounding the tailgate latch and I think somewhere each side of the tailgate where there appeared to be plastc-to-plastic contact.

If the centre rear seat isn't fully clicked into its neighbour then that can make a terrible racket.

Soulds like I'm in agreement with Bill.

For a company that made a lot of really good estate cars I find the rear seat/loadbay cover to be not so good. I wonder if something is missing on mine as there's a gap between the seats and cover (even my son's 2004 Yaris has something to hide that if the rear seats are slid forwards), and the back of the blind itself would be better attached to the tailgate. As a whole it doesn't seem as substantial as it could do, and any rattles are exaggerated by the ride.

On the positive side, as I found when we moved house the RX can take a lot of weight! I ferried lots of cars brochures, books and magazines back and forth and it took them quite happily. The firm suspension doesn't drop too much and there's plenty of power on hand.

[BarneyTT]

12 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

I don't recall the blind rattling in the four years I've had mine, but I did have a squeaking noise which appeared to come from the tailgate area. I put felt strips on the little plastic flap surrounding the tailgate latch and I think somewhere each side of the tailgate where there appeared to be plastc-to-plastic contact.

If the centre rear seat isn't fully clicked into its neighbour then that can make a terrible racket.

Soulds like I'm in agreement with Bill.

For a company that made a lot of really good estate cars I find the rear seat/loadbay cover to be not so good. I wonder if something is missing on mine as there's a gap between the seats and cover (even my son's 2004 Yaris has something to hide that if the rear seats are slid forwards), and the back of the blind itself would be better attached to the tailgate. As a whole it doesn't seem as substantial as it could do, and any rattles are exaggerated by the ride.

On the positive side, as I found when we moved house the RX can take a lot of weight! I ferried lots of cars brochures, books and magazines back and forth and it took them quite happily. The firm suspension doesn't drop too much and there's plenty of power on hand.

Thanks Nigel, a few more things to add to my check list

Agreed, it's not the best load bay cover, my Subaru Forester one is slightly better and more robust. With regard to your comment about "something is missing on mine as there's a gap between the seats and cover". Mine has an extension that clips onto the back seats from the main blind housing which moves and covers said gap between blind housing and rear seats when moved back and forth.

Good to know they are good load luggers, suspension looks beefy so I'm not surprised.

[F.A.]

We have just sold our 2012 RX450h which we had for 8 years. Fantastic car and we only replaced it as we needed to go down the EV route. 
 

The parcel shelf extensions which clip to the back seats were removed for the 2012 year facelift. I think this was possibility due to rattles IIRC. 

We found that the rear seats rattled and I paddled out the latching catches where the 40/20/40 splitting seat backs lock in to each other and also wedged a thick foam pad between the seat bases. This solved most of the noises around this area. 
 

I also found that the door rubbers squeaked a lot and  contributed to some of the noises when driving, so these need to be lubricated periodically. 
 

 

[BarneyTT]

Interesting, obviously the rattles were common hence the discontinuation of the parcel shelf extension in 2012.

Thanks for the input F.A. I will add your fixes/things to look at to my list.

Who'd have thought a humble boot blind could garner so much input, still that's the beauty of this forum!

[Bluemarlin]

Persist with it Barney, mine has the extension that clips to the rear seats and still doesn't rattle, so I'm not sure it's that.

First step would be to remove the cover to see if the rattle's still there, so you can narrow it down to that.

[BarneyTT]

On 4/12/2023 at 4:12 PM, Bluemarlin said:

Persist with it Barney, mine has the extension that clips to the rear seats and still doesn't rattle, so I'm not sure it's that.

First step would be to remove the cover to see if the rattle's still there, so you can narrow it down to that.

Sorry for late reply Bill, have been away.

Good first step at least I can include/exclude if it's actually the cover/blind.

Don't worry, it will drive me nuts so persistence is a given