Dashboard Rattles !!

[Polonut]

Not a matter of life or death = just a recurring annoyance. My 2020 Polo can go days or weeks in blessfull silence, THEN for some unknown reason I get a week of dashboard rattles. Are there some known areas in the dash area that people have discovered and cured?
Your thoughts and comments welcomed - I'm sure that some drivers must have found certain areas that they have successfully silenced.
C

[CricketLover]

Sorry if this sounds daft but……I had a similar issue with a different car a number of years ago. It was items in the glovebox.
Good luck with finding the solution.

[PO10ASH]

Check the plastic behind your rear view mirror.
Handbrake leaver the metal bit.
Plastic on the b-pillars are pushed in fully.
Air Vents - No idea how to solve this one yet, I just tilt them down.

There's loads honestly lost count, I just turn my music up.

[lancslad1985]

The only rattle I have in nearly a year of ownership is when I Chuck things in the cubby in front of the dsg. I have a charger cable loose so thinks usually rest on it then rattle. It’s been surprisingly well made for a polo, we’ve had a few between Mrs lancslad and I.

[ciclo]

Sounds like it's due to temperature changes.

When this happens, lightly press on the frames/trimmings that surround the dashboard/instrument cluster or adjacent areas to locate the rattles.
Remove the parts involved, cut small pieces/strips of thin automotive fabric tape and stick them strategically to the back of the parts/trims.

Be careful/keep an eye out when removing trims because they often have small rubber pieces that fall off and get lost.
The mission of these rubbers is precisely to avoid noise.

You can also make an adjustment of the spring clips by slightly bending the spring clip (fastening arms) so that the bite on the tabs of the trims is more consistent... although it could be hell if you have to remove again the trim involved, so try the fabric tape method first.

Happened to me with the new AID trim on our Golf7.5 when I swapped out the analog instrument cluster for the AID (Active Info Display).
After this 'repair' , it has never happened again despite high temperatures (Spain), with or without A/C (air conditioning).

Sometimes I think it's a miracle that all these cheap but nice plastic trims don't make a lot more noise or rattles, our 2013 6R is much better made in these terms.

[SRGTD]

@Polonut; Pinpointing the precise source of interior trim creaks and rattles can be very difficult - the noise source is often in a completely different location to where you think it is. I’ve read on one of the Golf forums of a few instances where;

• owners have thought one of their car’s ‘A’ pillar trims was vibrating when it was actually the hard plastic vanity mirror cover in the sun visor vibrating against the vanity mirror light in the car’s headlining

• a suspected vibration from the centre console in front of the gear lever turned out to be a pair of sunglasses in the overhead sunglasses storage compartment!

It’s always worth taking a passenger out with you when trying to track down interior creaks and rattles. The passenger can move around the cabin and apply pressure to trim pieces suspected to be the cause of the unwanted noises and you can concentrate on driving. Alternatively, if your insurance covers other named drivers, get one of them to drive your car while you try and track down the unwanted noise source(s).

Also, it’s worth investing in a set of trim removal tools so you don’t damage any trim pieces that you may need to remove - some of those trim pieces (if damaged) can be very expensive to replace.

[Aidey]

The major source of a rattle for my gti was coming from the over head reading lights area, that was resonating down to the dash area then, i took the plastic surround off around the lights and switches and under that was a housing that rattled against plastic, put some little foam pads in and no more noise. Hope that might help

[BigChrisG]

Traced mine to the handbrake button which was loose rattling. Common issue. The noise reverberates and sounds like it is coming from the dash.