rattle noise, right side dashboard

[mr82]

When driving there is a rattle noise mostly at lower speeds, below 40mph. Seems to be its coming from the right side of the top of the dashboard.
Any solutions or similar experiences please?
Cheers

 

[Bodgerx]

I've had the same since new. If you grab the right side air vent and move it around, it makes the same noise. I was delighted to discover this the day it was delivered, as you can imagine.

MG quality.

 

[Twocoats]

Yes, I have the same issue with mine
My dealership can't hear the noise apparently, even though the dealership collection chap could

 

[Gadget Geek]

Some other people have found it was the speaker loose behind the grill. Just a suggestion.

 

[Lovemyev]

Next time you are out and about and hear the rattle, just try applying pressure to the white small speaker surround at the bottom of the “A” post trim.
Had this on our previous Gen1 ZS EV and it was the small speaker vibrating inside the rear of the plastic trim.
When the car was stationary, by slightly tapping the white speaker grill, you could replicate the rattle.
Others have had the same issue.
The speaker / twitter just clips in from the back of the trim and it has no gasket between the metal speaker body and the plastic triumph and the speaker is a fairly loose fit.
The rattle is usually noticed when traveling over rough broke tarmac surfaces.

 

[Twocoats]

My dealership can't hear

Some other people have found it was the speaker loose behind the grill. Just a suggestion.

Thanks, I'll let the dealership know

 

[Bodgerx]

Some other people have found it was the speaker loose behind the grill. Just a suggestion.

A speaker behind an air vent?

 

[Mgzs ev]

When driving there is a rattle noise mostly at lower speeds, below 40m. Seems to be its coming from the right side of the top of the dashboard.
Any solutions or similar experiences please?
Cheers

I also searched for a long time .. and with me it was my rear view mirror

 

[Lovemyev]

A speaker behind an air vent?

NO - Maybe I have not made myself very clear sorry.
But before continuing it should be noted that I am quoting from my own personal experience of owning both a Gen 1 Exclusive model and a Gen 2 Trophy model.
As both of these models, have the upgraded stereo systems with more speakers !.
Therefore I am not 100% sure if the Gen 1 Excite or Gen 2 SE models have these extra speakers in these locations.
The grills maybe there, but maybe do not house any speakers ?.
It makes no sense to produce two different trim covers for each model to me, they may just omit installing the speaker / tweeter or maybe it is fitted on both models ?.
Anyway we digress as normal !.
So okay, you are now sat in the drivers seat, look slightly to your right and you will see a white cover over the "A" post, located between the front windscreen and the drivers door.
This white interior trim, starts at the point where it joins the roof lining and ends at the bottom where it joins the black crash pad of the dash panel.
Hiding behind these white trim panels are air bags !.
Towards the very bottom of this white trim ( where in contacts the dash pad ) you should see an oblong ( ish ) shaped white panel, with tiny holes produced into it's face.
These oblong shaped inserts are speaker grills, they houses a pretty small ( less than 2" if I remember correctly ) a radio speaker / tweeter.
It has a matching one, on the passengers side also in the same location.
Less than a couple of inches away, from the bottom of this white trim, there is much larger slotted vent holes ( three or four I think ) produced in the black top crash rail of the dash panel.
These are heater vents that you are speaking about I think ?.
I removed both of these speaker grills on our Gen 1 as the speakers where producing a rattling noise when traveling over a rough broken tarmac surface.
The speaker grill has the speaker clipped into the rear and can be unplugged from the wiring loom.
Another rattle that bugged us for ages, was hard to locate but we nailed it eventually.
One day, after numerous failed attempts, my wife just reached up and pressed up on the white surround that housed the interior light and the control panel for the sky roof - bingo got ya !.
These item can be easy (ish) to fix, but hard to locate in the first place.
Same fix for both, strip out the items and install some self adhesive silent tape, rebuild and refit.
Hours to track down and locate and about one hour to fix the lot.
This is the problem trying to get the dealer to locate the problem in the first place.

 

[Bodgerx]

NO - Maybe I have not made myself very clear sorry.
But before continuing it should be noted that I am quoting from my own personal experience of owning both a Gen 1 Exclusive model and a Gen 2 Trophy model.
As both of these models, have the upgraded stereo systems with more speakers !.
Therefore I am not 100% sure if the Gen 1 Excite or Gen 2 SE models have these extra speakers in these locations.
The grills maybe there, but maybe do not house any speakers ?.
It makes no sense to produce two different trim covers for each model to me, they may just omit installing the speaker / tweeter or maybe it is fitted on both models ?.
Anyway we digress as normal !.
So okay, you are now sat in the drivers seat, look slightly to your right and you will see a white cover over the "A" post, located between the front windscreen and the drivers door.
This white interior trim, starts at the point where it joins the roof lining and ends at the bottom where it joins the black crash pad of the dash panel.
Hiding behind these white trim panels are air bags !.
Towards the very bottom of this white trim ( where in contacts the dash pad ) you should see an oblong ( ish ) shaped white panel, with tiny holes produced into it's face.
These oblong shaped inserts are speaker grills, they houses a pretty small ( less than 2" if I remember correctly ) a radio speaker / tweeter.
It has a matching one, on the passengers side also in the same location.
Less than a couple of inches away, from the bottom of this white trim, there is much larger slotted vent holes ( three or four I think ) produced in the black top crash rail of the dash panel.
These are heater vents that you are speaking about I think ?.
I removed both of these speaker grills on our Gen 1 as the speakers where producing a rattling noise when traveling over a rough broken tarmac surface.
The speaker grill has the speaker clipped into the rear and can be unplugged from the wiring loom.
Another rattle that bugged us for ages, was hard to locate but we nailed it eventually.
One day, after numerous failed attempts, my wife just reached up and pressed up on the white surround that housed the interior light and the control panel for the sky roof - bingo got ya !.
These item can be easy (ish) to fix, but hard to locate in the first place.
Same fix for both, strip out the items and install some self adhesive silent tape, rebuild and refit.
Hours to track down and locate and about one hour to fix the lot.
This is the problem trying to get the dealer to locate the problem in the first place.

TLDR but all I can say is the OP's problem sounds like mine in that it is coming from the upper right air vent on the dashboard, near the windscreen pillar.

Flexing said air event with your hand reproduces the noise.

It's not a speaker from what I can see.

 

[N2STY]

it is coming from the upper right air vent on the dashboard, near the windscreen pillar.

?

 

[Lovemyev]

?View attachment 14459

That’s the very place my friend !.
I did look for any photos I may have saved, but unfortunately I did not !.
The circular speaker / tweeter can be clearly seen in this photo.
I have not tried popping out the grill on our Gen 2 model ( yet ) but I used a plastic trim tool to carefully pry out the surround from the “A” pillar interior cover.
Don’t be tempted to remove the whole white trim as it has air bags behind it !.
Speaker grill pops out with the speaker attached, unplug the small wiring loom and you have the assemble in your hand.
Shake the assembly from side to side and it will reproduce the noise / rattle you can hear when travelling on the road.
Or at least I could in my case !.
Thanks @N2STY for providing the image.

 

[Bodgerx]

?View attachment 14459

Nope, the vent on the dash itself. Grab hold of it and wiggle it and that's what duplicates the same noise.

 

[Lovemyev]

Nope, the vent on the dash itself. Grab hold of it and wiggle it and that's what duplicates the same noise.

Arh !.
You are talking about the circular chrome vent ball ( that reflects in the door mirror ) taken straight from the Audi A3 then !.
Mine both okay on both Gen 1 & 2 but the speaker rattle was a real thing on the first Gen1 we once owned !.
Plus the sky roof control surround creaking and rattling, good old silent tape sorted them out though.

 

[BarryH]

A speaker behind an air vent?

No at the base of the A-Pilar, there is an area with perforations the Tweeter is behind this. I have a Gen 1 ZS and it always comes back in cold weather and then it always seems to go in the summer. I have read on this forum that some owners have removed the A-Pilar trim and taped the speaker wires to the trim and others have padded the trim with draft-proofing sticky-back foam tape. I've just ignored it as a characteristic of the car when it is cold.

 

[Lovemyev]

No at the base of the A-Pilar, there is an area with perforations the Tweeter is behind this. I have a Gen 1 ZS and it always comes back in cold weather and then it always seems to go in the summer. I have read on this forum that some owners have removed the A-Pilar trim and taped the speaker wires to the trim and others have padded the trim with draft-proofing sticky-back foam tape. I've just ignored it as a characteristic of the car when it is cold.

Word of warning .
There are bags behind that “A” post trim !.
If you have the speaker rattle, you don’t need to remove the whole pillar trim.
You can pop out the speaker grill and fix the problem and reinstall.
Yeah you’re right, it tends to be worse in the winter until the inside of the car warms up.
The silent tape is a permanent fix .

 

[Bodgerx]

No at the base of the A-Pilar, there is an area with perforations the Tweeter is behind this. I have a Gen 1 ZS and it always comes back in cold weather and then it always seems to go in the summer. I have read on this forum that some owners have removed the A-Pilar trim and taped the speaker wires to the trim and others have padded the trim with draft-proofing sticky-back foam tape. I've just ignored it as a characteristic of the car when it is cold.

That's not where my noise coming from, it's coming from the air vent.

That beige cover piece that covers all the a pillar including down to the tweeter cover is loose on mine though, but I just put that down to MG QA.

?View attachment 14459

Nope

 

[AJW]

Next time you are out and about and hear the rattle, just try applying pressure to the white small speaker surround at the bottom of the “A” post trim.
Had this on our previous Gen1 ZS EV and it was the small speaker vibrating inside the rear of the plastic trim.
When the car was stationary, by slightly tapping the white speaker grill, you could replicate the rattle.
Others have had the same issue.
The speaker / twitter just clips in from the back of the trim and it has no gasket between the metal speaker body and the plastic triumph and the speaker is a fairly loose fit.
The rattle is usually noticed when traveling over rough broke tarmac surfaces.

Thank you for that. I bought my MG ZS (not an EV just the base petrol model) in April 2023. The rattle came about around 4 weeks later much to my dismay, mostly on roads with rough surfaces (it's a brand new car for goodness sake, how does that happen??!!). After reading your post today, I applied pressure to the speaker as you've suggested and that has greatly reduced if not eliminated the noise. My car is due for a 10k service next week and I've asked the dealership to fix it. Clearly it's a quality issue during the course of manufacture given the number of people who are experiencing the same issue. I don't suppose you have any suggestions for an intermittent rattle coming from the left front passenger door where the pocket is located? The larger round speaker perhaps? Its not as annoying as the dash but none-the-less still annoying. Thanks again.

 

[Lovemyev]

Thank you for that. I bought my MG ZS (not an EV just the base petrol model) in April 2023. The rattle came about around 4 weeks later much to my dismay, mostly on roads with rough surfaces (it's a brand new car for goodness sake, how does that happen??!!). After reading your post today, I applied pressure to the speaker as you've suggested and that has greatly reduced if not eliminated the noise. My car is due for a 10k service next week and I've asked the dealership to fix it. Clearly it's a quality issue during the course of manufacture given the number of people who are experiencing the same issue. I don't suppose you have any suggestions for an intermittent rattle coming from the left front passenger door where the pocket is located? The larger round speaker perhaps? Its not as annoying as the dash but none-the-less still annoying. Thanks again.

We also had a rattle from what sounded like it was coming from the centre of the dash panel above the info unit.
It was intermittent and difficult to track down.
I was sure it was coming from the passengers side, while my wife said it is from the drivers side !.
Then one day, when the rattle presented itself, my wife reached up and applied pressure to the cream plastic trim surround, that houses the switch / dial that opens the sky roof and interior light.
Found it, at last !.
I removed the the interior light and the plastic surround and used the car for about ten days.
Rattle completely gone !.
I then lined the inside of the surround with the same silent tape and refitted it, used the car for about one week and no rattle was present.
Then did the same with the interior light assembly and retested, no rattle.
We had the car for another nine months and the rattle never did return.

 

[MG steve]

I had a creaking type of rattle almost constant at motorway speeds. To get the grille out I used a blade and a trim tool.

The tweeter was loose/rattled in the grille and I solved it with the magic tape, I put it under the securing clips too so it was a tight mounting.

Unfortunately that didn’t solve mine and it was the clips on the grille to A pillar that made a creaking sound. I did drive around with it removed to confirm. More tape on A pillar to make the grille much tighter solved it.