[Sci_file]

Hi everyone!

This is my 1st post here, I’m really glad to have found a community of RAV4 owners. One week ago today I bought my first RAV4 hybrid, mostly because I really enjoy the ride, fuel economy and reliability of my hisband’s 2005 Prius.

I like the handling of the RAV4 but it has an awful high pitch noise coming from the front at speeds around 65 mph or greater. I believe this is due to wind at some junction that maybe didn’t fit together 100% right and now resonates at that speed.

I’m trying to find out if others have experienced this and if so, what have you done to get rid of it? I’d like to bring this puppy back to the dealership and have them figure it out but I’m about to take a holiday road trip. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[rdgrimes]

Go faster.....:wink

 

[Sci_file]

It just gets louder...believe me, I tried ?

 

[Daali]

I am deaf in both ears at 90%, 100% high pitch. That being said, I do not hear it in mine. lol. However, my wife and kids can hear. I will get them in the car the weekend and see if they hear anything in mine.

 

[rdgrimes]

Make sure the dealer removed all the plastic film that they ship with. Maybe a bit of that is flapping in the wind.

 

[J-Roc]

Try reading this post...
It’s the transmission.
New 2016 Toyota RAV4 high pitch noise from 55mph to 45mph.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...m/forums/showthread.php?t=225265&share_type=t

 

[rdgrimes]

Its a HV, there is no "transmission".

 

[J-Roc]

Its a HV, there is no "transmission".

Interesting.....

 

[Quickdtoo]

Could be the vehicle proximity notification system working when it shouldn't be.

 

[toiday]

I had the same problem with our Honda. Took back to the dealer, they said it was a strip on the windshield didn't set in correctly. They found out by using tape to cover up 3 edges then a drive test until they can find out which edge causes the noise. You may do the same.

After they replaced the trim, the high pitch noise (sounds like whistling sounds) went away. Then after a few car washes, it came back.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[bseward21]

2018 Rav4 4cyl Gas - High Pitch Noise

Just wanted to bump this one a bit and bring up my issue to see if anyone else would explain their noise in the same way.

I have a 2018 Rav4 with less than 1000 miles. My noise is a very high pitch (think hearing test high pitched, like an electronic tone) and I would almost say it sounds like someone is talking in morse code (it's making the noise very often but is not rythmic or consistent) Noise heard at higher speeds, maybe 55+. Wind direction doesn't seem to change it.

I mostly listen to audio books so the radio doesn't cover it up or I'd probably never notice.

I took it to the dealership and the technician did not hear it/any abnormal noises. My service advisor then drove with me to verify. He did state that he could hear it. He went on a drive with the same tech and could not get the tech to hear it even though the advisor could hear it. The tech said that if its too high pitch, that could be why he doesnt hear it. The advisor then went on a drive with the shop foreman who could not hear it. Then the service manager who could not hear it. My advisor can definitely hear what im talking about but does not know of any known issue that would cause this noise. He said that there are no TSB's for any noise concerns. He said that partially it could be because the vehicle is so new that not enough people have run into it yet and maybe there could be a TSB that comes out at some point but there's no promises. He said that something that comes to find as possible but maybe not probable (since he's not a technician) is that the noise could be coming from the camera system that is under the black cover behind the rear view mirror. The camera there is used for the lane departure and could be making noise??? I dunno about all that but he was just spit balling. He said he'd continue to dig into it and do some research but I didn't get the feeling he was very optimistic about finding anything.

To be honest, it's pretty frustrating that the technicians and the service manager "can't hear it". (How can they fix it if they can't hear it - convenient)

Has anyone else run into this? I've seen a couple of posts about high pitch noises and whining noises but they don't necessarily seem to be the same noise im hearing.

 

[jwittmer73]

2018 Rav4 XLE

I have the same issue with my 2018 Rav4 XLE with about 1000 miles. It sounds exactly as described as a digital high pitched digital noise, similar to morse code.

And, I had the exact same experience at the dealership where the service advisor could hear the noise but the service manager and technician could not.

My additional observations are:

o Noise seems to be at about 60 +/- 10 MPH (depending on outside wind speed).
o Noise seems to be a band of about 10 MPH. For example, if it starts at 60 then driving a few miles over 70 will often quiet the noise.
o Noise seems to be suppressed with rain. Even in light rain, I have found that the noise will go away and then return when the car dries off.
o Noise seems to change with passing cars who are cutting in front of the vehicle.
o Noise seems to be to the left side of the driver.
o Noise can be drowned out with the radio, but I also listen to audio books.
o Noise seems to possibly be outside the cabin when opening the moon roof or drivers window, but it is difficult to judge for certain.

 

[TomVA]

I have the same issue with my 2018 Rav4 XLE with about 1000 miles. It sounds exactly as described as a digital high pitched digital noise, similar to morse code.

And, I had the exact same experience at the dealership where the service advisor could hear the noise but the service manager and technician could not.

My additional observations are:

o Noise seems to be at about 60 +/- 10 MPH (depending on outside wind speed).
o Noise seems to be a band of about 10 MPH. For example, if it starts at 60 then driving a few miles over 70 will often quiet the noise.
o Noise seems to be suppressed with rain. Even in light rain, I have found that the noise will go away and then return when the car dries off.
o Noise seems to change with passing cars who are cutting in front of the vehicle.
o Noise seems to be to the left side of the driver.
o Noise can be drowned out with the radio, but I also listen to audio books.
o Noise seems to possibly be outside the cabin when opening the moon roof or drivers window, but it is difficult to judge for certain.

These symptoms smack of wind related getting into a crack somewhere. I wonder if it could be coming through fresh air vent. Have you tried opening and closing recirculating air button. I like the idea of getting some low residue tape and staring to tape up cracks around things. Check the door gaskets for defects, folds or small gaps.



It could also be some type of DC to DC converter (electronic module) which runs at 18 kHz, which the young guy could hear but the shop guys whose hearing is degraded can not. There are a number of inverters in the power modules which might set up some type of vibration that goes resonant when the car reaches a certain speed, but that is just a wild guess. The key with them is that they would probably not change pitch as you change speeds whereas one would expect an air leak to change pitch.



What you really need is a microphone or accelerometer and a data acquisition system so that you can analyze the noise and get the frequency as a function of car speed, but that is just the geek in me as I have to deal with vibration problems at work. Don't they have some audio spectrometer apps for cell phones. Nothing helps in a battle like this more than real data.

 

[jwittmer73]

These symptoms smack of wind related getting into a crack somewhere. I wonder if it could be coming through fresh air vent. Have you tried opening and closing recirculating air button. I like the idea of getting some low residue tape and staring to tape up cracks around things. Check the door gaskets for defects, folds or small gaps.



It could also be some type of DC to DC converter (electronic module) which runs at 18 kHz, which the young guy could hear but the shop guys whose hearing is degraded can not. There are a number of inverters in the power modules which might set up some type of vibration that goes resonant when the car reaches a certain speed, but that is just a wild guess. The key with them is that they would probably not change pitch as you change speeds whereas one would expect an air leak to change pitch.



What you really need is a microphone or accelerometer and a data acquisition system so that you can analyze the noise and get the frequency as a function of car speed, but that is just the geek in me as I have to deal with vibration problems at work. Don't they have some audio spectrometer apps for cell phones. Nothing helps in a battle like this more than real data.

Thanks very much for the ideas.

Opening and closing the fresh air vent resulted in no change to the sound. I also tried other settings such as closing all the vents and turning the blower off.

I've pretty much been over the entire car observing different seals and taping up gaps with blue painters tape. Nothing I have done so far has changed the noise.

My phone and laptop will only records up to 16 kHz which is apparently not high enough to capture the noise. Listening to the recording playback on the PC, the high pitched noise is just a very faint scratchy distortion. Interestingly the noise does seem to be more broad than I thought it would. In time, there are narrow bands across the frequencies with more magnitude above about 14kHz when looking at a waterfall display. Attached is an image with some gain adjustment to make it more visible.

The pitch of the noise doesn't seem to change with speed, at least not that I am able to hear. The on/off "keying" of the noise and the noise coming and going seems to go away.

I would say the noise is more consistent now than when I first noticed it, but the conditions when the noise occurs have remained the same.

I spoke with Toyota customer service and unknowing to me the dealership closed the service ticket. I am waiting to receive a call back from the dealer.

 

[jwittmer73]

My phone and laptop will only records up to 16 kHz which is apparently not high enough to capture the noise.

This wasn't exactly correct. I found that by recording a high definition video on my phone, I was able to capture the noise. I wanted to post this in case others also want to record what they are hearing.

I was able to export the audio from the video and analyze it. The on/off keying sound was much lower that I had assumed, it is clearly at about 6kHz. Comparing the video to the magnitude of the samples at that frequency, it appears that the signal is stronger on the left side of the windshield.

I'm attached a new spectrum view. It doesn't appear that the board allows uploading wav files.

 

[JuneBug]

I'm attached a new spectrum view. It doesn't appear that the board allows uploading wav files.

If you convert your WAV file to an MP3, you can upload it here.

 

[bini]

I also noticed that when you use the recirculating air function, the high pitch noises inside the cabin are fewer. Just enjoy the car since no car is perfect. I listen to music louder and every noise just disappears like magic. Great car.

 

[jwittmer73]

If you convert your WAV file to an MP3, you can upload it here.

Thanks! I had to install an encoder to do the conversion. The converted audio retains the noise, but the spectrum plot shows some loss of the magnitude of the 6kHz signal.

It is beginning to get cold outside here. I noticed that the sound nearly disappeared completely when the temperature was in the 30's F. When it got back up into the 50's, it returned.

 

[jwittmer73]

I also noticed that when you use the recirculating air function, the high pitch noises inside the cabin are fewer. Just enjoy the car since no car is perfect. I listen to music louder and every noise just disappears like magic. Great car.

Recirculating the air makes no change for me, but appreciate the suggestions.

 

[toiday]

Years ago, I have similar problem in a different car. Took it to the dealer multiple times and they finally figured out the high pitch noise came from the strip between the windshield and the frame. The way to find that is putting tapes, like the painters tape, taped around the windshield edges and test driving. Eventually, they found it's from the strip on the driver side. Replaced it and the noise gone away. The bad thing about this is after a few car washes, the noise came back. Your car noise may come from different places but use tape to cover all places that you think can make noise then eliminate one thing at a time. It will take a lot of time so be very patient. Good luck!

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk