pixelmixer

Larry: I just joined this group and saw your post. The Sony amp mount design allows too much flexing of the amp, which causes an irritating "buzzing" or "twanging" sound. It's effectively causing an audible harmonic not unlike a tuning fork. I put a block of foam between the amp & fenderwell. Noise is gone. Ford should issue a factory fix for this, as it appears to be a common problem.

Had it 2 weeks now. Previous 2010 Prius V owner. Love the FFE ride and overall efficiency. Have some rattles/buzzing in door panels to assess. One in particular I fixed. It was a "twanging" sound that emanated from the rear passenger trunk area. I determined it to be coming from the SONY amp bolted to the rear trunk inner fender well. I pulled the right trunk fender well liner off, and tapped on the amp. The noise was replicated. I silenced it by placing a foam block between the amp and fender well. Quite frankly, the physics of having a large, relatively heavy object such as an amplifier bolted to a thin sheet metal bracket that isn't supported on both ends is silly. If others have experienced this sound from the rear passenger-side trunk area, and have a SONY amp back there; the fix could be what I described. Next up: Finding the source of a rattle inside the pillar behind the driver's head that holds the seat belt retractor unit. I think there is an air bag in there as well. Cheers, Mark