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Forte Koup = Rattle Trap

12K views 36 replies 32 participants last post by  Dreadedeath 
#1 ·
Greetings all,

I've got a 2010 Forte Koup SX/auto with less than 4k miles on it....and the interior rattles like crazy when going over uneven pavement. It literally sounds like the car is falling apart. Even the passenger seat rattles when unoccupied (well documented issue on this forum).

I live in the midwest (Michigan) and pretty much all major roads are 3rd world style bumpy/crappy. How do I mask the rattles in the interior? I turn up the strereo! It's driving me crazy though..

What I want to know is: does ANYONE have a Koup/Sedan that is completly rattle free and tight/solid? Can you drive over crappy roads and hear no rattles from the interior?
 
#2 ·
its a 2010 Koup SX with 4000miles. Dont know when you got it.
A few things to check with youre Dealer would be:

- TSB KT2010022602 Sunroof making noise over uneven roads (a possibility)
- Forte Door Skin Rattle Noise (may have been for Sedan)
- Koup Noise from Rear of car (if you could go out to the vehicle and check the pass rear inner wheel well cover towards the back of the bumper (just below where the rear bumper meets the quarter panel) if it seems really loose thats your problem.
- have dealer check Seats some of them had issue with the tracking
- might as well check the Windows for the "wind noise adjustment issue".
- Shock boot fix ( might as well have that checked too).:)
 
#5 ·
Hi KoupDelux,

I bet u must be quite frustrated.
When I first got my ride Nov. 09' I did have a 'minor rattle' coming from the driver's door by the window button. Just that drove me nuts....but it sort of work itself away.

Since then I haven't had any concerns. I wish u luck and hope that u find a resolution....real soon.

Good Luck
 
#9 ·
I get quite a bit of rattling from the what sounds to be the passenger side. I'm not sure if it's the door or something else. It drives me crazy when I turn my music down. xD
 
#11 ·
Mine has some rattles too, I have fixed some myself, but there are a few from the passenger side too. I have a really good relationship with the sales manager at my dealer, and just sent him an email today. I know he will get it taken care of for me. When I get it done, I will get them to detail what they did and post on here to help any others out. Cheers.
 
#12 ·
^^^^^\

Honestly my girlfriend and I were just talking about how there seems too be a lot of noise from the koup..

The dash makes some loud cracks when it has a big change of temp suddenly
and I'm hearing the thump sound from the right front strut guessing something too do with that TSB for the front strut.
this is all old news thou

*sometimes my sunglasses rattle when there in the holder lol*
 
#13 ·
mine sqeeks everywhere, if i have my music off the passenger seat sqeeks a lot things rattle in mine too but only with music loud. I had an rx8 before this and with the music up it sounded like the side mirrors were going to fall off at any second.
 
#15 ·
I have experienced some rattling as well but I noticed that the passenger door panel (left side for me) was slightly detached and it had loose panel clips. I popped them in again and the noise is no longer there.

I have the impression that due to the quality of the material that KIA used in the forte, the door panels and the dash as well tend to expand with heat. I live in a tropical country and I park my car in the sun the whole day, when I drive back home and put on the air con, I can hear cracking sounds as the dash cools down. Ideally I think there should have been a layer of suede or similar material between the plastic panels and the doors so that the plastic does not knock against the metal. Also I think instead of door having panel clips it might have been better to use metal screws that hold up tight.

I don't know your thoughts guys but I feel that some of the Forte's that have continuous rattling may have manufacturing defects and possibly need dealer intervention. A new car is not meant to fall apart and this should definitely be covered under warranty.

The demand for Forte's have risen a lot with KIA now being among the top selling car brands worldwide. It basically has to produce cars at a cheap cost and rapidly to satisfy the demand. There is always a known percentage of defective vehicles in a production line which is different for each brand. It is just the number that will rise with the increase in sales...

KIA has been able to step up in sales and has built its goodwill. It has achieved this by providing beautifully designed vehicles at a competitive price. Of course possibly at the detriment of some other factors. But now that the brand is amongst the top ones, I think that their next move will be to increase the quality and the price tag with it... thus keeping revenues up...

Personally I myself would not have been able to buy a brand new Coupe if it was not for the Koup. But all this is just my opinion though... sorry if I diverted from the initial topic...
 
#16 ·
mine rattles a lot when the music is loud... but all the rattle comes from the rear dash. everything else is really nice and quiet. i do notice more "interior noise" when its really cold, but im pretty sure everything thats not a rolls royce will do that.
if i were you i would have the dealer check it out. best of luck to ya!
 
#19 ·
One source of rattling that took me a while to find: The passenger seatbelt buckle was rapping against the seatback release handle. You have to position the seat a certain way so they can't come in contact with one another.

The other one that I never managed to fix was a center dash rattle. It sounds like it's coming from directly behind / underneath the clock and it drove me nuts. I struck up a conversation with a lady in the Target parking lot one day who drove a black Koup..she has the exact same rattle, so there's a design / fitment issue somewhere that may never be addressed. It only rattles when it's below 50 degrees outside, so in Texas..it isn't a year-round issue. :)
 
#21 ·
my koup has rattles too! i love everything about my car, but the rattling seriously drives me nuts.

one of the rattles comes from my driver's seat. well, more a squeak than a rattle. i got it "fixed" before when the service guys tightened the bolts of the seat. but it came back again couple months ago. this time around, i'm planning to ask them to change the whole tracking thing and anything else to fix this squeak once and for all.

another rattle that's existed for the longest time is from the dashboard, not in the center, but near the glove compartment area. it's like a small ticking sound that comes out here and there. it's SO annoying.

there's another one that recently started coming up near the backseat on the passenger side.

sigh... if only these rattles would stop i'd be so satisfied with my beautiful koup. she's pretty, but she got some problems :(
 
#22 ·
I think road and weather conditions impact whether you get major rattles or not. My personal theroy is that if I lived in an area where road conditions were rather smooth and well paved; and winter tempetures mild, I probably wouldn't have nearly as many rattles to complain about.

But because I live in a state where the road infrastructure is severely neglected; and winters are harsh and frigid, there's no possible way for the car to be rattle free- it could never stand a chance.

That said, I still love my Koup.
 
#23 ·
i have had my koup for six months and 10k i have noticed only one vibration coming from the left hand dash which is mostly intermittent ,nothing much really my last car (mazda3) had more problems with rattles than the koup,i live in a tropical part of australia,it is quite hot here most of the year and did i mention the roads are crap here too!.
i am quite happy with the koup considering it was a lot cheaper than a new mazda3 sp25;)
 
#24 ·
What year was your Mazda 3? I think the newer ones are supposed to be a lot better. I've been to Brisbane; roads are a lot smoother than in Montreal. We got huge holes all over the place here now with all the hot/cold fluctuations. Not fun. So I'm looking for a car that will at least resist rattles as best as possible since it's one element of cars that annoy me.
 
#25 ·
got my dash rattle solved when asked dealer to tighten all the dashboard screws. When doing that they noticed the antenna wire was not on its track. Fixed now. I no longer have dash rattles but my passenger seat vibrates when driving on the snow and it also sounds like there is something shaking in it.
 
#26 ·
I've got a rattle in the passenger side of my koup also. It seems like the rattle is at the top of the door, just below the window. I've taken the door panel off and can't find anything that would obviously rattle. Been to the dealer twice with their response being 'we can't find the rattle.' Going back hoping for a better response. If anyone has any ideas of exactly what is rattling, please let me know. Thanks
 
#27 ·
inside rattles, one from the center of the dash/ clock its the mount itself

the instrument cluster also sometimes rattles, again its the space between
the cluster and the dash.
(if you hold the dash cluster with you hand it will stop.. sometimes for months at a time.

Dash is also temperature
 
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