Steering wheel noise/rattle
 

My steering wheel is making a rattle when turning in idle/parked. As seen in the video- steering is fine and no other noises or trouble steering- You can also hear this rattle every once in a while when hitting bumps





I'm seeing different solutions- change a dampener or change the steering shaft. I played with the steering shaft under the car and it looks like it's the shaft itself making the noise-

anyone have this issue with your ES?

Did you ever figure out what was causing this? I've got that same noise.

I didn't. I lived with it.

It could either be the plastic piece broken inside of the steering wheel which will require taking the entire steering wheel apart OR the steering shaft itself which isn't that bad to replace. I keep thinking it's the shaft. It's cheap enough to get replaced. The steering wheel is intensive labor and I don't know a shop who will rip it apart to just replace one plastic part- they will probably just replace the entire steering column at a very hefty price

Here's the part that breaks if it indeed from the steering column: (19 minute mark if you want to see the piece that breaks. look how labor intensive it is to get to it- yikes)

Thanks for the video. Yeah it is definitely an involved job and not something I will trust any mechanic with.

I also have this odd noise when the steering column retracts and comes back so something is going on for sure. I am at a point with this car that if something isn't a safety concern, I am also just going to live with it.

You don’t have that plastic piece because this is only for the electric power steering.

The problem with your car is the shaft itself.

And how would you tell if it is the intermediate shaft or the lower one?

Update- I got my shaft replaced and the clicking noise is still present. Mechainc told me it's the clock spring and nothing to worry about. Not a safety issue and not worth replacing

Thanks for the update

Another update to this thread....

My shaft started to make noise about 2 weeks after I got it replaced. Lots of clunking and knocking when turning the wheel. I went back to the shop early this week and not only did they replace the part again under warranty, but they said the part was not installed correctly!

Got a new shaft and all is good now. No more clunking/knocking AND the clicking noise that I originally posted about in this thread is now GONE. WOOHOOO!

Finally!

I saw your post #8 before and I knew right away something was not right with the new shaft.
It is nice that they replaced it and replaced it on time. It is a very important part of the car.