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Anyone have a rattle in headliner?

27K views 75 replies 47 participants last post by  Pennut 
#1 ·
I have a rattle in my car. I think its in the headliner, but very hard to figure out. I will mention it when i bring it infor an oil change. Didnt know if anyone else noticed it as well and had it addressed.
 
#6 ·
Mine only happens when I am not on the throttle. I dont have a sun roof. I am going to have someone drive my car while I am in the back.
 
#7 ·
Something like this happened to my daughter's 2012 Titanium (early May 2011 build.) I noticed this rattle from the headliner while driving the car from CA to the midwest, for her to start college. You could flex the headliner in the section forward of the moonroof opening, and if it was rattling while driving, pressing the headliner just forward of the moonroof up towards the roof would stop the rattle.

We took it to a dealer in Michigan who pulled the headliner down, and told us there was a failure of some special glue they used to join two pieces structurally in the headliner. They got on the phone with a Ford technician to sort it out. The glue was something unusual because the dealer couldn't get it. So, a new headliner was ordered. However, to hold things in the interim, the dealer technician installed some double sided sticky tape they use in other interior applications, and re-installed the headliner. It stopped the headliner from flexing, and ended the rattle.

That was July 2011. The dealer in Michigan has to date, still not been able to get a replacement headliner for her car. However, the double sided tape is still holding fine, and no rattles, at least the last time I was there and drove her car in July 2012.
 
#8 ·
Oh yeah... along with a ton of other rattles from SO many sources. I scared the crap out of my wife the other day, 'cause the damn headliner wouldn't shut up. At the time it was rattling right above my head, so I punched it as hard as I could.

I really need to take it in, the problem is each headliner rattle location comes and goes at different times, and if the dealer comes back with "could not duplicate", I might hurt someone.

I have to say... it's 2012... Ford should know how to assemble a car much better than this. My '03 Ranger didn't have a single squeak or rattle in the 100K miles I owned it, and it went through a lot of work.
 
#25 ·
I think we have the same temperament.

This weekend I scared the heck out of someone in my car when I (out of nowhere) started punching and screaming at the rattling headliner.
 
#9 ·
Mines been in three times now for this. From what it it sounds like its the glue giving up, its fixed for a few days then its back at it again.
 
#11 ·
There are multiple post about this in this Forum. Someone used some packing foam and used it between the headliner and the metal structure onto wich it's supposed to be glued. apparantly the fix worked.

My car went in twice for it and both dealers failed to correct the rattle. I'm about to take matters in my own hands and fix the damn thing myself. Not impressed by the service quality offered to fix this...but I'll stay on the topic.

Do a search and you will find multiple post about it. With some luck, you'll find the poster who found the fix and see how he fixed it.
 
#12 ·
Mine rattles and is visibly drooping. My dealer ripped out the headliner once to fix a kink in the washer fluid hose and they didn't put it up very well. The headliners are pretty poorly designed for models with a moonroof. I don't know how they managed to do that but as you've seen it is not an uncommon problem. However, I hear that it is very possible to fix the rattles and what not once the dealer actually puts the darn thing up correctly. Annoying but fixable.
 
#19 ·
Yes I had it too. I just opened the sunroof and looked inside and noticed that the velcro glue side was sagging and had unstuck from the metal where it was originally stuck to near the front of the sunroof opening. I just pushed the headliner up and it stuck back again. Probably needs to be done monthly. Kind of a cheap mounting application for such a nice car.
 
#26 ·
I had a saggy headliner that was failing at the front opening for the moon roof and one of the rear points had failed. They sent pics to Ford and they denied a replacement, but did authorize repairing the headliner. So they sent it to a trim shop local and its fixed.
 
#27 ·
I was convinced I had rattle in the headliner and I drove my dealer crazy trying to fix it. As it turns out, sounds travels in odd ways in this car: the rattle was actually the HVAC vent under the passenger seat and was easily fixed with a bit of tape-on felt.

For those that haven't seen it, the HVAC vent in question is a gooseneck-shaped plastic part that just slips into the vent channel running under the floor. As it isn't secured in any other way, a loose fit can make it rattle like crazy.
 
#28 ·
I had an intermittent headliner rattle all winter, but the first time I opened the moonroof this spring, I saw the culprit. The snap-type "velcro" had separated on the passenger side front edge, so I just snapped it back in place with some pressure. I know the sticky backing on the "velcro" has come loose on other's cars, but mine is still firmly attached.

Now that the weather has warmed up, most of my other annoying rattles are gone. They'll surely return again in the fall...
 
#29 ·
I just went through a 6 week ordeal trying to get Ford to fix this exact rattle. The end result was that both of my local dealers confirmed they could hear it but refused to perform any fix since the Ford Tech Hotline claimed it was within "acceptable noise limits". They just closed my case number with no further line of action for me to follow.

Without seeing how everything is put together, it seemed to me that a part inside of the overhead console (2012 Titanium, no sunroof) is loose and rattles when the headliner shakes or vibrates. You can push the headliner up a decent amount between the dome light and the console and it immediately stops the rattle. Even just putting light pressure on the console will stop the rattle. I've heard the rattle at most speeds under 65 and with or without the stereo playing.

Another thread had a few people who successfully fixed the problem by wedging some foam strips above the headliner from the seam at the sunroof. Sadly, I don't have the sunroof so I have no clue how I would do a self fix. During my commute today I was wondering if there was some way I could take the dome light down and spray/place foam or glue above the headliner.
 
#30 ·
I am also having this exact issue.

I took a day off work to bring my car to the dealer and they said it was the seatbelt! lol. No matter how much I tried to explain that if I press the dome light it stops, they wouldn't listen. I am going to see if I can just live with it but if not I'm going to try and bring it to another dealer that will attempt to do something.
 
#32 ·
i had my headliner fixed back in the Spring...dealer completely replaced it after getting the OK from Ford. Everything was fine until about 3 weeks ago, the rattle has returned and you can tell the liner is once again becoming detached from the ceiling. anyone else have this issue? would they have used the same sub-par adhesive for the fix?
 
#33 ·
It would appear so. I just put some of that foam window insulation stuff (that comes in the roll, NOT the expanding stuff from a can) around my sunroof. If you don't have a sunroof, then good luck! [dunno]
 
#38 ·
True, the rental Focus I had had one of the pairs of 3M Dual-Lock (mushroom head Velcro stuff) undone from the factory that I snapped back in. That should obviously be your first point of attack - even before the dealer.
 
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