Incredibly annoying rattle coming from *both* airbag covers on the A pillar and a few other bugs.

[CeeCeeBronco]

Please DM me that info, she'll be back in the shop next week and I'd love to finally solve this.

Alright, so I just recreated the fix. Now that I've done it several times, I can literally perform the fix in 3 minutes. Here are some photos for you. I have my top open to get to one of the connectors - maybe possible without opening, but would be very difficult.

1: The view before starting.

2: Taking out the screws.

3: The top view of the connectors to remove. I broke one tab, so be careful. You need something very thin and sturdy to get it right.

4: Tabs removed.

5: View with the screws removed and the tabbed piece also removed.

6: Next, you pull the airbag cover off. If you grab where my hand is, you simply pull down and toward you and it comes off easily with some force.

7: Looks intimidating with the airbag, but you'll be okay.

8, 9 and 10: The view behind the airbag and showing the trouble area. This is at the front of the airbag area. I lifted it slightly from the middle. The metal pieces are hitting against each other, causing the rattle.

11: The fix. I stuck an old medical card in the area. It's very thin, so it's tough to get anything in there. I found this fix by sticking my nail in the spot, which itself could barely fit.

This is definitely the cause to the issue. It will disappear immediately if done correctly. I would advise testing it out while driving before connecting everything again. Or, if you go to your dealer, you can point them to it. I will eventually take mine in for a permanent fix, but this will do for now until a reasonable appointment time opens up.

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[David12691]

Alright, so I just recreated the fix. Now that I've done it several times, I can literally perform the fix in 3 minutes. Here are some photos for you. I have my top open to get to one of the connectors - maybe possible without opening, but would be very difficult.

1: The view before starting.

2: Taking out the screws.

3: The top view of the connectors to remove. I broke one tab, so be careful. You need something very thin and sturdy to get it right.

4: Tabs removed.

5: View with the screws removed and the tabbed piece also removed.

6: Next, you pull the airbag cover off. If you grab where my hand is, you simply pull down and toward you and it comes off easily with some force.

7: Looks intimidating with the airbag, but you'll be okay.

8, 9 and 10: The view behind the airbag and showing the trouble area. This is at the front of the airbag area. I lifted it slightly from the middle. The metal pieces are hitting against each other, causing the rattle.

11: The fix. I stuck an old medical card in the area. It's very thin, so it's tough to get anything in there. I found this fix by sticking my nail in the spot, which itself could barely fit.

This is definitely the cause to the issue. It will disappear immediately if done correctly. I would advise testing it out while driving before connecting everything again. Or, if you go to your dealer, you can point them to it. I will eventually take mine in for a permanent fix, but this will do for now until a reasonable appointment time opens up.

Thanks so much for this. Do you mind re-uploading the photos? For some reason I can only see the last one

 

[CeeCeeBronco]

Thanks so much for this. Do you mind re-uploading the photos? For some reason I can only see the last one

I was worried that would happen. I copied and pasted from a DM to someone else. It shows the pics on my end, but I'll redo it now.

 

[CeeCeeBronco]

Alright, so I just recreated the fix. Now that I've done it several times, I can literally perform the fix in 3 minutes. Here are some photos for you. I have my top open to get to one of the connectors - maybe possible without opening, but would be very difficult.

1: The view before starting.

2: Taking out the screws.

3: The top view of the connectors to remove. I broke one tab, so be careful. You need something very thin and sturdy to get it right.

4: Tabs removed.

5: View with the screws removed and the tabbed piece also removed.

6: Next, you pull the airbag cover off. If you grab where my hand is, you simply pull down and toward you and it comes off easily with some force.

7: Looks intimidating with the airbag, but you'll be okay.

8, 9 and 10: The view behind the airbag and showing the trouble area. This is at the front of the airbag area. I lifted it slightly from the middle. The metal pieces are hitting against each other, causing the rattle.

11: The fix. I stuck an old medical card in the area. It's very thin, so it's tough to get anything in there. I found this fix by sticking my nail in the spot, which itself could barely fit.

This is definitely the cause of the issue. It will disappear immediately if done correctly. I would advise testing it out while driving before connecting everything again. Or, if you go to your dealer, you can point them to it. I will eventually take mine in for a permanent fix, but this will do for now until a reasonable appointment time opens up.

 

[Smokey142]

Mine began rattling at all 4 corners about a month ago, a couple days ago I put heat shrink on all the black begs that align the roof panels and then put one wrap of electrical tail on the silver bolt things on the front two panels and that seems to have fixed it.

 

[David12691]

Alright, so I just recreated the fix. Now that I've done it several times, I can literally perform the fix in 3 minutes. Here are some photos for you. I have my top open to get to one of the connectors - maybe possible without opening, but would be very difficult.

1: The view before starting.

2: Taking out the screws.

3: The top view of the connectors to remove. I broke one tab, so be careful. You need something very thin and sturdy to get it right.

4: Tabs removed.

5: View with the screws removed and the tabbed piece also removed.

6: Next, you pull the airbag cover off. If you grab where my hand is, you simply pull down and toward you and it comes off easily with some force.

7: Looks intimidating with the airbag, but you'll be okay.

8, 9 and 10: The view behind the airbag and showing the trouble area. This is at the front of the airbag area. I lifted it slightly from the middle. The metal pieces are hitting against each other, causing the rattle.

11: The fix. I stuck an old medical card in the area. It's very thin, so it's tough to get anything in there. I found this fix by sticking my nail in the spot, which itself could barely fit.

This is definitely the cause of the issue. It will disappear immediately if done correctly. I would advise testing it out while driving before connecting everything again. Or, if you go to your dealer, you can point them to it. I will eventually take mine in for a permanent fix, but this will do for now until a reasonable appointment time opens up.

THANK YOU! I'm gonna give this another look tomorrow and at worst I'll send this info with the Bronco the next time I have her in the shop. Fingers crossed, this sound has been driving me insane for nearly a year. Thanks again, stranger.

 

[CeeCeeBronco]

THANK YOU! I'm gonna give this another look tomorrow and at worst I'll send this info with the Bronco the next time I have her in the shop. Fingers crossed, this sound has been driving me insane for nearly a year. Thanks again, stranger.

I could not have dealt with it that long. It seriously made me hate driving the Bronco. Luckily, the good feelings are back. Good luck!

 

[Bearcat1]

THANKS!! the business card trick fixed the rattle I had on the driver side, went ahead and did the passenger side as a precaution. Great write-up!!

 

[Panmort]

Just did both sides in no time. Should know by tonight if it did the trick.

Edit: did a test drive and the difference is amazing.

 

[CeeCeeBronco]

THANKS!! the business card trick fixed the rattle I had on the driver side, went ahead and did the passenger side as a precaution. Great write-up!!

Yeah, I'm still gonna get it fixed at the dealer, but it resolves the problem in the meantime.

 

[CeeCeeBronco]

Just did both sides in no time. Should know by tonight if it did the trick.

Edit: did a test drive and the difference is amazing.

Awesome!

 

[Deleted member 49144]

Alright, so I just recreated the fix. Now that I've done it several times, I can literally perform the fix in 3 minutes. Here are some photos for you. I have my top open to get to one of the connectors - maybe possible without opening, but would be very difficult.

1: The view before starting.

2: Taking out the screws.

3: The top view of the connectors to remove. I broke one tab, so be careful. You need something very thin and sturdy to get it right.

4: Tabs removed.

5: View with the screws removed and the tabbed piece also removed.

6: Next, you pull the airbag cover off. If you grab where my hand is, you simply pull down and toward you and it comes off easily with some force.

7: Looks intimidating with the airbag, but you'll be okay.

8, 9 and 10: The view behind the airbag and showing the trouble area. This is at the front of the airbag area. I lifted it slightly from the middle. The metal pieces are hitting against each other, causing the rattle.

11: The fix. I stuck an old medical card in the area. It's very thin, so it's tough to get anything in there. I found this fix by sticking my nail in the spot, which itself could barely fit.

This is definitely the cause to the issue. It will disappear immediately if done correctly. I would advise testing it out while driving before connecting everything again. Or, if you go to your dealer, you can point them to it. I will eventually take mine in for a permanent fix, but this will do for now until a reasonable appointment time opens up.

I’m a little confused on these instructions, are these for hard top? I don’t know what the “tab” parts are. I believe mind just literally pulls of then you remove the mounting bolts, and then it pulls right off exposing the airbag. Are those alignment tabs for hard top?

 

[Deleted member 49144]

Just did both sides in no time. Should know by tonight if it did the trick.

Edit: did a test drive and the difference is amazing.

The business card trick worked? Is there anything else that might fit as more of a permanent fix? I was thinking of maybe using sticky felt but that may be too thick.

 

[Panmort]

The business card trick worked? Is there anything else that might fit as more of a permanent fix? I was thinking of maybe using sticky felt but that may be too thick.

Mostly, I ended up following it up with the sticky felt tape, but didn’t actually stick it, just placed it there. I still got some other noise. Not sure if it’s from the same spot or just other random body panel noises.

 

[RyanP]

I went to try this fix, so thank you for the great instructions, and found what appears to be the cause of my issue. It looks like my problem is something different and thankfully very easy to fix. The "push pin" that's circled was loose and as a result, the plastic pieced that it should secure was able to move and rattle. I used some some padding with adhesive as a temporary fix and it appears to be working. I did the same thing to the driver's side as that wasn't tight either. Talk about a relief as the noise was driving me crazy. Anyway, just wanted to share this in case it might be of help to somebody else out there.

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