very high pitch sound - the dogs are coming!

[gws226]

The I2 does have an autostop indicator light.

In part of our decision making process vs the Prius we had factored in that our Insight would most likely require additional "attention" when servicing. In this part of the country Hybrids are not popular. Infact I've given up correcting people when they ask "How do you like your new Prius?" I don't blame them; haven't seen another I2 myself.

It would not be realistic for me to expect an any army of Hybrid specialists at my Honda dealer... nor them to have the part readily on the shelf. I admit I did not plan on "Hey Earl, come listen to this guy... he thinks his car turns itself off automatically when he pressed the brake."

My guess is that its a cooling fan somewhere thats causing it. Since it only seems to occur while the car is warming up (continues after the cold engine light turns off).. is there a cooling fan somewhere that is set to run for a predetermined time as part of the warmup cycle for the car?

Thanks again for the help.

[gws226]

Let me add that since my first post, I have spoken to the service manager and an employee that is more familiar with this type of car.

They were both very nice and more willing to listen my description of the issue. We agreed to replace the tensioner, and the three of us will go for a drive afterwards to see if we can replicate my issue.

[Jivko57]

Hi , my daughter recently went on a website that has high frequency sounds that
people stop hearing with the age. Although i thought I had good hearing I could not hear any sound above 16khz

you can test and see at what frequency you will stop hearing and maybe also can guess what frequency is the sound that your car produces.


then you can check online and may be there will be clue which component could be making such a sound.

[gws226]

Thank you for the suggestion. I found a you tube sound test. I could hear to 16khz only (assuming my PC speakers can go beyond that)

I would say my sound falls between 10khz and 13khz when played at roughly 1/3rd volume on my laptop and (my car's sound emission is extremely close to the test tones in video)
YouTube - Hearing Test (try playing 10khz-13khz a few times in a row and you get an idea what the car is like stopped at a light w/ no radio)

I've never considered myself sensitive to particular sounds (I lived in Manhattan for 5 years.... you get used to weird noises

If it helps,
-I can drown out the sound by turning up the radio a bit.
-I can prominently hear the sound when autostopped w/ climate control & ECON on (low fan speed)
-I can't hear it over the engine (if its happening at all) once I accel beyond 10mph, but I hear again once I take my foot off the gas.
-The sound tends to disappear within the first 2-3 miles of driving (my dealer is 5 miles away and by the time I pulled in for service I couldn't hear it anymore)
- I don't recall hearing the sound more then a handful of times on my way home from work (temp high 80's to low 90's)

[Keen4Green]

As I have posted about elsewhere on this forum, I hear the high pitched sound too. Mostly it happens when I am braking at very slow speeds and coming to a very slow stop. It goes away as soon as I let up off the brake. But it doesn't happen if I come to a stop at a slightly faster rate. Strange. Occasionally I hear it while driving between 40-50 mph on city streets, but only if I've been travelling at that speed range for a while and not hitting many lights. Once I get on the freeway and hit 60-65+, it goes away.

When I got the I2 and had heard it, I asked the service tech about it and was told it was normal. So now it doesn't bother me. I'm usually listening to the iPod or radio or navigation or lost in thought.

[gws226]

I wish I could say the same for me Keen4green. It maybe normal, but I don't think its something I am willing to live with.

I'm trying a different Honda dealer on Thursday.

[Joey P]

Count me in as another Insight owner (2010 Insight NAVI) that can hear it. At first I could really only hear it as I was slowing down and when the car was in Auto Stop. A few weeks ago I started hearing it about 80% of the time that I was going under 40mph.
From what I can tell it doesn't have anything to do with the transmission, engine, HVAC or radio. It does appear to be coming from the passenger side front of the vehicle. But those high pitched noises are hard to locate.
If I had heard the noise when I test drove the car, it would have been a deal breaker for me.
I want to take it in, but it's so intermittent I'm worried I'll end up paying a diagnostic fee for nothing. I'm planning to ask the service writer about it when I get my first oil change.

Oh, and BTW, the fan on the NAVI system runs even when the power to it is off. So the OP I think mentioned that he didn't hear it in the non navi model, so it is possible that it has something to to do with that because the system is clearly still using power even with the unit "off."

If I could get it to reliably happen when the car wasn't moving but my foot wasn't on the brake, I'd set the parking brake and pop the hood and listen for it, but it doesn't happen that way. If I could pin point the noise and it wasn't on a part that generated heat, I'd think I'd try to wrap something insulating around it to try and deaden the sound.

[nameless00]

On my EX I hear this noise in 2 specific instances:

1) Slowly down / when the battery is recharging.
2) When I'm at 2 bars from full charge in auto-stop or warming up.

I haven't spent much time on it, I've heard headache causing high pitch sounds on my friend's Prius.

[GoMetricToday]

I have heard this sound several times. Each time I have noticed it coming from the engine compartment. Most of the time it is when I am slowing down or if the battery pack needs a regen whilst I am driving. Like some on here I tend to tune it out since it appears to me to be the IMA motor spinning backward to regen the battery pack (assuming that is indeed how it works). I can only assume that this a common thing with hybrids of all makes. I have talked to some Prius owners who say they hear the same thing in their cars even as far back as the Gen I Prius. I talked to an owner of a Ford Fusion Hybrid and was told the same thing. I guess as I get older the sound doesn't bother me much since it has been proven that older people tend to not hear higher pitched sounds as younger people do. I have found at a complete stop with the ICE on Auto Stop and heavy use of the IMA, that the cooling fans will kick in to keep the battery pack cool. I noticed this when I stopped at a long red light and didn't have the radio on or climate control on (just had the windows down). Since this sound seems to be common theme with hybrids, I say drive your car no matter what make it is and enjoy it. If you are a younger person, my best advice is to turn up your stereo really loud because soon enough you will be loosing your hearing like the rest of us and you won't have to worry about that noise any more. LOL

[GoMetricToday]

I stopped hearing it at 13 khz.

Originally Posted by gws226

Thank you for the suggestion. I found a you tube sound test. I could hear to 16khz only (assuming my PC speakers can go beyond that)

I would say my sound falls between 10khz and 13khz when played at roughly 1/3rd volume on my laptop and (my car's sound emission is extremely close to the test tones in video)
YouTube - Hearing Test (try playing 10khz-13khz a few times in a row and you get an idea what the car is like stopped at a light w/ no radio)

I've never considered myself sensitive to particular sounds (I lived in Manhattan for 5 years.... you get used to weird noises

If it helps,
-I can drown out the sound by turning up the radio a bit.
-I can prominently hear the sound when autostopped w/ climate control & ECON on (low fan speed)
-I can't hear it over the engine (if its happening at all) once I accel beyond 10mph, but I hear again once I take my foot off the gas.
-The sound tends to disappear within the first 2-3 miles of driving (my dealer is 5 miles away and by the time I pulled in for service I couldn't hear it anymore)
- I don't recall hearing the sound more then a handful of times on my way home from work (temp high 80's to low 90's)