Wind Whistling Noise (with Video!)

I have this noise anytime there is a strong headwind or crosswind. I know people are saying it's the door seals but I've pushed up on the headliner by the sun visors and the noise changes pitch or goes away entirely the harder I push up.

 

Same year, same noise, same conditions

 

My '13 w/45,000 miles just started making this noise in cross winds. Masking tape over the gap between the door and windshield frame stopped the noise. Now that I know where it is coming from I need to figure a better fix.

 

I know this is an old thread, but this problem is still occurring so I am posting this to provide any potential 2015 Tacoma purchasers a heads-up.

I have owned a 2015 Tacoma for approximately 3500 miles, and this whistling noise occurred the FIRST time I drove on the highway in a cross wind (at about 500 miles on the odometer). The whistling seems worse on windy days. I advised my salesman the DAY it happened and he advised me Toyota had put out a TSB on this problem. I took the truck into Toyota service a couple of days later to have the TSB performed. They advised me they don't consider my truck to have a problem since they could not reproduce the whistling noise, and they would not perform the TSB since it did not apply to my truck's model year. I found a youtube video of the precise sound I was hearing, so I sent an email to Toyota's Corporate Office containing a URL of the webpage the video was located on. Toyota's Corporate response was that they defer to the local dealer.

When the whistling occurred again, on the drive home from the service center, of the dealership I purchased the truck from (103rd Street, between State Line Road & Wornall Road in Kansas City, Missouri) I decided to call my salesman again the next day about this ongoing issue (salesman has been truly helpful and has treated me well). When I called my salesman the next day, on the truck's bluetooth, the whistling sound occurred while we were speaking. He advised the service center of this fact and they are "looking into it".

I am undecided in how I am going to pursue this issue with Toyota. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get Toyota to repair a defect in a brand new vehicle, I am open to suggestions.

 

Wish you good luck. My 2014 started this shortly after purchasing it, and one day while it was really whistling I called the Service Department manager. All they did was put a bandaid on it, but they re-caulked the windshield and it does it now sometimes in really strong cross winds. Do your windows rattle/make noise even when rolled up? They have replaced the driver side seal but it still makes noise as it doesn't sit well in the gasket/seal.

 

TacomaTx,

I don't have any window rattling noises. The whistling noise I'm hearing is apparently a known problem to Toyota. So much so Toyota has issued several TSBs over the years on the same problem for different model trucks.

There is a gap between the rubber seal over the mid-hood area and the seals over the headlights. Apparently the TSB that would alleviate the whistling sound in my truck, merely advises Toyota to replace the OEM mid-hood seal (not reaching over-headlight seals) with a wider over-hood seal that fills in this "gap" between the OEM mid-hood seal and the over-headlight seals. It apparently fixes the vast majority of whistling complaints.

Why Toyota continues to use the too-short mid-hood seal is a total mystery when they KNOW there may be a whistling sound associated with this seal, and they KNOW the wider mid-hood seal will prevent the majority of whistling complaints at a very small difference in price between the two seals.

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...e-crosswinds-highway-speed-5.html#post9740410

 

TacoGlenn,

I appreciate the link, but that does not address the real issue. Toyota KNOWS they have a potential design problem causing this noise. This is very easily proven by the fact they have issued more than one TSB on this issue. I was not advised of this fact when I purchased this $30,000+ truck. Either Toyota will alleviate this problem on my brand new truck, on their own, or they can address this issue in a legal forum.

 

I've the same issue w/my '13 Tacoma and using masking tape I isolated the source as the gap between the windshield post and the door frame. Place ~12" of tape over the gap and no whistle, drop the window and remove the tape and the whistle comes back. Based on one email to the dealer and what I've read in the forum I haven't pursued the issue with the dealer.

 

Dennis7234,

I'm glad you found your whistling noise, and a correction for it. I read somewhere else on TW that other people have had this "kazoo" whistling sound problem.

I know the dealership is aware of it when their service center immediately asked me if the sound occurs mostly on windy days, when I took it in for them to fix. Why, yes it does. How odd that they would know that. How would they know that?

If my truck were several years old I might spend the time required to hunt down this problem, but when it's a brand new truck the manufacturer/dealership has an obligation to repair issues to the "new" vehicle. Hence, the reason for warranties.

I owned a '12 Tacoma prior to this '15 Tacoma and didn't have one problem with the '12. I'm quickly reaching the I will never own another Toyota level because of this issue.

 

^^ same here. DCLB 2011 whistle in a strong headwind. Already tried the windshield reseal, no luck.

 

BigRed4x4,

After reading as much as I could locate on this issue it appears there is a higher-pitched "tea-kettle" whistling sound attributable to the windshield seal, and a lower-pitched "kazoo" whistling sound attributable to the seal gap between the seal over the radiator and the seal over either headlight.
Toyota has been . . . VERY . . . uncooperative in alleviating this sound from my new truck.
I had been wavering on my loyalty to this manufacturer, but I am now certain . . . I will NEVER own another Toyota vehicle.

 

I understand the frustrations. I only seem to get this in a strong headwind so while it's annoying, I can live with it. We keep ours a long time (10+ yrs) and I still find their products reliable long term. I hope collectively we can find an answer.

 

I just noticed this issue for the first time driving about 80mph into a headwind coming back on a road trip. It's the same as the noise in the video in the OP. My wifes uncle told me about his truck doing it during the holiday's. At the time I couldn't relate because I hadn't heard it before. I just called him and he fixed it by buying some kind of silicone windshield sealant. He said he applied it all the way around the seal between the body and windshield gasket. He said he hasn't heard it since. I'm waiting to get more info from him and give it a try. I'll report back after trying it myself. This is annoying noise #5 or so. I was getting ready to replace the blower motor but I think this is worse so that will have to wait. I still like the truck but it has more than it's share of annoyances, but has never let me down. Just adding the old TSB that was send to me

 

As a followup on this wind-noise issue, about a year ago my dealership had an engineer from Toyota Corporate come out to look at the truck. He determined that the wind noise was due to the weather strips on the side of the doors. Essentially, they are very soft and under certain conditions allow air to enter the vehicle. He claimed that he inserted tubing into the weather strips to firm it up. This fixed the issue about 95% of the time. During a very strong headwind or during very cold temperatures it will occasionally make noise but nothing to extent it was doing before.

 

Just FYI, the 3rd Gen's still have this issue.

 

Just do this, it solves the problem. I actually had this problem on a road tip and solved it by stuffing a plastic bag in the driver side door weather strip to stiffen it up. It went away and the plastic bag is there to this day.

 

I haven't looked at the weather strip. How do you get something "in" the weather strip?

 

Haven't read every reply.. shame on me, but I have the exact same problem on drivers side, and if I press against my drivers side window towards the front, the noise stops. I'm sure adding a bit more to the window seal will fix the problem. I'll report back once I do that on my taco.

 

The way it was described to me, the engineer made or used an opening on one of the ends of the weather strip to insert the tubing. Perhaps if the weather strip comes off there is an easier way, but I'm not sure as I wanted Toyota to take the lead on altering anything. Personally I did not notice any difference with the stiffness of the weather strip afterwards but whatever he inserted provided a noticeable improvement.