Street

Had the car in to chase a couple interior noises. One has us stumped and is really annoying since it right next to the passenger's ear. Dealer padded panels in the B pillar and no joy.

I was messing around and noticed that the vanes on the AC duct on the B pillar on the passenger side are much looser than the driver's side.

Anyone else have a B pillar rattle coming from the AC duct?

DasA6

I didn't know the A6 had AC ducts in the B Pillar? Perhaps on a prestige model?

EDIT: Yes they're on a prestige model.

irenesbob

FWIW - in my P+, sometimes the seat belt height adjustment thing on the pillar gets accidentally half-engaged (not fully “clicked” into position) and it rattles. Moving the adjustment up and down a bit then clicking it firmly into the desired position has cured the rattle several times for me. Could this be your issue?

Sickler

If you're sure it's the B pillar then this may not help, but I had what I thought was a rattle in the driver's B pillar but it ended up being a loose speaker in the rear driver's side door.

Superfly_A6

I have a faint "creek" when going into a heavily sloped driveway on an angle. As I was getting out of the car one time, I leaned by elbow onto the outside of the B-pillar and heard the same "creek" it was the glossy black panel covering the B-pillar from the outside.

MCRN

EVERY audi I have ever had has this creak (3 in the last 5 years). Easy fix though, its happening at 1 of two points, at the top of the b pillar covering there is a plastic fitting that slips into the frame of the car to hold it in place - cover this plastic fitting with some felted electrical tape to avoid the plastic to plastic contact.

The other point is the very top of the lower B pillar (the hard plastic part that comes up form the floor) and slips under the upper portion (that is covered like the headliner). Cover the very top of this lower portion with the same tape (be careful not to go below the overlap area or you will see the tape. Again this is just to avoid the plastic to plastic contact.

I have done this one every audi and it gets rid of all the b pillar creaks. To remove the upper portion of the b pillar, just pull back the rubber door seal that covers it in the lower corners and get behind it and pull straight out. Its easier to start with a plastic putty knife to wedge it out to get your fingers in there first.

irenesbob

Josh -
It sounds like you have had the same interior B pillar noise I have on my 2013 A6. I rarely hear mine since it only occurs if you push on the B pillar, which I usually do not.
I believe superflyA_6 was mentioning a noise that is on the exterior of the B pillar, something different from what you and I experience. He may also hear it on the interior, it is not clear to me from his post.

Street

Thanks all for the tips. This rattle is right next to the passenger's ear, so we'd like to get it resolved. Not a creak, definitely something rattling on the interior. New development is that something is rolling around inside the base of the B pillar. Really starting to sound like a fastener worked loose.

Also tried taping up vents and seat belt parts to quiet the rattle, but no joy.

ben_aip

Just a few days ago, I too started to hear rattling noises - seemed to be coming from the front passenger side, ranging from the B-pillar area to the glove compartment. Pulled the car over a couple of times just to try to locate the source of the annoying rattles. Everything seemed fine, from seat belt pillar latch, speaker panels, air louvers, side view mirrors, door panels. Even emptied the glove compartment. Noise persisted when going over rough roads. Got the wife to go for a ride the next day, thinking it might be a squeaky or loose front passenger seat or rail. Told her to pay attention to any noise on her side. Wifey found the source within 1 minute of car in motion. She said - oops, here it is hon! She had forgotten to clip her side of the sunshade back securely the last time she was riding in my car when she folded it away flush. I felt stupid and pretended nothing's the bother. True enough the ride was a bliss after she pushed the sunshade tight back on the inboard clip.

For some reasons, the offending noise seemed to resonate towards the B-pillar area when I was driving the car on those 2 days. Hence when I read this post on the forum I started to look in the wrong areas.

I really hope, though I'm not too sure that the OP is dealing with the same simple cause as mine.

NightCrawler

I've had a rattle off and on for about month. This week it seems to have come to stay with the exact same symptoms mentioned below. Passenger side, seems to come from anywhere from the pillar to the glove box. The passenger side door seems to be where it seems to come from more often then not. I've just ran out to check my visor after reading the last post but it was clipped in tight. I'm at a loss and it's driving me crazy. I hate to have to take it in for something like this. I have just over 16k miles on it.