Ever since I bought my Maxima 3 months ago, there is some "vibrating / cracking" sound coming from the area of the wood grain trim cover which is surrounding the radio/CD/AC controls area (marked by the red line on the image). This sound can be heard when the car is going over the bumps and just uneven parts of the road, so basically, when it is somewhat shaking... Unfortunately it is not consistent, but does appear around 80% of the time.
While it might seem to be an insignificant thing, it is VERY VERY annoying and distracting, and no matter how I am trying to ignore it, I can't.
What I was able to determine so far was that if I press hard and hold the area under the volume **** (marked by the green little circle on the image e.g.), this sound disappears until I release the pressure.
Do you think some part is loose behind this cover and perhaps needs to be "secured"? Should the dealership be able to fix it (I am afraid they would just tell me they can't replicate the problem)? Alternatively, should I try taking the cover apart, and see if I can see anything suspicious behind it (not sure If I am able to accurately disassemble it though)?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you very much guys.

 

I don't have anything at all to add, except I noticed your screen is of an amber color. Is there an option to get your background of an amber color? Mine has the blue color background and I actually prefer yours.

 

Sorry, the picture is not from my car. I just used it to show the areas of where the sound is coming from approximately as well as where I can press on to make it temporary disappear. It would be hard to explain without a picture example. My screen is probably the same as yours. Thanks.

 

I have that same issue as you but I feel it's not 80% of the time. I notice it does it often when it's hot outside. If I press where all the wording is on the wood trim, I can hear that creaking noise. I always thought that just like wooden stairs or wooden chairs creak when no one is sitting or walking on them, so does our wood trim creak when not touching. Almost like it expands and then goes back to it's original shape. I could be wrong but I just tried to make sense of it so it wouldn't bother me as much. When I back out of my driveway that slopes downward the back of my car makes a sound as well as as the trim. I have no idea how or why but it has not been happening so I haven't thought about it until you brought it up! (Thanks alot! J/K ) I forgot to mention this to the dealer when I brought it in for my first oil change. Anybody else experience this?

 

Thanks for your input Propa Teknique. I haven't tied this sound to the weather/outside temperature (yet), but I will keep an eye on that. I cannot come up with any systematic pattern for this vibration. It happens most of the time, but not all the time, and that is why, as it often happens, if I bring the car to the dealership, they might not be able to detect it on my "luck", lol.... I am afraid I will have to eventually, cause so far I am unable to ignore it no matter how much I keep trying to.

 

Mine did this all the time when it was new. Seems like as soon as I hit about 11k miles it stopped. I really hope it does not come back, but so far so good and I am at 22k now.

 

Thank you so much for your advice jeffdoss! The car is 2011, but still under warranty, although not sure if this work would be covered.
If I decide to try it myself, do you know if this center stack (the plastic lid/area surrounded by the red line on the image in my original post) can be removed solely, without removing any other parts or panels? Does it just pop-out if I use the finesse stick or another tool? If there are any tips on removing this specific part, I would appreciate that.
I am sure if I can safely remove this lid, I should be able to get rid of this vibration by using your suggestion in the previous post.
Thanks so much again!

 

Great! That's what I will do Jeff! Thank you!

 

Thanks a lot Jeff! It is very helpful, if I decide to this myself indeed!

 

Please keep us posted on this fix. I have the same problem.

 

For now I intend on taking it to the dealership when time permits, since the car is still under warranty (and I have an extended one too). I am not very confident with doing it myself. But in any event I will post it here whether/when this gets fixed. It was doing it for the entire day yesterday, but didn't do it this morning. It is a very annoying sound, and the fact that it is not 100% consistent does not help

 

That sucks, fill us in with any info @elevit.