Yes, this is the most likely possibility that I haven't already ruled out! What part of your seatbelt assembly is rattling?



Doc, when's the last time you had your hearing checked? :bustingup

Just kidding... I'm jealous!! Maybe I'm too fussy, but this rattle has been the one thing that's bugged me about my BELOVED new X5! I've been wishing that there was a "rattle doctor" shop to drop of the X with, and have them just track it down and eliminate it once and for all! Wouldn't that be great?

I had that noise since I got the car new back in early 04 and still can't get rid of it. I just learned to live with it and just pull down the arm rest when the noise gets too unbearable. The noises do get worst in the winter months. It's been behaving rather well during these southern cali summer months, though. But please do keep us updated when you find a solution since this seems like a very common problem.

My theory is that the 60/40 split of the seatback has no actual upper support where they split (only upper seatback support is on each side of the C-pillar)...thus there's about to be some vibration in that center section of the split area (weakest support point). Being the armrest and the seatback are 2 separate pieces will likely vibrate at different rate...thus causing your noise. I bet if you take your fist and bang on that upper seatback (the 60-split side) just below the headrest with the armrest folded back in the seat, you can replicate you noise. Everything short of strengthening that upper section of the seatback, I'm afraid won't cure your problem.

As an experiment, you can try is to stuff a couple of towels between seatback and the crossbar of the cargo cover...essentially using that cargo cover's crossbar as additional support for the seatback in the middle section...to lessen it's vibration. If that eliminate your noise, then it'll prove my theory.

Hope that'll give you some more ideas to experiment more :D

Huh? What did you say?

Sounds like you have the exact same problem... (Well, at least I'm relieved that it's not just me.)
Now that I've removed the ski sack (and I also wrapped a little piece of black cloth around the two brackets that the seat backs lock onto to reduce any vibrations there), when I pound the top of the rear seats with my fist, I don't hear much of anything anymore...
But I'll continue to experiment to see if anything else helps, so let's keep the good ideas coming!!

I will trow my wife in the back compartment while i am driving... to end this experiment for good... jajajajaa :bustingup

The seat belt latch i think... but i don't want to say for sure... but in my case i basically narrowed it down to the seatbelt, but which part exactly i don't know... I had a friend sit in the back and hold the seatbelt one by one and then both at the same time and when he did that the noise stoped... and vice versa...

That's actually a great idea, b/c I've noticed that when there's a person in the back seat, usually it goes away... so riding in the trunk may be the only way to really catchit in the act! Let us know what you come up with ;)



That would be great if it was just that simple. I figured it must be part of one of the belt retraction assemblies (on top of the seat, or in the C-pillars) ...

i know you all are convinced that it's coming from the rear seat area, but have any of u considered sticking the felt pads on the hatch bump stops? when i first bought my '03, i had an annoying rattle which i swore sounded like it was coming from inside. i couldn't find it; so, i started looking elsewhere. then, it seemed to be coming from outside; so, i put weather stripping on the back of the rear license plate. still, the rattle was there. it wasn't until someone on here mentioned the rear hatch bump stops and putting the felt stickers on them that the rattle went away. as for now, i'm rattle free (knock on wood).

I'm also getting an annoying rattle (only over bumps...but even small bumps) on my '05 X5 4.4 Sport.

I was convinced it was coming from the cargo cover assembly and was going to remove it to test it, but now you all have me thinking it's the seatbelt assembly. Has anybody actually removed the cargo cover to rule it out??

I'm pretty sure that's a different noise altogether. I recently started noticing an occasional metallic *clunk* that I at first attributed to the jack in the spare tire compartment (because I had broken my jack holder strap changing a flat), but when the *clunk* was still there after getting a new strap and re-securing the jack, I realized it was probably the hatch. When I looked at it from the outside, it did seem as though the hatch was recessed a bit from the rear side panels, so I adjusted the stops out several turns. This def. helped with the *clunk* sound (although it still does it a little over big bumps, so I think I'll try the felt pads... ) but the faint plasticy vibration/rattle has been a separate thing entirely.