When I first heard it I thought my window was cracking or had been hit by a rock. It occurs over sharp dips in the pavement which happens alot on my comute through Hollywood. Finally, I localized it to the drivers seat. It comes from the right side cushion area. I can make it stop by putting my hand between the trim plastic on the side of the seat and transmission hump. Of course it's hard to shift this way :smile:
It will not generally happen over speed bumps and its intermitant but becoming more frequent. I took it to the dealer yesterday. They of course could'nt hear it but after a drive with the service manager I was able to make it happen. All the streets around there are new and smooth. Still at the dealer now. A NAM search did'nt turn up anything. Anyone had this problem before??

 

I hope they don't find any crack in your car I am sure the professionals at your dealership will resolve the issue. As a minimum, they may take an old matchbook cover and stuff it in there. Let us know how it works out.

 

I have the same cracking noise on my drive seat, and it happens when i have my seat at lowest level, and if i lean back it will make crack noise. the cracking noise disappear when i raise the seat.

 

Not sure if it's the same for you, but I found the "cracking" noise in my driver's seat too. Lucky for me I had my hand in the right spot when I heard the noise so that I felt it at the same time. If I jump into the Mini quickly or put weight on the right side of the seat (like during corning) in some seat positions there is a small plastic cover that is near the base of the seat belt mount by the center console. Not sure what it is, but the plastic cover makes a cracking / popping sound when the seat pressure pushes against it.

I put a small piece of foam on it and the sound went away. Check that thing out (whatever it is) and see if the noise is down there.

 

Same thing here, temp. solved by wedging a piece of cardboard between seat trim and seatbelt buckle.
Drove me crazy trying to figure out where it was coming from.

 

The crack noise seems to come from the seat back adjusting mechanism. If I adjust the seatback in a more upright position, presto noise goes away. It has nothing to do with raising or lowering the base of the seat. The problem comes from the seatback.

 

This is bothering me too, so much so that I am tempted to get the body shop to look at it and have the whole seat replaced if needed. If I can avoid that by using a piece of cardboard, that'd be excellent.


Does anyone have a picture of the mystery spot??

 

Will replacing the seat or its framing fix this problem? It's getting to the point where I'm adjusting the seat's height while I'm at red lights to see which works best.