When idling at a stop or sometimes after putting the car in Park and pulling up the emergency brake, I sometimes hear a series of noises from the rear of the car. It sounds as if someone is trapped in my trunk—ta-dump, ta-thump, da-thunk! On one hand, I can make the noise go away while by pressing harder on the brake pedal as I wait at a stop light. On the other hand, when I take my foot OFF the brake pedal just after pulling into my driveway and putting the car into Park and engaging the Emergency Brake, I sometimes also hear the noise. When it happens, the thumping noises are apparent to anyone standing in my driveway when I pull in. It can go on for up to a minute before it dies out.

I can't seem to figure out if the noise points to a problem with the the rear disc brake pads, calipers, ABS system, rotors, rear struts, brake cylinder(s), emergency brake or even the exhaust (or none of the above). Anybody ever hear of this sort of problem? Better yet, how do I fix it?

Have you opened the boot to see if you have actually got someone trapped in there?

No, there is definately no one in my trunk. :laughing: The sound bounces upward through the trunk so that it sounds as if there is, though. It's definately coming from the underside of the car, slightly toward the right rear (passenger side). My dealer service advisor said it is characteristic of drum brakes (if they get damp or when there's too much brake dust, something to that effect). But the ABS model, which I own, has four-wheel disc brakes. As far as I know, disc brakes are not known for making any sort of noise along those lines. Hmm…