I finally tracked down the dash rattle. It's the heat/ac ducting which passes over the steering assembly and under the dash on its way to the left duct. Ford actually has placed some foam between the steering assembly and ducting on the left. I just added more and placed some foam between the top of the ducting and the bottom of the dash. This is all done looking up from the driver's side floor. At first I thought it was a problem with the dash since pieces of foam wedged between the front of the dash and the windshield sort of stopped it. I think that just pushed the dash down onto the ducting. Most of the creaking that I would hear from the ducts seems gone.

 

While your down there, try and fix the "no floor heat" problem, would ya?

 

That's what the dealership did for me when I took it in. However, once in a while, I still hear it.
Any chance you can get some pictures of what you did?

 

Thanks for the insightful post. I'm going to get some foam for mine as soon as possible. It's amazing how things start to rattle and squeak more when the weather cools down. All those parts start to contract and move around a little more.

 

Sorry, no pictures. It's more done by feel, anyway. There still is a little bit of creaking when the ac is on. I'll play around with it a little bit more when I have time.
It definitely is related to temperature. When I first picked up my car in June it was quite hot and no dash rattles.

 

Good catch on the rattle. I have it too. I would think most folks have it. Maybe it should be a TSB?

 

Just YESTERDAY my dash started to rattle. First time and now that you mention it, temp was in the 40s for the past couple nights for the 1st time since I've owned the car. Amazing, my car is in sync with these posts!

Thanks for the fix!