rattle and hum
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rattle and hum
Rattle and Hum:
Drivers Seek Quiet
By JONATHAN WELSH
March 27, 2007; Page D1
Drivers have grown accustomed to cars with comfort features such as smooth rides, good handling and cushy seating. Now they are adding another trait to their auto wish lists: silence.
A vehicle's interior noise level may not be an irritant during the early days of ownership, but is gradually apparent as the car ages and its flaws become more pronounced.
The offending decibel levels come from a diverse range of sources, including squeaking brakes, roaring engines, the persistent hum of tire rubber hitting the road -- and of course those mysterious rattles that send drivers back to the mechanic time and again. But the biggest offender of all is wind noise, according to consumer surveys, meaning the whistling sound that air makes as it flows along the contour of a vehicle.
To counteract the din, car companies including General Motors Corp., Hyundai Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are competing to minimize noise by using new materials and manufacturing techniques as well as by having the engineers who oversee noise control work side-by-side with those in charge of styling.
GM's Buick is using laminated-glass windows on a forthcoming model; Ford makes parts, including dashboards and engine-oil pans, of a vibration-absorbing metal-plastic composite it calls "quiet steel;" and Hyundai is using electronically adjustable engine mounts and extra-thick, lightweight foam insulation on its new Veracruz sport-utility vehicle to minimize engine noise at a wider range of speeds.
For consumers, the noise-reduction effort means they'll find more mass-market cars coming out with features such as laminated glass and other sound-deadening technology that was previously reserved for high-end vehicles. Since motorists typically associate interior quietness with superior quality, the spread of what's known in the industry as "quiet tuning" means the overall quality and comfort level of everyday cars is merging with that of luxury models.
The renewed focus on sound is happening in part because car makers have overcome many of the more urgent problems that historically plagued automobiles. Noise is a problem that car makers have known about for decades, in part because it keeps resurfacing as vehicles change in size, shape and construction materials.
Today most cars run reliably with little if any maintenance by the owner. Features and technology that used to set one car maker apart from another, from antilock brakes and airbags to navigation systems, are now widely available, so manufacturers are looking for new ways to stand out. Since noise is one of those problems that seem never to go away, some makers have latched onto it as a selling point.
GM's GMC unit recently rolled out the Acadia, a large SUV that is among the first products born from a strategy begun seven years ago and aimed at marketing interior quietness. The program looked at dozens of components and systems that affect interior sound, from whirring engines and whining transmission gears to joints in the vehicle's structure that may squeak and gaps between body panels that could whistle at highway speed.
"Eliminating noise really is an all-or-nothing endeavor," says Larry Mihalko, a General Motors vehicle-performance manager who helped develop the Acadia. "If you address 99 of 100 problems you wind up sabotaging the whole process," he says, because one glaring source of noise still remains.
One of the first details that went into the Acadia's design was its engine, a six-cylinder power plant that used a smooth-running Toyota Motor Corp. engine as a benchmark. The cable used to shift its six-speed automatic transmission is mounted in dampers that prevent vibrations and noise from traveling along the cable and into the interior through the shift lever.
GMC uses expanding foam to fill hollow areas in the Acadia's internal framework and minimize noise reverberation. The truck's side-window glass is 4.8 millimeters thick to block wind noise. That's thicker than most vehicle windows, which generally range between three millimeters and just over five millimeters.
Luxury vehicles typically have the thickest glass, which adds cost and weight -- two things car makers like to avoid. The Buick Enclave, an upscale relative of the Acadia that goes on sale later this year, has laminated side glass designed to make it even quieter inside.
It's all aimed at attracting buyers who generally view interior quietness as a sign of high quality. Indeed, expensive luxury cars are at the top of customer-satisfaction surveys about noise. BMW AG, DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz unit and Toyota's Lexus division were the top makes in a recent survey by Strategic Vision, a San Diego marketing research company.
In some ways the evolution of auto design has made it harder to control noise. As makers have sought to increase vehicles' power and acceleration it has become more difficult to keep engines quiet. As consumers increasingly demand cars that steer precisely and handle well on a variety of roads, car makers have made suspension springs, shock absorbers and even tires firmer. As a result these parts tend to transmit more vibrations to the interior in the form of road noise.
While car makers have made strides in reducing noise levels before, the results generally haven't been lasting. David Green, an automotive product analyst with J.D. Power & Associates, says the research company has seen a 36% decrease in wind-noise complaints since 2003 from drivers responding to its initial quality survey, which measures owner satisfaction 90 days after buying a car. In the same period, however, the decrease in wind-noise complaints was 7% in the company's longer-term vehicle dependability study, indicating that three years of ownership, vehicle wind noise is still prevalent and problematic.
Write to Jonathan Welsh at jonathan.welsh@wsj.com
Drivers Seek Quiet
By JONATHAN WELSH
March 27, 2007; Page D1
Drivers have grown accustomed to cars with comfort features such as smooth rides, good handling and cushy seating. Now they are adding another trait to their auto wish lists: silence.
A vehicle's interior noise level may not be an irritant during the early days of ownership, but is gradually apparent as the car ages and its flaws become more pronounced.
The offending decibel levels come from a diverse range of sources, including squeaking brakes, roaring engines, the persistent hum of tire rubber hitting the road -- and of course those mysterious rattles that send drivers back to the mechanic time and again. But the biggest offender of all is wind noise, according to consumer surveys, meaning the whistling sound that air makes as it flows along the contour of a vehicle.
To counteract the din, car companies including General Motors Corp., Hyundai Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are competing to minimize noise by using new materials and manufacturing techniques as well as by having the engineers who oversee noise control work side-by-side with those in charge of styling.
GM's Buick is using laminated-glass windows on a forthcoming model; Ford makes parts, including dashboards and engine-oil pans, of a vibration-absorbing metal-plastic composite it calls "quiet steel;" and Hyundai is using electronically adjustable engine mounts and extra-thick, lightweight foam insulation on its new Veracruz sport-utility vehicle to minimize engine noise at a wider range of speeds.
For consumers, the noise-reduction effort means they'll find more mass-market cars coming out with features such as laminated glass and other sound-deadening technology that was previously reserved for high-end vehicles. Since motorists typically associate interior quietness with superior quality, the spread of what's known in the industry as "quiet tuning" means the overall quality and comfort level of everyday cars is merging with that of luxury models.
The renewed focus on sound is happening in part because car makers have overcome many of the more urgent problems that historically plagued automobiles. Noise is a problem that car makers have known about for decades, in part because it keeps resurfacing as vehicles change in size, shape and construction materials.
Today most cars run reliably with little if any maintenance by the owner. Features and technology that used to set one car maker apart from another, from antilock brakes and airbags to navigation systems, are now widely available, so manufacturers are looking for new ways to stand out. Since noise is one of those problems that seem never to go away, some makers have latched onto it as a selling point.
GM's GMC unit recently rolled out the Acadia, a large SUV that is among the first products born from a strategy begun seven years ago and aimed at marketing interior quietness. The program looked at dozens of components and systems that affect interior sound, from whirring engines and whining transmission gears to joints in the vehicle's structure that may squeak and gaps between body panels that could whistle at highway speed.
"Eliminating noise really is an all-or-nothing endeavor," says Larry Mihalko, a General Motors vehicle-performance manager who helped develop the Acadia. "If you address 99 of 100 problems you wind up sabotaging the whole process," he says, because one glaring source of noise still remains.
One of the first details that went into the Acadia's design was its engine, a six-cylinder power plant that used a smooth-running Toyota Motor Corp. engine as a benchmark. The cable used to shift its six-speed automatic transmission is mounted in dampers that prevent vibrations and noise from traveling along the cable and into the interior through the shift lever.
GMC uses expanding foam to fill hollow areas in the Acadia's internal framework and minimize noise reverberation. The truck's side-window glass is 4.8 millimeters thick to block wind noise. That's thicker than most vehicle windows, which generally range between three millimeters and just over five millimeters.
Luxury vehicles typically have the thickest glass, which adds cost and weight -- two things car makers like to avoid. The Buick Enclave, an upscale relative of the Acadia that goes on sale later this year, has laminated side glass designed to make it even quieter inside.
It's all aimed at attracting buyers who generally view interior quietness as a sign of high quality. Indeed, expensive luxury cars are at the top of customer-satisfaction surveys about noise. BMW AG, DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz unit and Toyota's Lexus division were the top makes in a recent survey by Strategic Vision, a San Diego marketing research company.
In some ways the evolution of auto design has made it harder to control noise. As makers have sought to increase vehicles' power and acceleration it has become more difficult to keep engines quiet. As consumers increasingly demand cars that steer precisely and handle well on a variety of roads, car makers have made suspension springs, shock absorbers and even tires firmer. As a result these parts tend to transmit more vibrations to the interior in the form of road noise.
While car makers have made strides in reducing noise levels before, the results generally haven't been lasting. David Green, an automotive product analyst with J.D. Power & Associates, says the research company has seen a 36% decrease in wind-noise complaints since 2003 from drivers responding to its initial quality survey, which measures owner satisfaction 90 days after buying a car. In the same period, however, the decrease in wind-noise complaints was 7% in the company's longer-term vehicle dependability study, indicating that three years of ownership, vehicle wind noise is still prevalent and problematic.
Write to Jonathan Welsh at jonathan.welsh@wsj.com
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