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Fake Engine Noise Is the Auto Industry's Dirty Little Secret

Posted by timothy on from the mazda-puts-it-right-up-front dept.

HughPickens.com writes Stomp on the gas in a new Ford Mustang or F-150 and you'll hear a meaty, throaty rumble — the same style of roar that Americans have associated with auto power and performance for decades. Now Drew Harwell reports at the Washington Post that the auto industry's dirty little secret is that the engine growl in some of America's best-selling cars and trucks is actually a finely tuned bit of lip-syncing, boosted through special pipes or digitally faked altogether. "Fake engine noise has become one of the auto industry's dirty little secrets, with automakers from BMW to Volkswagen turning to a sound-boosting bag of tricks," writes Harwell. "Without them, today's more fuel-efficient engines would sound far quieter and, automakers worry, seemingly less powerful, potentially pushing buyers away." For example Ford sound engineers and developers worked on an "Active Noise Control" system on the 2015 Mustang EcoBoost that amplifies the engine's purr through the car speakers. Afterward, the automaker surveyed members of Mustang fan clubs on which processed "sound concepts" they most enjoyed.

Among purists, the trickery has inspired an identity crisis and cut to the heart of American auto legend. The "aural experience" of a car, they argue, is an intangible that's just as priceless as what's revving under the hood. "For a car guy, it's literally music to hear that thing rumble," says Mike Rhynard, "It's a mind-trick. It's something it's not. And no one wants to be deceived." Other drivers ask if it really matters if the sound is fake? A driver who didn't know the difference might enjoy the thrum and thunder of it nonetheless. Is taking the best part of an eight-cylinder rev and cloaking a better engine with it really, for carmakers, so wrong? "It may be a necessary evil in the eyes of Ford," says Andrew Hard, "but it's sad to think that an iconic muscle car like the Mustang, a car famous for its bellowing, guttural soundtrack, has to fake its engine noise in 2015. Welcome to the future."

12 of 823 comments (clear)

  1. Just give the option to turn it off... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For some, having engine noise is fine. However, the '70s and '80s with the purring V8s are gone, and the vehicles that will be the norm will either be hybrids, diesels, or electric cars.

    As someone who likes modern cars, we don't need any more noise added. In fact, there is something nice about a Tesla or Prius's silence at idle.

    1. Re:Just give the option to turn it off... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In fact, there is something nice about a Tesla or Prius's silence at idle

      Unless you're blind, or happen to be looking the other way when the drunk in a prius bears down on you. Which is why some sort of fake engine noise will eventually be mandated (if it hasn't been already).

      The "tick tick" of your turn signals has been fake for years, mechanical relays are long past.

    2. Re:Just give the option to turn it off... by Kjella · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Unless you're blind, or happen to be looking the other way when the drunk in a prius bears down on you. Which is why some sort of fake engine noise will eventually be mandated (if it hasn't been already). The "tick tick" of your turn signals has been fake for years, mechanical relays are long past.

      But not on your internal speakers, at worst you have to install an exterior speaker to deliver "engine" noises. In fact, you can probably do active noise cancellation of it internally so you barely hear your own engine. The turn signal on the other hand serves an actual purpose, to remind you that you're still signaling to other people that you're turning as in some curves it won't turn itself off. For driving a manual car the engine noise serves a purpose too, but it's getting more and more rare even here in Europe.

      --
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    3. Re:Just give the option to turn it off... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The click is there as a safety feature so that you don't have to look down to see that your turn signal is still on.

    4. Re:Just give the option to turn it off... by BlueBlade · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This "mandated" engine noise concept is so infuriating to me. We finally have the technology to remove both the air and noise pollution at the same time, but you want to add noise to an otherwise silent engine just because people aren't used to silent cars? People will just have to adapt to the fact that you can't trust your hearing to know if a car is coming or not anymore.

      This reminds me of that ridiculous law that there had to be a person walking ahead of a car because unlike horses, cars can't react if something's in the way.

      --
      Religion is the best example of mass psychosis
    5. Re:Just give the option to turn it off... by Coren22 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It sounds like you fell for the sound engineering than.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    6. Re:Just give the option to turn it off... by bws111 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What, exactly, was 'ridiculous' about the law that there had to be a person ahead of the car? The reason for that 'ridiculous' law was that a nosiy car could, in fact, scare a horse and cause it to bolt, and a bolting horse is a dangerous thing. The person had to be in front of the car to warn others that it was approaching so they could be prepared, nothing ridiculous about that at all. Once cars became commonplace they were no longer scary as people and animals got used to them. When that happened there was no further need for a person in front or a law requiring such.

      Like it or not, people have been trained for over a century that cars make noise. We even instruct children to 'stop, look, and listen'. The world is not going to suddenly adapt to silent cars. People (and service animals) will need to get used to silent cars - that is not going to happen until silent cars are ubiquitous, which is certainly not true now. There is nothing ridiculous about mandating some amount of noise in the meantime.

    7. Re:Just give the option to turn it off... by Jarik+C-Bol · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Honestly, most modern cars these days are already so silent, the only sound you hear from them is the cooling fan and the tire noise. It is only the 'muscle' type cars, that make noise, and like the article says, its just because people expect them to. Hell, the 'Harley Davidson' edition Ford F150 magically sounds like a motorcycle, because they can make it sound any damn way they want now. I agree, the idea of mandating 'fake engine noise' is preposterous, because its pretending this is a new problem, when cars have already been nearly dead silent at parking lot speeds for years now.

      --
      I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
    8. Re:Just give the option to turn it off... by Solandri · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Quiet (or as quiet as possible) is one aesthetic that may be desirable. For other people (or perhaps cars), a good rumble (as long as it not excessively load and obnoxious) is equally a desirable aesthetic. It's not so different, as you note, than choice of paint job.

      Not like a paint job. You can choose to avert your eyes from a garish paint job. You can't choose to shut off your ears to an obnoxiously noisy car. If you want your car to have a throaty rumble, fine, but pipe it through your internal speakers only. Don't inflict it on the rest of us just to stroke your own ego.

  2. Splits the community in half by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Some guys are in it for the power, and thus the engine noise is wasted energy.
    Some guys are in it for the feel, and thus the engine noise is the most important thing about the car.

  3. I want silent vehicles by sjbe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is nothing ridiculous about mandating some amount of noise in the meantime.

    I completely disagree. If you mandate noise you will never get silence. Plus once you get enough cars close together you almost can't distinguish them anyway because it basically becomes white noise. Just because people have become accustomed to a certain amount of noise is not a credible argument for continuing to emit noise pollution needlessly. And no, I am not at all concerned about blind or inattentive pedestrians crossing the road in front of me. It's MY responsibility as a driver to drive carefully and watch out for possible road hazards. It is also their responsibility to watch out when crossing the road. Hell, people get hit by trains while walking and they make a huge racket and are 100% avoidable by staying off the tracks.

    1. Re:I want silent vehicles by Githaron · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree. It makes more sense to give all blind people car detectors than to make all cars noisy.