--- title: "The Expensive Technology Behind Keeping Cheap Cars Quiet" description: "Just as features like blind-spot monitoring, power-operated everything, and even standard airbags have all trickled down and spread from the upper echelons of the automotive industry to plebes below, so too has the battle to keep all manner of noise out of the cabin and blanket the driver in a cloak of quietude." date: "2017-03-24" modified: "2017-03-24" authors: - name: "Kyle Cheromcha" job_title: "Editor-in-Chief" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/article/8628/the-expensive-technology-behind-keeping-cheap-cars-quiet" categories: - "Car Tech" - "News" tags: - "sound" - "Testing" --- # The Expensive Technology Behind Keeping Cheap Cars Quiet ![]() *\www.thedrive.com\* Climb behind the wheel of a new Mercedes-Benz and it's amazing what you hear: nothing, more or less. Just as features like blind-spot monitoring, power-operated everything, and even standard airbags have all trickled down and spread from the upper echelons of the automotive industry to plebes below, so too has the battle to keep all manner of noise out of the cabin and blanket the driver in a cloak of quietude. These days, according to a [nice write-up in *Wired*](), engineers at mid-level brands spend a surprising amount of time fighting this war—even on their most inexpensive models. Just a decade ago, most economy cars were cacophonous machines, all wind noise and buzzy engines and random rattles. These days, your average people-mover might sport wing mirrors specifically designed to divert air away from the window opening, special acoustic glass, or even active noise-cancellation technology. These might seem like unnecessary luxuries, but Honda engineer Andrea Martin told *Wired* there is a definite safety element to a quiet cabin, [noting that]() "low and mid frequency noise levels can dramatically contribute to driver fatigue." *Wired* spoke to engineers from Honda, Volkswagen, Nissan, and Mazda to get a sense of how each automaker approaches this relatively new challenge. The tactics range from preventative to proactive—at Honda, for example, the 2018 Odyssey uses a special foam and "expanding" welding tape in its frame to better seal off the cabin. Meanwhile, Mazda threw basically every trick in the book at the new CX-5 to make it as quiet as possible, including redesigning the frame to move interior sound back to the cargo area, adding another layer of fabric between the carpet and metal floor, and moving the windshield wipers down out of the slipstream. At Volkswagen and Nissan, the engineers talk about the quest to eliminate the sources of noise themselves, resulting in innovations like new forms of acoustic testing, a redesigned sound-absorbing firewall, and those special wing mirrors. Of course, this commitment to quiet has gone so far that automakers from [BMW to Ford]() have had to start routing in fake engine noise to please their enthusiast customers. We can only hope that silence doesn't *totally* win out in the end. ## Author Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()