2018 Ford Mustang GT's 'Quiet Start' Mode Keeps It from Waking the Neighbors

We may love waking up to the sound of a V8 rumble, but not everyone does. According to a Ranker.com poll, loud revving is one of the most annoying noises neighbors can make. Ford's former head of vehicle engineering, Steve von Foerster, learned this the hard way when neighbors called the police on him after leaving home in his Shelby GT350 one early morning, according to a press release from Ford. 

But that gave him an idea. The new 2018 Mustang GT will be available with an optional active exhaust system, which can be quiet when it needs to be but open up and let the V8 growl when you want it to. Add a little bit of programming, and Quiet Start was born. According to Ford, Quiet Start, also known as "Good Neighbor Mode," is essentially a timer you can program to automatically put the active exhaust into its quietest mode during certain hours, even if you parked it in wide-open track mode.

It's amazing how just a little bit of creative programming can solve problems and add new features in today's computerized cars. All of the necessary components already existed in the Mustang's active exhaust to make it loud or quiet in three different modes. A programmable timer is one of the easiest pieces of software to write—yet this implementation gives the Mustang GT a unique new feature that no one else had thought of yet.

Personally, I don't mind hearing my next door neighbor's Coyote-swapped 1968 Mustang when he starts it, regardless of the time of day. But not everyone is lucky enough to have a fellow gearhead as a neighbor. Ford's unique application of active exhaust technology should help owners maintain favorable diplomatic relations with their neighbors, regardless of whether they love or hate the sound of the Mustang GT.