A New Technology to Reduce Noise

Legendary Ford Motor Company has come up with a new technology that will help to identify unwanted sounds and eliminate noise during the production of cars. This new technology promises that all new cars from Ford Motors will have the quietest interior cabins.

The new 'Noise Vision' technology is a part of Ford Motor Company's drive to lead the automobile industry with the finest cars and customer satisfaction.

The answer to first-class interior quietness is to pinpoint the source and location of every unwanted sound, no matter how subtle it is. Ford's new 'Noise Vision' technology is able to identify the source of all unwanted car noise. The result can be drawn from the new 2010 Taurus, the Fusion, the Flex and the F-150as these cars can pride on its quietest interiors in their corresponding segments.

The 'Noise Vision' is a small sphere that is placed inside the cabin of the car. The device is equipped with more than thirty highly sensitive microphones and twelve special cameras. The software in the Noise Vision reads data and creates a computerized image showing interior noise "hot spots," including wind noise, a squeak or rattle, or unwanted feedback from the engine or the road.

Also known as the Noise Source Identification Tool, Ford Motors started using the Noise Vision technology to develop new vehicles for the 2010 model year. The high-tech tool's thermal imaging is pretty similar to the type used in medical research and for for military work.

Ford engineers have worked hard to identify unwanted rattles, squeaks or knocks in the past. Pinpointing these unwanted sounds and eliminating them often took days or weeks for the engineers. The Noise Source Identification Tool streamlines the process to hours and it's saving money, too. The technology has allowed Ford engineers to reduce 200 hours of wind tunnel testing time a year, saving more than $300,000 in testing costs.

Today, Ford's automobile quality can be matched with Toyota and Honda. The interior quietness of Ford cars can put many luxury brands into shame. According to the J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study, Ford has the fewest car noise issues of any full-line car makers. Ford cars also have higher interior quietness customer satisfaction scores than their Asian counterparts, according to the RDA Group's Global Quality Research System.