Pulling fuse number 27 out of the all-new Ford Mustang 2,3-liter EcoBoost’s fuse box reveals that it’s a quiet and refined car, even if that’s by no means necessarily desirable in its sporty corner of the market. It gets fake engine sound piped in.
Road&Track’s senior editor, Jason Cammisa, is the one who unearthed this rather disappointing bit of news and posted a tweet about it. This then prompted Autoblog to ask Ford Engineer Shawn Carney, who was forced to admit the existence of the system called Active Noise Control (we’ll call it ANC). He did explain that only the EcoBoost ‘Stang gets (and/or needs) it.
Apparently, ANC was developed with outside input, in order to narrow down which fake note was most pleasing to most people. And it was not only enhancing the car’s existing engine note that was on the list of priorities, but also eliminating some of the coarser and less desirable noises made by the 2.3-liter unit.
Ford makes it a bit weird for buyers, though. ANC is integrated into the standard audio system that the car comes with, and the only way to disable it is to follow in Cammisa’s footsteps and pull out the fuse. However, if you opt for a higher-spec ‘Stang with an upgraded audio/infotainment setup, then the fake noise will not be present.
So, you only get it on lesser specced cars where it can’t be turned off, while high-spec models lose it altogether? That sounds well thought through (if true). Check out a few new videos of the turbo Mustang all spooled up after the virtual jump.