When customers take their new Ford Flex for its first spin this summer, they may be surprised by what’s missing: the noise.
Flex delivers a quieter ride than competitors including the Acura MDX, Toyota Highlander and GMC Acadia, according to Ford tests. That’s good news for customers, who tend to directly relate a vehicle’s quietness with its quality, says Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president of Global Product Development. “Quietness is a very good proxy for quality in a vehicle.”
In fact, across all vehicle lines, Ford Motor Company’s wind noise went from second-worst in the industry in 2003 to best in the bunch for 2007 based on TGW (things gone wrong) records - beating even Toyota to become No. 1. That’s according to RDA Group of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., which conducts customer surveys for Ford.
During the development of the new Flex, Ford engineers tackled one of the biggest sources of interior noise - the front and rear side doors. One of their solutions is a new inset door design rather than the traditional “limo” door that wraps into the roof.
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