Faces of GM

Mike: Ensuring quiet rides in GM compact crossovers

June 16, 2010 at 1:25 pm

Mike McGuire is a noise and vibration engineer for GM and works at Milford Proving Grounds. He is responsible for testing noise and vibrations in GM compact crossovers — Cadillac SRX, Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain. Though Mike’s job is an important part of vehicle engineering, it doesn’t prevent him from having fun with toys. In this post, he talks about an instance where he filled up the back of a car with ping pong balls. Mike is a long-time GM advocate—his wife works at GM and his two-year-old son loves the Corvette—who feels rewarded when his friends and family appreciate GM’s new products.






Red Wings Convert: I was born in Toronto. My family moved to Ann Arbor when I was three years old. I was born a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, but I guess if you live in Michigan long enough, you become a Red Wings fan. It’s tough not to cheer for them.

Tuning it out: As a noise and vibration engineer, I hear everything in a car. Sometimes, on my drive home, I turn my radio up so I don’t have to listen to things that I am sensitive to.

Table Tennis Anyone? We had a blast doing the Dept. 180 Web videos that show some of the testing we did on the Equinox. Just for the record, we didn’t fill the entire Equinox with 70,957 ping pong balls. We did use 12,000, to fill the cargo area for the video.  I still have the ping pong balls in boxes at Milford in case we figure out another use for them.

A GM Family: I started working at General Motors 11 years ago after graduating in automotive engineering from the University of Michigan. My wife works at GM Powertrain in Pontiac, so we’re a GM family. Our two-year-old son is already a car guy – he loves the Corvette.

I am one of the engineers responsible for noise and vibration on GM compact crossovers — Cadillac SRX, Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain. In most cases, we’re trying to minimize the noise a driver or passenger hears when they’re in the car. We test the vehicle in all kinds of conditions and on all sorts of roads. We even have a lab at Milford that can simulate rainfall. We use it to evaluate the quality of the sound as the rain hits the roof.

For the new Equinox, our team went to great lengths to make sure it was quiet. We used a number of high-quality materials and designs that kept noise reduction in mind.  In fact, the Equinox uses a technology that allows it to get great fuel economy while sustaining a quiet ride.

In order to keep the vehicle quiet, we turned to Active Noise Cancellation, or ANC. We use small microphones in the vehicle to measure engine noise. The measurements are processed in the guts of the radio, and then the subwoofer sends out a sound wave that reduces the engine noise level in the car. ANC in the Equinox is a sophisticated version of noise cancelling headphones.  It allows the engine to run at low rpm without the noise that traditionally would bother the occupants.

The Equinox has gotten great reviews. The most satisfying review I received came from a college buddy. He’s always been a loyal Ford buyer, and a harsh critic.   While on a business trip in Minnesota, he drove the new Equinox. I got a message from him: “Man this is a pretty nice vehicle.”

I think we’re surprising a lot of people with the new Equinox.