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.

 Lucy Boulatnikov Wilke , senior project engineer 

Married to: Burkhardt (Burk for short) for almost two years
Listens to: Tons of audio books as she travels 25,000 miles/yr to visit Burk in Canada – mostly historical fiction
TV junkie: House, So You Think You Can Dance, Bones, Family Guy, South Park, Simpsons
Music junkie: Classical when she’s with Burk, pop when she’s alone
Hobbies: Loves spending time with friends and doing outdoor stuff like camping and hiking
Interesting fact: Leads GM Friends & Family Ski Club
Education: Has a BS in Industrial Engineering from the University at Buffalo (UB) and a Masters in Manufacturing Management & Leadership from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)

As a fourteen year old, Lucy came to the U.S. from Ukraine and jumped feet first into all things math related. She tutored math and was one of the team leads of her high school math team that competed against other Rochester, NY high schools.

So it’s not surprising that as an engineer, following in her mother’s footsteps, Lucy runs mathematical equations in her mind (silly stuff as she calls it), as she travels 4.5 hours to see her husband who is completing his Chemistry PhD in Ottawa, Canada. She tries to figure out if she increases her speed by one mile per hour, how much faster she will get there. What takes you by surprise are her funny sayings.

“Burk and I were married on the 4^th of July and on the Save-the-Dates I wrote: “…we are losing our independence to each other on Independence Day!” What can I say; I love to be corny.”

Lucy & Burk

Lucy is a manufacturing engineer who works with Design Engineering, Operations and Quality functions to set up processes to build and test the next generation of fuel cells. “You have to plan not just for the short term – that’s easy – but for the long term when we go into the actual fuel cell vehicle production.”

She came to GM six years ago when a manager of the Honeoye Falls, NY Fuel Cell facility who was trying to woo her away from a job she loved in Buffalo, NY, asked her if she wanted to work at a job that would change the world. “Corny, but Gary totally had me at “change the world.”

When she started at Honeoye Falls, the production floor was pretty empty. She had the opportunity to plan for the building of the first 120 Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles that would be used in the largest test marketing program for a fuel cell vehicle of any manufacturer. “These vehicles were going to be driven by regular drivers and had to meet all the stringent safety and quality metrics of any other Chevy vehicle. There was a lot of calculating and running of many algorithms to learn what to expect from the innovative designs. The beauty of working with so many smart people is that the problems always get solved with creative new ideas.

At the 2009 Rochester Auto Show

“I am so motivated by what I do and how it will affect our planet in the future. After six years I am still so excited about my job. My parents gave up a lot for my future, and I know they, as well as my brother are extremely proud of my work.  My friends also think it’s ‘wicked cool’ that I get to work on the cutting edge technologies.”

She puts the technology into perspective for us. “Think about if you lived in a crowded city. With fuel cells, there is no pollution or smog, no worry of health issues – just a release of water vapor. There would be no catastrophic events that come from off-shore drilling because hydrogen can be safely produced anywhere. There are opportunities to use a variety of methods to produce hydrogen. For us locally we could use the electricity that is generated from Niagara Falls, others could use solar, wind and even thermal energy to get their car fuel.”

Three years ago Lucy was teased by a colleague about not running at the annual Corporate Challenge 3.5-mile run. Always up for a challenge, Lucy started running and has kept it up doing 3-mile runs 2-3 times a week.  “There are a lot of runners at the Honeoye Falls facility, it’s a great group.  Running helps me stay fit and gets me outside getting fresh clean air – just like the air from the exhaust of a Chevy fuel cell vehicle.” J

Invited bloggers included Kristi W. of Austin Farm to Table, Christian B. of Austin Food Journal, Carla C. of Austin Urban Gardens, Logan and Rachel of Boots in the Oven, Jennie C. of Miso Hungry, Shannan of Riemerville, and Stephanie of Stephanie Klein.com. Jodi B. of Tasty Touring played co- host as Chevrolet is one of her clients.

Carla and Adam shop at Thunder Heart Bison

The group met at Capitol Chevrolet for breakfast and picked up their vehicles – a Camaro, Equinox, Malibu, Silverado, and a Tahoe. Next stop was Chuck Nash in San Marcos to switch cars. They were happily surprised when Mark from Chuck Nash offered to drive their car keys up to Capitol to have the cars washed and detailed while they were gone.

Fun Fact #1: Capitol Chevrolet and Chuck Nash are owned by the same family – Capitol Chevrolet is literally the “sister” dealership to Chuck Nash, with Nancy Harper at the helm.

Fun Fact #2: Capitol Chevrolet has doubled as Garrity Motors for filming on NBC’s “Friday Night Lights.”

Jennie snags the Camaro for the first leg followed by Kristi and then Christian. Poor Christian was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for much of his turn.

In San Antonio, road trippers wandered around the Pearl Farmers Market, talking with farmers and vendors, listening to live music, snapping photos, and sampling local foods to take home. We loaded up our YETI coolers with groceries and walked over to Texas Farm to Table  for locally-sourced sandwiches and salads.

Bloggers from Boots in the Oven, MisoHungry, Austin Food Journal, and Austin Urban Gardens enjoy lunch.

In Jan. 2010, Chevy Texas hosted “Chevy Fried,” a road trip to taste Oklahoma fried pies for a group of Dallas-based bloggers. As with “Chevy Veggie,” participants communicated with each other before, during, and after the trip through the #ChevyVeggie hashtag on Twitter, through direct messages, text messages, and cell phone calls. Encouraged to experience the XM radio, OnStar, and the many cool features in the cars, they paired Bluetooth-enabled wireless devices to the cars speaker systems for hands-free calling to keep them entertained in the traffic jam on the way back to Austin.

I wonder what Shannan, Donna, Rachel and Stephanie are chatting about? Maybe the wonder that is OnStar?!

For more about the day, check out the latest online:
Chevy Veggie Flickr Group
ChevyVeggie tweets
Austin Urban Gardens blog
Austin Farm to Table blog
Stephanie Klein blog

To stay posted about other upcoming events and Chevy Texas road trips, follow @GMTexas and  @chevrolet on Twitter.

Everything IS better in Texas.

I work in HVI, that’s Human Vehicle Integration. One hundred percent of my job is being concerned with the customer experience as the user of a vehicle; from when they open the door, get in and out of the vehicle, as well as reaching controls to name a few.

My work motivates me. I take personal responsibility to make sure our products are designed and engineered with the customer in mind. Everything in a vehicle is there for a reason. We will discuss, fight or agree about changing a part by one millimeter, to make it the very best it can be for our customers. You’ve got to have thick skin to do this job and be able to stand up in front of leaders and defend your position. Fifteen years ago, we were more adversarial, but we’ve come a long way to improve cooperation between design and engineering. It’s all about establishing relationships.

My team developed numerous proposals for the GMC Terrain and Chevy Equinox that provided a combination of an excellent shifter location, great cup holder accommodation and large center console storage.  We helped develop numerous models that were reviewed and tweaked until we came up with the final result.  The head of Global Interior Design says it is the best console GM has ever done.

Being a global company has its challenges. Many things can be designed the same, but some are very different. Take cupholders. In the U.S., they have to be big enough to hold a Big Gulp drink. In Europe, people are happy with pop-out holders from the dash and only need to fit a can of pop.

My children are my passion. I’m very blessed that we like the same things and do a lot of activities together like going to concerts, jamming in our basement or working out at martial arts.

Harris Nepon

Harris Nepon, new 2010 Chevy Equinox owner
Favorite musician: Ben Harper
Something green: I play on the Niagara Men’s Golf Tour
Interesting fact: Last month I spent almost three weeks on my honeymoon in Greece

After months of anticipation, I am happy to say that I finally picked up my brand new 2010 Chevy Equinox. All I can really say is WOW. The overall look of the car is significantly better then what I’ve seen in the past from GM vehicles. The interior is flawless. The seats are comfortable, the dashboard is very cool with blue lights and the center console looks slick. I can also the say the fuel economy is as good as the commercials say. Yesterday, I cruised down the highway at 110 km per hour while the car sipped on 3L/100km (these are not EPA numbers, these are the numbers I actually see on my dashboard). Unbelievable.

Fuel economy is very important to me. I spend a lot of time driving. First of all, my business (www.seapark.ca) is related to the auto industry so I’m regularly visiting customers, including GM, across Ontario. I also play on the Niagara Men’s golf tour so every weekend I’m  throwing my stuff in back and heading to different golf clubs across the Niagara Region.

On the course

Besides work and golf, I’m a diehard Ben Harper fan. I travel to a lot of shows in Canada and the U.S. and have absolutely no problem jumping in my car to hear him play. One of the most memorable shows was in Royal Oak, Mich., which is about 4-5 hours away from St. Catharines, ON. At this particular show I was able to introduce my sister Jordana (full disclosure: she works on this site) to Ben. Of course, she was floored.

Two months ago I got married and officially adopted my wife Sarah’s two pets. We now have two dogs and cat. When Sarah and I visit friends from out of town, we like to bring the dogs. That’s one of the main reasons that I got a CUV instead of a car. And, as you can see even my chocolate lab Tilly and labradoodle Harper like the Chevy Equinox, they gave it “2 Paws Up.” Hahaha!

Harris, Harper & Tilly

By the way, I just want to mention one more thing. I bought this car from Joe Ippolito at Brian Cullen Motors in St. Catharines. Joe rocks. When I picked up the car, he was in the middle of a two-week vacation but he came in to hand over the keys and explain the functionality to me. That kind of customer service means a lot to me. Thanks Joe.

*The 2.4L-equipped Chevy Equinox delivers a segment-best 6.1L/100 km or EPA-estimated 32 miles per gallon in highway driving. For more info, visit www.gm.com or www.gm.ca. Thanks! – Jordana, Maria & Mary Ann