There goes farting in a car: Noise cancelation on GMC Terrain gives it one of the quietest interiors

2011 GMC Terrain Active Noise Cancellation
2011 GMC Terrain Active Noise Cancellation

If you must pass gas in your vehicle when riding with other passengers, don’t buy a GMC Terrain. If you want to save gas and have a nice quiet interior, than definitely look into purchasing one. A new active noise cancellation technology in the GMC Terrain enables it to deliver an EPA-rated 32 mpg in highway driving while ensuring the driver in one of the quietest interiors in its segment.

“On the highway, Terrain easily tops the 28-mpg rating of Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and Ford Escape,” GM said in a statement.

“The use of active noise cancellation for fuel economy benefit on Terrain is among the first at GM,” said Paul Beaker, program engineering manager for GMC Terrain. “It has strong potential for implementation on other four-cylinder vehicle programs.”

How does it work? GM engineers chose to lower the 6-speed transmission’s gear shift points to enable the Ecotec 2.4L four-cylinder engine to run at lower rpm torque in the GMC Terrain. While in ‘Eco’ mode, which the driver can activate with a click of a button, the torque converter clutch engages at lower engine speeds to help preserve gas. The move does improve fuel efficiency by up to one mpg, but it also creates a low-end frequency boom. To counteract that boom, engineers added a noise cancellation system that relies on two microphones embedded in the headliner to detect the hum and prompt an onboard frequency generator to create counteracting sound waves through the audio system’s speakers and sub-woofer.

So next time you think about passing gas in the car, make sure it doesn’t have a noise canceling feature.

Click here to read our review on the 2010 GMC Terrain.

Review: 2010 GMC Terrain:

Review: 2010 GMC Terrain Review: 2010 GMC Terrain Review: 2010 GMC Terrain Review: 2010 GMC Terrain

All Photos Copyright © 2009 Omar Rana – egmCarTech.


– By: Omar Rana

Thanks for the tip George.