High-pitched "Electrical Whine"

[hybrid2bev]

I could only hear the buzz with my volume cranked all the way up and when the phone was placed inches from the screen. I'm youngish and still have pretty good hearing (my wife would disagree). There's just no way to know if these videos are accurately depicting the conditions when sitting in the car. It could be that some screens are noisier than others, and/or that some people are more sensitive to certain frequencies than others. Tough to pin down.

Frustrating for the owners I'm sure! Hope I don't hear it in mine, and I sure hope I don't hear things I wouldn't normally hear simply because now I'm listening for them.

Same. I wonder does it make the same sound when the screen is changed to Dark mode?

Sponsored

 

[ARK]

Same. I wonder does it make the same sound when the screen is changed to Dark mode?

Yes, I noticed no difference in volume between light and dark modes. There is also no way to adjust the brightness of the driver display that I could find - only the center display.

 

[hybrid2bev]

Yes, I noticed no difference in volume between light and dark modes. There is also no way to adjust the brightness of the driver display that I could find - only the center display.

I thought these adjusted both?

 

[methorian]

I thought these adjusted both?

You're correct, those adjust the brightness of the instrument cluster display. I demo'd this in my video. By adjusting the brightness, the pitch of the whine changes on mine....

Dark/Light mode makes no difference on mine.

 

[ARK]

I thought these adjusted both?

I just tried this, I noticed no difference in the noise, whether light or dark mode and whether the brightness was turned up all the down or dimmed at its maximum.

 

[agoldman]

I think we are over thinking this. It's probably just a noisy sourced display panel with funky (cheap) components buzzing. probably very specific to that manufacturer.

 

[ARK]

I think we are over thinking this. It's probably just a noisy sourced display panel with funky (cheap) components buzzing. probably very specific to that manufacturer.

Yes, but the big question for me is whether Ford might replace it or if there is some fix for it.

It's not the end of the world, but let me put it this way. The MME is replacing a four banger 2013 Chevy Equinox I have that had an MSRP of around $28,000. At the present, the Equinox is a much more serene cabin with that turbo four and far less sound deadening versus the MME's electric powertrain, significant sound deadening, but with this high pitched screen buzz.

 

[agoldman]

If enough people complain they will probably try to figure out what's up and maybe swap it out if they can correct it. Big maybe...

 

[Plutoman15]

If enough people complain they will probably try to figure out what's up and maybe swap it out if they can correct it. Big maybe...

As long as they don't do a stop shipment...mine just shipped. If it is an easy swap out I would just assume my local dealer do it.

 

[machefan]

Personally, I think once you know what to listen for you will hear it, but if you never read it here you might not know it's even there.

I only heard it because of reading it here, there are other noises that drowned it out for me.

The low speed noise (gov mandate) is one of them, Radio is another, HVAC etc.

 

[methorian]

Personally, I think once you know what to listen for you will hear it, but if you never read it here you might not know it's even there.

I only heard it because of reading it here, there are other noises that drowned it out for me.

The low speed noise (gov mandate) is one of them, Radio is another, HVAC etc.

I hope you're right for most. For me it ruins the quietness of the car when sitting idle. I can sit in my i3 with little/no fan, no music, and it's just silent. In my Mach-E the whine seems to bombard my ears in the same situation.

I think I could learn to live with it, but I'm really hoping they can come up with a fix.

 

[machefan]

I hope you're right for most. For me it ruins the quietness of the car when sitting idle. I can sit in my i3 with little/no fan, no music, and it's just silent. In my Mach-E the whine seems to bombard my ears in the same situation.

I think I could learn to live with it, but I'm really hoping they can come up with a fix.

I am with you, I prefer silent like my Leaf, but once in drive the low speed generated noise for me is much worse. If I was standing still (Parked) I most likely will have the radio or the HVAC going, if it's that time of the year where the weather is perfect the windows are open.

If you are sitting at a charge station for me the charge whine is even worse.

But I get your concern, it should be silent, however I do not see this getting resolved or even addressed in MY21, maybe the next MY batch they will address it. If there is a fix, I might not want my dash fully disassembled and reassembled. That thing didn't look east to get to but didn't study it either.

 

[zhackwyatt]

Oh yea - definitely the little instrument cluster screen. It goes away when that times out and turns off (by getting in the car with the key and it "wakes up", but if you don't turn the car on it'll time out and turn off).

Here's a video where even played back I can clearly hear it... You may need to turn your volume up.

Oh yeah, that's coil whine. It'll go away once you age more

 

[JellyBelly]

Oh yeah, that's coil whine. It'll go away once you age more

Yeah may be all the Ford testers were hard of hearing and so they all gave thumbs up saying no noise

 

[JSW]

I sold my Bolt last week. It was dependable, efficient, and quiet.
All I wanted was another EV that was equally reliable, went a bit farther on a charge, and was not as ugly....

We want to love the Mach-e so much that we are willing to overlook an annoying buzz that other cars with similar screens do not have, unreliable phone access, wind noises from the roof when it’s cold, etc.

I’m confident Ford will fix the big issues that have been noted (eg, alerts after charging, propulsion interruption alerts, etc). I fear it will never fix a noisy screen, or a car with wind noise from the roof. Ever.

These decisions to overlook are choices we shouldn’t have to make. Still, next week I fear I’ll be in the same position - accept a car with issues, or give up on a journey that’s taken forever. (Glorious problem to have, for sure)

Sponsored