Late mannequin Ford F-150 pickup vehicles and Expedition SUVs are inexplicably emitting loud static via their speaker programs, main Ford to develop a software program repair to forestall what homeowners have dubbed the “sonic boom.” The situation cropped up almost a yr in the past, in response to the Wall Street Journal, although Ford has but to pinpoint the precise reason behind the mysterious sound.
Dozens of homeowners have reported struggling via dangerously loud static to federal regulators, whereas Ford has reportedly obtained about 100 complaints of the difficulty, most of those involving the 2022 F-150. But the sound system defect has surfaced within the 2021-2023 Ford F-150, 2021-2023 Ford Expedition, in addition to the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning EV pickup.
Owners describe the static as “ear-piercing,” and go on to say it’s frighteningly loud. The sound appears to happen unprompted, which has caught some drivers off guard, forcing them to tug over and cease driving. Some Ford homeowners report with the ability to flip off the sound simply, whereas others say it lasted for “15 minutes or more” and endured regardless of them having turned off their vehicles or SUVs. Per the Wall Street Journal:
Phil Floraday was driving his F-150 pickup final fall when his truck’s audio system immediately emitted a loud, crashing sound that, to him, resembled glass shattering, after which blaring static.
His ears rang for days after the occasion, he mentioned.
“My first thought was one of the neighbors must’ve hit a golf ball that went through a window because that’s what it sounded like,” mentioned Floraday, who took supply of the 2022-model-year truck final summer season.
Ford says the defect is said to the ability amplifier within the affected autos’ sound programs. The automaker has issued a technical service bulletin masking the F-150, F-150 Lightning and Expedition, which states that homeowners can carry of their autos to native sellers the place technicians will push a software program repair that makes use of the identical amplifier to filter out the static to forestall the undesirable speaker noise. The software program patch can be avaialble as an over-the-air (OTA) repair.
Ford declined to inform WSJ the variety of autos affected, however the U.S. auto large says the issue isn’t large enough to immediate a recall. The situation does appear, nevertheless, to pose a well being hazard: one proprietor reported having measured a 109 decibel spike because of the static, whereas others report the noise can exceed 100 decibels within the cabin. That’s as loud as a sports activities occasion, in response to the CDC.
For reference, extended publicity to something over 85 decibels could cause listening to loss. That means only some minutes of publicity to the F-150’s “sonic boom” are thought of protected earlier than the danger of listening to loss can set it.
Source: jalopnik.com