Ford Adds Mute Button To New Mustang So You Don’t Drive Your Neighbors Crazy

To many car enthusiasts, the familiar vrooming rumble of the engine is half the appeal of a car. Your neighbors, however, may not feel particularly enamored of your showy V8 waking them up of a morning. And so in its latest line of Mustangs, Ford has included a surprising new feature: quiet mode.

The idea for making the 2018 Mustang GT take a walk on the quiet side came to the head of Ford’s user experience team from a real-life experience, CNN Money explains. He started up his Ford Mustang Shelby GT 350 — a slightly louder and more race-tuned model of the Mustang GT — and his neighbors called the cops about the noise.

That inspired him to see about putting a quiet mode into the cars: No noise, no awkward conversations with the local constabulary and the folks down the street.

While the Mustang may be a classic brand, though, your modern muscle car isn’t quite what it used to be: You turn on then new “quiet mode” with the on-board touch-screen car menu. Because even your all-American new flashy car is a computer with wheels on it.

The concept — and toggle — is a lot like your cell phone, really. Mustang drivers can toggle quiet mode on and off from the menu directly, or program the car to start in quiet mode automatically at certain times of day — like, say, between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.

Ford Mustangs, CNN Money notes, have long since had a “sport exhaust” mode to make them extra loud; this is basically the flip side of the coin.

With quiet mode enabled, the Mustang’s signature roar will be cut in half from its usual default.