Sound design specialist Faurecia offers services for personalizing the ambient acoustics inside each vehicle model and also delivers solutions for neutralizing unpleasant surrounding noise.
Ambient sound adds to your vehicle's comfort and shapes its personality. Faurecia is constantly on the lookout for new acoustic materials, which it leverages to create the best possible sound design for the different models on the market. Thanks to its complete expertise, Faurecia can also offer end-to-end consulting services focusing on a vehicle's sound qualities in partnership with automakers.
"We treat the interior's acoustics at the end of the production line, in direct contact with the sound ultimately experienced by the customer, wherein lies the importance of this core business," explains Jean-François Rondeau, acoustics engineer at Faurecia. The noise perceived by the customer is particularly due to the speed of the vehicle.
Depending on driving conditions, the main component may come from the wheel bearings, the engine through the intake and the exhaust or by the aerodynamics, meaning the contact between the air and the bodywork. Faurecia's business is to mastermind solutions that tackle all the components that generate noise (airborne and mechanical) in order to optimize overall acoustic quality inside the vehicle.
A wide range of sound qualities
The sound design (optimized noise treatment) varies according to the vehicle's make and model. "In a Mercedes S Class, the noise generated lies in the medium and bass frequencies, which is typical of high-end vehicles," advises Freddy Stoof, Acoustics Marketing Manager for France. Jean-François Rondeau explains how the sound qualities can be adapted: "In a sports car, the manufacturer wants to keep the car's "rugged" side, the roar of the engine. However, in a comfortable sedan, the aim is to ensure good sound quality at all speeds, especially in the front. With a family car, the goal is balanced sound to ensure easy communication between the front and the back." All the components in the vehicle's interior help maintain that balance, from the windows to the dashboard and from the floor to the seats. "A seat can absorb up to 50% of the noise in the vehicle's interior!" stresses Jean-François Rondeau.
High-level acoustics expertise
Faurecia can tailor its acoustical engineering services to suit specific needs. An automaker might, for example, pre-select the required insulating products. "The manufacturer specifies the required sound spectrum inside the vehicle. We fine-tune our product solution accordingly, while complying with cost and weight constraints," explains Jean-François Rondeau. Faurecia's acoustics engineers can also optimize the vehicle's overall sound qualities (such as the engine compartment).
Acoustics as a driving force for innovation
Faurecia's acoustics engineers have pioneered LWC, the Light Weight Concept, which aims to strike a better trade-off between absorption and insulation. The concept has spawned an extensive range of products (dash insulators, floor insulators, etc.) that considerably reduce the vehicle's weight, while achieving the acoustic quality targets set by the manufacturers.
Cutting-edge resources
Faurecia is helping to develop digital tools in a bid to simulate vehicles' acoustic performance. However, such a tool has yet to hit the market. That is why "we have developed hybrid approaches combining digital simulation with technical experiences, using roller test benches to measure the sound generated by a vehicle in real conditions. This combination of cutting-edge skills is what makes our acoustics expertise so rich and proves to our customers that the solutions offered are optimized and tailored to their objectives," explains Jean-François Rondeau. Faurecia's expertise is recognized by manufacturers around the world, including Volkswagen, Toyota, PSA, Opel, Renault and Nissan. Faurecia will break new ground when its new acoustics R&D center opens in the spring of 2010.