Cabin Quietness - How it was done on the 2016 Civic Sedan

5TAR said:

Engineers for the new Civic adopted premium noise-isolating materials and design features to achieve a new level of cabin quietness in the Civic class. This includes the adoption of new methods to measure and reduce air leaks in the Civic body that, based on Honda's internal test data, is the most tightly sealed body in the competitive class. Full body air leaks have been reduced 58 percent compared to the previous Civic.

Premium noise reduction features include:

• Acoustic glass front windshield
• Triple door sealing (Civic first)
• New hood seals
• Sound-absorbing heat baffles and body undercovers
• A, B and C pillar separators (Civic first)
• New rear wheel house liners
• Formed fiber carpeting (Civic first)

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Awesome bit of info. Particularly interested in the pillar separators as getting a rattle/buzz in one of those will drive a man crazy.

I also read on one of the reviews there were triple thick floors. Not sure if that was meant as a combo of the underbody covers and formed fiber carpet or not.

Will the rear wheel housing liners be like those on many of the large pickup trucks? Its almost like a fiberboard with carpet on it, my dad and i were so confused about it when we saw it the first time on a Chevy truck at the auto show in columbus a couple years ago, had to ask one of the sales guys about it. Basically having that softer carpet like material there instead of just hard plastic lessens the sounds of small rocks and such hitting up in the wheel wells.

RobbJK88 said:

I also read on one of the reviews there were triple thick floors. Not sure if that was meant as a combo of the underbody covers and formed fiber carpet or not.

Will the rear wheel housing liners be like those on many of the large pickup trucks? Its almost like a fiberboard with carpet on it, my dad and i were so confused about it when we saw it the first time on a Chevy truck at the auto show in columbus a couple years ago, had to ask one of the sales guys about it. Basically having that softer carpet like material there instead of just hard plastic lessens the sounds of small rocks and such hitting up in the wheel wells.

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The carpet really does make a difference along the wheel wells. Toyota has it on their cars and I can really tell the difference. I never had an issue with even a single layer of rubber along the doors, but three will be great. It's the noise from the floor that I'm worried about, especially to those who are going to add aftermarket exhausts it would be nice to keep the noise and vibration out of the cabin.

That is my one complaint about older Honda Civics I have rode in. They had unacceptable levels of road noise. I am thrilled this has been addressed. For a small share of people that would be a deal breaker. Every little bit of improvement will sell more cars. I bet Honda could potentially reach 400,000 unit sales in 2016 or 2017.

This is welcome news to me too. I like a quiet car to be able to hear quiet passages in music more clearly. I just checked the Car & Driver road test results - at the same testing track (CPG, wherever that is), the 2013 Civic EX-L averaged 75 dB at 70mph, while the 2016 Civic Touring averaged 71 dB. Four dB is a pretty significant improvement, although I am still surprised that it isn't more than that with all these changes. In comparison, the 2013 Accord averaged 69 dB.

I wonder, though if there is a subjective quality to the noise that's not being captured by those test numbers. I don't find my 2015 Accord to be particularly quiet. There's an annoying wind whistle. Meanwhile, the 2015 Acura TLX was widely hailed as being very quiet, yet C&D's test average for it was 68 dB.

when a car is air tight like this, where does the air escape to displace incoming fresh air??

Even when the climate control system is set to recirculate mode, cars have some vents in the firewall that still allow air to flow into the cabin for ventilation purposes. But these are specially designed ports that allow air through without allowing noise or water through.

The air then flows through channels into the trunk and then out of the trunk through vents in the rear bumper area.

This video from Buick that details their steps to quiet the Verano shows some of these vents.

How thick are these triple thick floors compared to normal floors?

4Tires said:

How thick are these triple thick floors compared to normal floors?

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My guess would be 3 times as thick. haha. i'm sorry, i had to... good question though... are we talking like expensive toilet paper 3 ply or cheap aldi brand "2 ply" which is actually just 2 half ply stuck together?

Triple door seal can be as simple as more usage of rubber weather stripping for all we know. So even when closing the door we should notice this difference... should sound so bare bones as some cars may sound.