Tremendous acoustic vibration. Anyone else?
 

Just curious if anyone else is seeing this like I am with my 2016 Fit LX.

At freeway speed, I fully lowered both rear windows, leaving the front windows fully up. I was greeted with tremendous acoustic vibration. Really bad.

Lowering the front windows made it go away. But driving with just the rear windows down was impossible.

Very surprised with this, but there is a first time for everything.

I've seen that in the fit, and other vehicles as well. You just have to play with the openings to find a sweet spot

That happened in my 2008 Fit and in my 2013 Fit also in my wife's 2014 Accord and her mom's 2015 Camry.

Yes, I've heard it and it is very annoying. Our Scion xB does the same thing. These cars are just not designed to be driven with the windows down.

It does not happen in my classic VWs. They didn't have AC, not even as an option, so they were designed to be driven with the windows down. I guess those folk who buy the Canadian DX models will have sonic headaches if they venture below the 49th parallel.

Same issue as OP with my Fit and my Fiesta. Lots of buffeting with only the rear windows open. Instead it reminds me to use the pop up moon roof to get the air flowing nicely.

On the Fit, I can turn off the fan and I still get air flow. On the fiesta, within 30 seconds of powering off the fan, it closes down the fresh air vent, so I have to leave the fan running on low just to keep the vent open.

Why would you do this?

my wife just traded in a 2014 Ford Explorer for a 16 Civic Touring. When my daughter opened a back window on the Explorer at speed the acoustic vibration was almost painful. Cars are built much better than they used to be and this is a result of that. The builds are much tighter and there is nowhere for the pressure to escape other than the open window.

To get the fresh air without the wind noise from the front windows.

I noticed this the first day I bought my FIT as it was a hot July day ... scared the crap out of me and borderline painful!


Do the Mugen style rain guards help with this at all? I've been holding back ordering them and am really curious if they help with air flow.

Funny, '60s VWs were known for being so tight that it was better to open a window slightly to close the door, yet they had no wind buffeting resonance at all.

obviously I have no idea what I'm talking about. I've only experienced this effect on vehicles I have owned built in the 2000s. making leaps of logic should never be attempted three drinks into an evening.

This all has to do with the overall aerodynamic shape of a car. My '64 Beetle never had any buffeting noise, but my '00 New Beetle did, if the sunroof and side windows were set in certain positions. You'll see many sunroofs today have a little spoiler that pops up when "full open," and its sole purpose is to mitigate the buffeting you experienced.

As mentioned above, you'll just need to try different combinations of windows open/closed/slightly open, etc. until you get the desired breeze without the buffeting.

es

can u open the moon roof then? :iough:

i have the car on partial recirculate at all times while i borrow my wife's GK, so unless ure gassy or something should not need the window cracked open..

plus makes ur clothes smell dusty too if ure wearing business casual..going to a nice office building.

:D hahaha, i lol'ed when i read this..

There is no moon roof on an LX.:mad:

It's called science. That's normal for any car.

oops! :eek3: :rotfl:

With the rear windows all the way down, try opening the front windows just a bit. Should take some pressure out of the equation.

The front windows have to be down more than just a bit which defeats the whole purpose.

OK, well, there's no free lunch here. Unless you install a sunroof, no way to quell that vibration with the front windows all the way up and rears all the way down.

You probably have better understanding than most!

Older cars had no dedicated exhaust vents. Most of them were leaky enough that they were not missed. VWs were the exception since they were very well sealed (they actually floated for quite a while if you drove into water) so the doors would close easier and the heater would work better if you opened a vent window slightly.

Modern cars have dedicated exhaust vents. The Fit's are located below the hatch opening. They're great for closing the doors, but don't really help resonance issues.

My theory is that modern cars don't have as much turbulent detached airflow around their windows so it is easier for them to build up a noticeable resonance. Older cars trip the airflow right at the front of the car so there is little laminar flow at all.

Normal. For hatchback/suv anyway. Tesla model X exhausts air in the back to avoid it :)

Works for me, but IIRC, '60s VWs had no roll down rear windows but swing outs with hinges and latches, much like the front vent windows.

:thumbups:

Air coming in the rear windows has nowhere to go except back out the rear windows, not pleasant for anyone involved. Use your fan.

Perfectly normal...it is called Helmholtz resonance:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmholtz_resonance

I have never owned a car that doesn't do this...

My experience has been that the more aerodynamic the car, the more pronounced this phenomena becomes. Interestingly, my last couple cars had euro rails for attaching roof racks. With the roof racks removed, the rear window resonance was really bad, requiring the front window(s) to be cracked. But, with the roof racks installed, the racks messed up the airflow such that I could put the rear windows down without resonance.

it happens in many cars (hatchback cars mainly) I use to get that in Nissan Versa

My recently acquired Hyundai Accent Hatchback had that noise problem until I installed WeatherTech rain guards.
My wife's Honda Accord also use to have the same noise issue with the back windows down but after we installed the WeatherTech rain guards we no longer have that noise problem.

My 2006 BMW has the same issue. My 1995 BMW does not.. Old one has pop-out windows like an old BUG, new one is a 4 door. And It does the resonance with or without the sunroof open.

I hate to say it, but this does remind me of the old joke:
Patient, "Doctor, it huts when I do this."
Doctor, "Don't do it."


Seriously, I can't think of any reason I'd want to drive with the front windows up and the rear windows down. FWIW, my '09 Fit did the same thing (I discovered it while playing around with the window switches). Other cars I've owned might have done it as well, but I never found out as the 2 Fits are the only cars I've ever owned with power windows that I could roll down the rear windows while driving.

Exactly, this is a result from cars that are very slippery in terms of their aero to gain greater fuel economy. Old cars didn't have his issue because they were smashing the wind.

You can only really drive around in modern cars with the windows down at very low speeds.

Same phenomenon with my '08

My '12 Sport and our Prius do the same thing.

In Paris, there is a fully automated subway line that has upper windows that you can tilt inward when it is hot, and it maximizes airflow through the train and everyone gets a nice cooling breeze.

The Fit is probably too narrow to accommodate inward-folding windows safely.

But that subway trick is cool!

In the Fit EX, there is a spring-loaded "lip" at the front of the moonroof that pops up when the moonroof glass is opened. Just playing around with the roof open yesterday, I reached up and pulled the "lip" down with my hand (retracting it back into the car). At 40MPH, instant buffeting was the result.


That "lip" (which has a "castellated" profile) is there to induce sufficient turbulence to stop the buffeting.

I discovered the same thing tonight! I had all the windows closed and the moon roof open. At 30 mph, when the "lip" is down, there is a distinctive percussive oscillation. This is my first car with a moon roof. Do moon roofs in all cars have the "lip"?

I've seen this in many cars, not just the FIT. A bit of opening in a window can make it sound like parts are blowing away.

As another post mentioned, tinkering with window opening amount can end the noise.