There has to be a way to give people more control over the engine’s sound. — Steve von Foerster, Ford
Former head of vehicle engineering for Ford Motor Company, Steve von Foerster, found out the hard way one morning when he fired up a Shelby GT350 and drove away. A neighbor disapproved of the robust exhaust note and dialed local law enforcement. Steve didn’t get busted, but he did come up with a technological solution to balance a proper V8 exhaust note with community standards.

You won’t have to worry about waking up the neighbors with your shiny new 2018 Mustang’s Active Valve Performance Exhaust system because you can program Quiet Start mode to tone down the volume at certain times of the day.
“I love the sound of the V8, but it can be loud, and you can’t annoy people like that in your neighborhood,” Steve, who now leads Ford’s user experience team in product development, said. “It sounds so cool, but I thought, ‘There has to be a way to give people more control over the engine’s sound.’”
To do so Ford engineers added a new Quiet Exhaust to the familiar repertoire of Normal, Sport and Track exhaust modes. Additionally, they also added the Quiet Start feature, which allows drivers to program when the car will start up in Quiet Mode.
Active valve performance exhaust gives Mustang owners the best of both worlds. — Matt Flis, Ford
When the neighbors called the cops on Ford’s former head of vehicle engineering, Steve von Foerster, after he started a Shelby GT350 early one morning, he came up with a technological solution to keep 2018 Mustang GT owners out of trouble — the programmable Quiet Start mode for the Active Valve Performance Exhaust.
Depending on how your car is optioned, drivers can turn on Quiet Exhaust mode or adjust the Quiet Start settings either in the new digital instrument cluster or via the settings menu in cars with a standard 4-inch cluster display.
For more on the 2018 Mustang options, like Quiet Start, you can visit the car’s Build and Price site right here.