General Motors paid excessive attention to keeping the cabin noise in the 2015 GMC Yukon to an absolute minimum and critics, customers and the automotive media (us included) have taken notice. GM says the Yukon’s tranquil interior lends it’s placidness to premium materials, a new inlaid door design, triple seals on the body’s seams and more.
In total, more than two dozen enhancements help advance quietness in the all-new 2015 Yukon, making it the quietest SUV in its class, GM says. It starts with the mounts connecting the high-strength steel frame to the body, which are a shear-style mount designed to act like a shock-absorber when the body is undergoing movement. The doors are also now inlaid into the body side openings, rather than over the top of the body as with GM’s previous full-size SUVs. This helps significantly reduce wind noise and allows for triple-sealed doors and a tighter fit, minimizing panel gaps and giving you that satisfying ‘thud’ sound when you close the door.
“We paid a lot of attention to the doors,” Michell Shippy, GM performance engineer for noise, vibration and wind noise said. “It’s an area that is highly sensitive to varying tolerances and so close to the driver and passengers. Sealing them correctly and consistently is a tough yet critical task.”
In addition to the triple-seals, GM says a full seal was used around the latches and outside door handles. Sound-deadening materials were used in the door headers while acoustic laminated front door and front windshield glass also help to minimize cabin noise. The engineering team didn’t stop there, though. The laundry list of improvements is notably long includes a special acoustic headliner, acoustic wheel house liners, acoustic hood blanket, dash mats on both sides of the front of dash and fender-to-body sound baffles.
“The GMC customer is looking for a vehicle that’s a notch above the rest in all aspects, but especially in refinement,” Duncan Aldred, U.S. vice president of Buick and GMC said in a statement. “Interior quietness is an essential element to refinement and we keep hearing how impressively silent our new Yukons are.”
Comments
I had a Tahoe and debris (sand, salt, moisture) tended to collect around the seals at the bottom of the doors. I noticed rust starting to begin here and the guy at the body shop recommended I either religiously wash away the debris from these ‘collection areas’ or remove the seals entirely. I now have a Yukon Denali and I spray Krown rust inhibitor around these areas and inside the tiny drain holes at the bottom of the doors. The sound proofing is good, but be aware that moisture and debris will collect there.
I wonder if all this acoustic treatment has led to the seemingly large issue discussed on this site http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/162779-2015-yukon-noise-in-cabin/
Sam, any follow up from your side?