Buzzing noise while pressing brake and talking on the phone

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awefulspeller

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2013
Messages
111
I'm experiencing a buzzing noise in the top front right speaker in my 2013 FFE while I'm talking on the phone and I push the brake pedal. I experience this when the entertainment systems is both on and off. I'm using an iPhone 7 connected to Sync via bluetooth.

It's no big deal to me, but I don't think buzzing noise is supposed to happen. I'm sure its nothing big, but wouldn't want it to be the beginning of some larger problem. Anyone else have this issue? I noticed the issue a few weeks ago and it hasn't stopped on it's own.
 
Oh ShiniestEV - I think you got it, the vacuum pump running, that's probably it. I immediately thought it was like that ancient alternator / points noise you got through radios way back in the 70s, and couldn't figure out how the heck that was happening.

Yeah the pump is probably what you are hearing. If it really runs a lot, you should probably have the car checked out, there might be a vacuum leak.
 
I'm assuming it was cost saving to Ford, but why use a vacuum assisted power brake setup in a car that produces no vacuum? I realize hydroboost wasn't an option either since the car does not have hydraulic power steering. Perhaps an electric assist would be considered too new, untested, or unreliable for the brake system?
 
Omen87 said:
I'm assuming it was cost saving to Ford, but why use a vacuum assisted power brake setup in a car that produces no vacuum? I realize hydroboost wasn't an option either since the car does not have hydraulic power steering. Perhaps an electric assist would be considered too new, untested, or unreliable for the brake system?
Brakes just re-use many of the parts from an ICE Focus thus it was probably cheaper to add the vacuum pump instead of replace out more parts.

Power steering is the same: The ICE Focus uses the same electric assist power steering.

Knowing Ford they did a cost analysis and determined adding a vacuum pump would only cost $0.50/car more (or less) than any other brake assist technology.
 
awefulspeller said:
I don't think the noise is the vacuum pump because the noise is noticeably coming out of the top-front-right speaker.
Does it get louder and softer when you turn the volume control?

Does it still happen if you pull the fuse for the infotainment module (the "radio") so there should be no way that any normal audio signals are sent to the speakers?
 
jmueller065 said:
Omen87 said:
I'm assuming it was cost saving to Ford, but why use a vacuum assisted power brake setup in a car that produces no vacuum? I realize hydroboost wasn't an option either since the car does not have hydraulic power steering. Perhaps an electric assist would be considered too new, untested, or unreliable for the brake system?
Brakes just re-use many of the parts from an ICE Focus thus it was probably cheaper to add the vacuum pump instead of replace out more parts.

Power steering is the same: The ICE Focus uses the same electric assist power steering.

Knowing Ford they did a cost analysis and determined adding a vacuum pump would only cost $0.50/car more (or less) than any other brake assist technology.
This wasn't just a Ford thing - every EV I know of uses a vacuum pump and essentially standard ICE braking. They also use electric power steering. When there are a huge number of EVs on the road, somebody will come up with something different.
 
EVA said:
jmueller065 said:
Omen87 said:
Knowing Ford they did a cost analysis and determined adding a vacuum pump would only cost $0.50/car more (or less) than any other brake assist technology.
This wasn't just a Ford thing - every EV I know of uses a vacuum pump and essentially standard ICE braking. They also use electric power steering. When there are a huge number of EVs on the road, somebody will come up with something different.
More recent Teslas use electric-assist braking. Google for "iBooster".

From my understanding, there is no vacuum pump with this arrangement, just a cylinder (to modulate the brake fluid pressure as normal) with an electronic assist actuator (instead of a vacuum).

I think the primary reason they switch to this arrangement was to allow computer control over the brakes (for Auto-Pilot and other safety features).
 
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