Ear-Splitting Rumbling Sound When My Model S is in Motion (except when window rolled down)

[Usher]

Surprised nobody mentioned the most common cause of the OP's stated symptoms. Liftgate stops need adjustment.

It's because several of us with properly adjusted liftgates have experienced the problem. Also, I wouldn't use his description of the noise to describe the sound a Helmholtz resonance makes.

 

[sorka]

It's because several of us with properly adjusted liftgates have experienced the problem. Also, I wouldn't use his description of the noise to describe the sound a Helmholtz resonance makes.

His description couldn't be used to describe anything scientific. Several of you mentioned turning off ANC making the noise go away but I don't see any reference to you or the other poster who had the same problem verify your liftgate stops were adjusted properly. The terms the OP uses to describe the problem are nearly spot on to hundreds of previous posts of similar cabin buffeting sounds.

My ANC works great...even better than it did on my MXP. Do you think turning off your ANC and having the problem vanish means you've truly fixed the root cause of the problem?

 

[Usher]

Well, I certainly didn't readjust my

His description couldn't be used to describe anything scientific. Several of you mentioned turning off ANC making the noise go away but I don't see any reference to you or the other poster who had the same problem verify your liftgate stops were adjusted properly. The terms the OP uses to describe the problem are nearly spot on to hundreds of previous posts of similar cabin buffeting sounds.

My ANC works great...even better than it did on my MXP. Do you think turning off your ANC and having the problem vanish means you've truly fixed the root cause of the problem?

I could reproducibly make the noise start and stop by turning the ANC on and off, so yes it did solve my problem. I certainly didn't readjust my liftgate stops multiple types without stopping the car. I suspect the root cause is one of two possibilities: either the car has speaker(s) where the two wires are swapped causing a 180º phase shift in their output, or the algorithm just has problems with unusual combinations of frequencies.

In my case what helped my figure it out was that I was driving the same roads multiple times over the weekend of the Sno*Drift Rally. One of those roads is part of the rally transit and causes an insanely loud whine when using certain brands of gravel tires, to the point where I leave my helmet on for that transit if I'm competing in the rally. That is the road the made the problem most prominent in the Model S. Turning off ANC made the road noise barely noticeable (just slightly louder than most roads). Turning it back on made the ridiculously loud rumbling noise.

 

[WilliamG]

It's because several of us with properly adjusted liftgates have experienced the problem. Also, I wouldn't use his description of the noise to describe the sound a Helmholtz resonance makes.

Exactly. I can’t recall a single lift gate issue on the refresh S that caused an “ear splitting rumbling” sound. That’s classic ARNR software broken symptoms.