Noise, vibration, and harshness

Have you ever been in a car and noticed how sometimes the ride can feel really shaky or bumpy? And sometimes it can be really loud and you can hear all kinds of weird noises? That's what people mean when they talk about noise, vibration, and harshness, or NVH for short.

Noise means any sounds that you hear that aren't supposed to be there. Like if you're in a car and you hear a weird whirring noise coming from the engine or a squeaky sound when you hit a bump. Those are all examples of noise.

Vibration means any shaking or movement that you feel while you're riding in the car. Sometimes you might notice that the steering wheel is shaking or the seats are vibrating a lot. That's vibration.

Harshness means how rough the ride feels. So if you feel like every little bump in the road is jarring your whole body or you feel like you're bouncing around a lot, that's harshness.

All of these things can make riding in a car really uncomfortable, and some people even get headaches or motion sickness from too much noise, vibration, or harshness. Car engineers work really hard to try to reduce NVH as much as possible so that driving is more comfortable and safe for everyone.