When Road & Track’s Jason Cammisa busted a fuse during a recent drive of the 2015 Ford Mustang EcoBoost, he discovered something odd. Both the engine and the stereo went silent inside the car.

It appears that the vaunted Ford Mustang – “the original pony car,” according to Jalopnik – has succumbed to piping in enhanced engine noise through the speakers.

Autoblog investigated further, speaking to Ford engineer Shawn Carney who revealed that the engine-sound augmenting system is called “Active Noise Control,” and that only the turbocharged four-cylinder Mustang comes with it. The system both enhances noise and cancels out some coarse noise.

“[The system] layer[s] in certain sound characteristics on top of what’s already there,” Carney told Autoblog. “The intent is to be a natural experience.” 

The United Kingdom’s Car Magazine made mention of the sound-enhancing system last year, Jalopnik reports, although it did not receive much attention at the time.

“With the Ecoboost engine we have both active noise cancellation, and we also amplify the existing engine sound order,” Mustang Chief Engineer Dave Perciak told Car Magazine last December. “We don’t create an artificial sound, we don’t pluck one off the shelf, we bring in the real sound, process it, and play it through the car’s speakers.”

As auto-manufacturers strive to comply with stricter fuel economy and emissions standards, they are increasingly relying on engine downsizing and turbocharging, which means a massively downgraded engine sound.  As more manufacturers find themselves in this conundrum, engine-sound augmentation may become the new normal.