2018 Ford Mustang Engine Start Button Pulses like a Horse's Heart

The Ford Mustang has been refreshed inside and out for the 2018 model year. While the majority of the attention paid to the newest Mustang will focus on the exterior design, the Motor Company has given the new pony car a unique interior feature which won’t be noticed by most people – but I bet that it will be enjoyed by the owners.

The 2018 Mustang has an engine start button which flashes red when the vehicle is prepared to be started up, with the subtle, flashing light blinking at the same rate as the heartbeat of an actual mustang (the horse breed) at rest.

The Pulsing Engine Start Button
The pulsing engine start button in the 2018 Ford Mustang isn’t going to help sell cars and I expect that people who own other performance cars will pass this feature off as being pointless, but it is a cool, simple feature that owners are sure to enjoy.

Whenever the 2018 Ford Mustang is unlocked and the engine is off, the engine start button slowly flashes with a soft, red glow from behind the silver face. The light flashes at the rate of 30 beats per second, which Ford states is the average heart rate of an American mustang horse when at rest. Essentially, the 2018 Mustang when not running has a similar heartbeat to that of a real horse when at rest.

Note: It has been pointed out by more than a few horse owners that for an American wild mustang horse, 30 beats per minute would be lower than normal. Technically, the heart rate of an average mustang (or any horse of that size) would likely be closer to 40-45 beats per minute. Smaller horses have faster heart rates than do larger horses, so while one of the Budweiser Clydesdales might have a resting heart rate of 30 beats per minute - a wild mustang or comparably sized horse would have a slightly higher rate. That being said (to appease the horse owners who wrote in), the 2018 Ford Mustang weighs more than 3600lbs, so it would technically be a very large horse and large horses have lower resting heart rates.

Since the 2018 Ford Mustang engine start button is located in front of the shifter, in the lower portion of the center stack, it is clearly visible from the outside of the car, so if the new pony car is parked at a car show or some other darker event – passers-by will be able to see the Mustang’s heart beating as it rests.

The video below offers a closer look at this interesting new feature in the 2018 Ford Mustang. Again, it isn’t a game changing item which will have a huge impact on sales, but this is another one of those “little things” that makes the Mustang so popular with its fans.